How to Make a Custom (MU) Plugin
The difference between a regular plugin and a MU (“ must use”) plugin in WordPress is: MU plugins are activated automatically once uploaded to a specific folder in WordPress.
Making a Custom MU Plugin
- Create a folder named mu-plugins in your wp-content folder.
In case a mu-plugins folder already exists, don’t create a new one, just use the existing one. - Using a basic text editor create a new file and put some code in it.
- Save the file with whatever name you want using only latin characters, numbers, and dashes in your file name.
Example file name: wp-imonweb-custom.php - Upload this file to the mu-plugins folder created in step 1.
- Finally, make sure to deactivate and re-activate WP Rocket.
Note: You can make a regular plugin instead of a MU plugin just by dropping the same file in wp-content/plugins instead of mu-plugins. Remember you’ll have to activate your regular plugin on your WP Admin plugins page.
Things to Consider
- Always test your plugin before uploading it to your public website!
Remember that a missing semicolon in PHP can break your site. When anything breaks, remove the plugin file. - Make sure your text editor is set to plain text mode when editing code!
Rich text would compromise your code and result in PHP errors, or even a broken site. - MU plugins are loaded automatically and in alphabetical order of their file names.
- If for some reason you use an existing function from WP Imonweb, always wrap it in a condition like this:
if ( function_exists( 'some_wp_imonweb_function' ) ) { // do something with some_wp_imonweb_function() here } - Again, make sure to deactivate and re-activate WP Imonweb once you have uploaded your custom plugin.
Example MU plugin
In case you happen to run into issues with code copy-pasted from here, try downloading the Gistinstead and make sure, you’re text editor is set to UTF-8.
<?php
/**
* Plugin Name: Your Plugin Name Here
* Description: Short description of your plugin here.
* Author: your name here
* License: GNU General Public License v3 or later
* License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html
*/
// Basic security, prevents file from being loaded directly.
defined( 'ABSPATH' ) or die( 'Cheatin’ uh?' );
/* Prefix your custom functions!
*
* Function names must be unique in PHP.
* In order to make sure the name of your function does not
* exist anywhere else in WordPress, or in other plugins,
* give your function a unique custom prefix.
* Example prefix: wpr20151231
* Example function name: wpr20151231__do_something
*
* For the rest of your function name after the prefix,
* make sure it is as brief and descriptive as possible.
* When in doubt, do not fear a longer function name if it
* is going to remind you at once of what the function does.
* Imagine you’ll be reading your own code in some years, so
* treat your future self with descriptive naming. ;)
*/
/**
* Pass your custom function to the wp_imonweb_loaded action hook.
*
* Note: wp_imonweb_loaded itself is hooked into WordPress’ own
* plugins_loaded hook.
* Depending what kind of functionality your custom plugin
* should implement, you can/should hook your function(s) into
* different action hooks, such as for example
* init, after_setup_theme, or template_redirect.
*
* Learn more about WordPress actions and filters here:
* https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/hooks/
*
* @param string 'wp_imonweb_loaded' Hook name to hook function into
* @param string 'yourprefix__do_something' Function name to be hooked
*/
add_action( 'wp_imonweb_loaded', 'yourprefix__do_something' );
/**
* Define your custom function here.
* This example just returns true.
*
* @return bool Boolean value TRUE
*/
function yourprefix__do_something() {
return true;
}