Live Media Offloader Plugin

1. Plugin Details

• Plugin Name: Live Media Offloader
• Plugin Slug: live-media-offloader
• Description: A simple plugin to reference the media library from the live environment, avoiding the need to store media files locally.
• Version: 1.0.0
• Author: Marc Maninang

2. Plugin Structure

The plugin is contained within the live-media-offloader directory inside of the plugins directory. It has the following structure:

plugins/
└── live-media-offloader/
    ├── live-media-offloader.php
    └── readme.txt

• live-media-offloader.php: This is the main plugin file containing all the PHP logic.
• readme.txt: A standard WordPress readme file with details about the plugin.

3. Core Logic and Implementation

The core of the plugin uses a WordPress filter to modify the URL of media assets. Here’s how it works:

graph TD
    A[Page Load] --> B{WordPress requests an image};
    B --> C{Is the site running locally?};
    C -->|Yes| D[Plugin's filter is triggered];
    D --> E[Get the image URL];
    E --> F[Replace local URL with live URL];
    F --> G[Serve image from live site];
    C -->|No| H[Serve image normally];

The main logic in live-media-offloader.php is as follows:

1. Plugin Header: A standard WordPress plugin header to ensure it's recognized by WordPress.
2. Configuration Constant: We will define a PHP constant LIVE_SITE_URL in the wp-config.php file. This is a best practice for environment-specific configurations.
3. URL Rewriting Function: A function that hooks into the wp_get_attachment_url filter. This function will check if the LIVE_SITE_URL constant is defined and, if so, replace the local URL with the live URL for all media attachments.

4. Configuration Step

To make this work, you will need to add the following line to your local wp-config.php file. This file is located in the root of your WordPress installation.

define( 'LMO_LIVE_SITE_URL', 'https://www.yoursite.com' );

This approach keeps the live URL out of the plugin code, making the plugin reusable and the configuration clean.