Design question about custom post types and taxonomies

  • I’m developing a plugin that registers a custom post type ‘question’. These posts contain taxonomy terms. The taxonomy ‘role’ is registered together with the custom post type using the ‘init’ hook. Works fine.

    Now I want to create a number of these posts on plugin activation (using register_activation_hook). The posts are inserted into the database: 

    $post = array(
	'post_title'   	=> $value['Title'],
	'post_status'  	=> 'publish',
	'post_type'	=> 'question',
	'tax_input'	=> array( 'role' =>
		array_map( 'trim', explode( ',', $value['Role'] ))
	),
	'meta_input'	=> array(
		'_competence_id'=> $value['Cid']
	)
);
wp_insert_post( $post );

    That works fine too, but the taxonomy isn’t saved because the taxonomy is registered only at the init hook which is after the activation hook.

    So my question is: what’s the best approach to create these posts with their taxonomy on plugin activation?

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • One approach you could take is to move the registration of the custom post type and taxonomy to the register_activation_hook function, so that they are registered before the posts are created.

    Here’s an example:

    function my_plugin_activate() {
	// Register the custom post type and taxonomy
	register_post_type( 'question', $args );
	register_taxonomy( 'role', array( 'question' ), $args );
	
	// Create the posts
	$posts = array(
		array(
			'title' => 'Question 1',
			'role' => 'Role 1',
			'competence_id' => '1'
		),
		array(
			'title' => 'Question 2',
			'role' => 'Role 2',
			'competence_id' => '2'
		),
		// Add more posts as needed
	);
	
	foreach ( $posts as $post ) {
		$post_id = wp_insert_post( array(
			'post_title' => $post['title'],
			'post_status' => 'publish',
			'post_type' => 'question',
			'tax_input' => array(
				'role' => array_map( 'trim', explode( ',', $post['role'] ) )
			),
			'meta_input' => array(
				'_competence_id' => $post['competence_id']
			)
		) );
	}
}

register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'my_plugin_activate' );

    In this example, the custom post type and taxonomy are registered within the my_plugin_activate function using the register_post_type and register_taxonomy functions. The posts are then created using the wp_insert_post function, which includes the tax_input parameter to assign the appropriate taxonomy terms.

    By registering the custom post type and taxonomy within the activation hook, you ensure that they are available when the posts are created, and the taxonomy terms are assigned correctly.

    Thread Starter henkludis

    (@henkludis)

    Thanks Linards,

    so I call register_post_type and register_taxonomy twice, both on plugin activation and using the ‘init’ hook, right?

    Yes, that’s correct. You’ll register the custom post type and taxonomy within the my_plugin_activate function for the activation hook, and also register them using the init hook for normal usage. This ensures that the custom post type and taxonomy are available when the posts are created during activation and during regular use.

    Here’s an example:

    function my_plugin_register() {
    // Register the custom post type and taxonomy
    register_post_type( 'question', $args );
    register_taxonomy( 'role', array( 'question' ), $args );
}

function my_plugin_activate() {
    // Call the registration function
    my_plugin_register();

    // Create the posts
    // ... (the same code as in the previous example)
}

// Register the custom post type and taxonomy during normal usage
add_action( 'init', 'my_plugin_register' );

// Register the custom post type and taxonomy and create posts on activation
register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'my_plugin_activate' );

    By using this structure, you avoid duplicating the registration code and ensure that the custom post type and taxonomy are registered properly during both activation and regular use.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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