Plugins

This page lists all the plugins used on the site. To manage plugins, click ‘Plugins’ in the dashboard sidebar. Most of the plugins are third party and a few of these are premium versions for which MGF has paid a licence. For security reasons, any additional third party plugins should only be selected from the official WordPress plugin store: in the administrative dashboard: Plugins -> Add New Plugin.

Plugins whose names begin with ‘Create-‘ are MGF-developed and are used to create and update list pages such as the various plant list pages.

Once installed, plugins have to be activated from the plugin page in the dashboard sidebar. Some of the installed plugins are currently deactivated (names shown in italics) but could be needed in the future.

The code for plugins is stored in public_html/wp-content/plugins.

The System Code

All code is stored in the public_html folder.

The WordPress Core

This provides the basic functionality of the system. Under no circumstances should it be modified as any changes that made will be overwritten the next time the WordPress core is updated. On that issue, the core should be kept up-to-date.

There will be a notification in the dashboard when an update is available and, in principle, the update should be applied as soon as possible. The process involves one click of a link.

Hooks (Filters and Actions)

Although it is inadvisable to change the WordPress core code, the system does provide a means to add functionality at different points in its execution. This functionality is provided by hooks. Hooks are fired when certain events (such as a page load) occur. Hooks can be either an action or a filter. Actions cause custom code to be executed. Filters change the returned value of an internal WordPress function.

Example of an action:

// Function to redirect logout to MGF home page rather the standard WP login page
function mgf_redirect_logout(){
	wp_safe_redirect( home_url() );
	exit;
}
add_action('wp_logout', 'mgf_redirect_logout');

Example of a filter:

// Change the text of the login/logout menu item
function loginout_text_change($text) {
$login_text_before = 'Log in';
$login_text_after = 'Sign in<br>Se connecter';
$logout_text_before = 'Log out';
$logout_text_after = 'Sign out<br>Déconnexion';
$text = str_replace($login_text_before, $login_text_after ,$text);
$text = str_replace($logout_text_before, $logout_text_after ,$text);
return $text;}
add_filter('loginout','loginout_text_change');

There are thousands of these hooks and filters and so it is impossible to learn them all. The best way to proceed is to search for the functionality that you want and the results will usually find you the appropriate filter or action. Filters and actions are placed in a file called ‘functions.php’ which is part of the theme.

Plugins

The WordPress core only provides basic functionality. Additional features can be added by means of plugins. There are thousands of these which will do most of what you might want to do but if all else fails, you can write your own. Many plugins are free but most have a premium version for which you have to pay. Maintenance of plugins is via the ‘Plugins’ item of the dashboard sidebar. Here you can see which plugins are installed and whether or not they are activated. You can also search for new plug-ins in the WordPress Plugin Directory. For information on the plugins used on the MGF site, click here.

Other code

Code can also be found in:

• routines used to format pages: templates, headers, footbars and sidebars;
• the functions.php file;
• special purpose scripts in the scripts folder.