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LearnDash Certificate Generator

Code that will check if there is a WooCommerce order with the same name, and upon completion of LD course generate a post with custom public Certificate that you can later share on your social media.

by Milos Milosevic · github.com/mmilosevic87/learndash_certificates

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Install

No release zip yet. The repository archive installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow:

wp plugin install https://github.com/mmilosevic87/learndash_certificates/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Readme github.com/mmilosevic87/learndash_certificates ↗

A WordPress plugin that automatically generates a certificate and sends a notification email when a user completes a LearnDash course.

What It Does

When a student completes a LearnDash course, this plugin:

  1. Verifies the purchase — Checks the user's WooCommerce orders to confirm they purchased the course
  2. Prevents duplicates — Checks if a certificate already exists for this user + course combination
  3. Generates a certificate — Creates an urban_certificates custom post type with a styled HTML certificate containing the student's name, course name, and completion date
  4. Sends an email — Notifies the student via email that their certificate has been generated

How It Works

The plugin hooks into LearnDash's learndash_course_completed action. When fired:

  1. Validates the incoming course and user data
  2. Queries WooCommerce orders to find a matching purchase
  3. Builds a styled HTML certificate with:
    • Student's full name
    • Course name
    • Completion date (localized to WordPress date format)
  4. Inserts the certificate as a published urban_certificates post
  5. Stores _certificate_user_id and _certificate_course_id as post meta for deduplication
  6. Sends an HTML notification email to the student

Requirements

  • WordPress 5.0+
  • LearnDash LMS plugin (active)
  • WooCommerce plugin (active) — courses must be sold as WooCommerce products
  • A registered custom post type: urban_certificates

Installation

  1. Download or clone this repository
  2. Place the learndash_certificates folder in wp-content/plugins/ (or drop ld_certificates.php into wp-content/mu-plugins/ for must-use)
  3. Activate the plugin from the WordPress admin
  4. Ensure the urban_certificates custom post type is registered by your theme or another plugin

Configuration

No settings page is needed. The plugin works automatically via the learndash_course_completed hook.

Customizing the Certificate Template

Edit the HTML heredoc inside generate_ld_certificate() in ld_certificates.php. The following variables are available:

Variable Description
$first_name Student's first name (escaped)
$last_name Student's last name (escaped)
$safe_course Course name (escaped)
$completion_date Localized completion date

Customizing the Email

Edit the $subject and $body variables near the end of the function.

Security

  • All user-facing output is escaped with esc_html() to prevent XSS
  • Post titles are sanitized with sanitize_text_field()
  • Email addresses are sanitized with sanitize_email()
  • kses_remove_filters() is used narrowly around wp_insert_post() and immediately restored
  • Incoming hook data is validated with type checks before use

File Structure

learndash_certificates/
└── ld_certificates.php    # Main plugin file — all logic in a single function

License

MIT