WP HR Employee Leave Management

A comprehensive WordPress HR plugin for employee leave management with email approval system, contact memory, and professional workflow automation.

🔗 Repository

GitHub: wp-hr-employee-leave-management

Features

Frontend Features

• Leave Request Form via shortcode [employee_leave_form]
• Multi-type Leave Support - Annual, Casual, Sick, Emergency (Probation)
• Gapped Date Selection - Non-consecutive leave dates
• Real-time Balance Validation - Check available leave before submission
• Manager/Reliever Emails - Optional email fields for notifications
• Responsive Design - Mobile-friendly form interface
• Success Modal - Beautiful modal confirmation after successful submission
• Duplicate Date Validation - Prevents duplicate dates in the same request
• Email Validation - Real-time validation with visual feedback for comma-separated emails
• My Leave Requests Shortcode - Paginated display of employee's leave history with filters

Admin Features

• Modern Dashboard - Statistics overview with visual indicators
• Leave Request Management - Approve/reject with one-click
• Year-based Filtering - Filter requests by year
• Settings Panel - 4 comprehensive tabs:
  • General (HR Email configuration & notification settings)
  • Leave Types (Manage allocations)
  • Email Templates (5 customizable templates)
  • Page Management (Create/manage pages)
• Email Notification Control - Enable/disable notifications for submission, approval, and rejection events

Email System

• 5 Email Templates:
  • Leave Request Submitted (to HR)
  • Leave Request Approved (to employee)
  • Leave Request Rejected (to employee)
  • Leave Notification Manager (to managers)
  • Leave Notification Reliever (to relievers)
• Template Variables: {{employee_name}}, {{leave_dates}}, {{leave_types}}, etc.
• HTML Email Support with proper formatting
• Configurable Notifications: Admin can enable/disable email notifications for different events
• Automatic Multi-Party Notifications: Emails sent to HR, managers, relievers, and employees based on event type

Installation

1. Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Go to "Employee Leaves" in the admin menu
4. Configure settings and create a page with the leave form

Usage

Creating a Leave Request Page

1. Go to Employee Leaves > Settings > Page Management
2. Enter a page title (e.g., "Employee Leave Request")
3. Click "Create Page"
4. The page will be created with the shortcode automatically embedded

Manual Shortcode Usage

Leave Request Form: Add [employee_leave_form] to any page or post.

My Leave Requests: Add [my_leave_requests] to any page or post.

Shortcode Attributes:

For Leave Request Form:

• title="Custom Title" - Custom form title
• show_balance="false" - Hide balance information
• redirect_url="/thank-you" - Custom redirect after submission

For My Leave Requests:

• per_page="5" - Number of requests per page (default: 10)
• show_year_filter="false" - Hide year filter
• show_status_filter="false" - Hide status filter

Examples:

[employee_leave_form title="Request Time Off" show_balance="false" redirect_url="/success"]
[my_leave_requests per_page="5" show_year_filter="false"]

Managing Leave Requests

1. Go to Employee Leaves > Leave Requests
2. Filter by year using the dropdown
3. Click "Approve" or "Reject" for pending requests
4. View employee details, leave dates, and reasons

Configuring Email Templates

1. Go to Employee Leaves > Settings > Email Templates
2. Customize subject and body for each template type
3. Use template variables for dynamic content
4. Enable/disable individual templates

Database Tables

The plugin creates 7 database tables:

• wp_employee_leaves_types - Leave type definitions
• wp_employee_leaves_requests - Main leave requests
• wp_employee_leaves_dates - Individual leave dates with types
• wp_employee_leaves_balances - Yearly leave balances per employee
• wp_employee_leaves_logs - Activity logs with year tracking
• wp_employee_leaves_notifications - Email notification logs
• wp_employee_leaves_email_templates - Email template storage

Leave Balance System

• Automatic Initialization - Balances created when first accessed
• Year-based Tracking - Separate balances per year
• Real-time Updates - Balances updated when requests approved
• Balance Validation - Prevents over-allocation during submission

Technical Details

File Structure

wp-employee-leaves/
├── wp-employee-leaves.php (Main plugin file)
├── admin/
│   ├── css/admin.css (Admin styling)
│   └── js/admin.js (Admin JavaScript)
├── frontend/
│   ├── css/style.css (Frontend styling)
│   └── js/script.js (Frontend JavaScript)
├── DEVELOPMENT_PLAN.md (Development roadmap)
├── test-curl.sh (API testing script)
└── README.md (This file)

AJAX Endpoints

• wp_ajax_create_leave_page - Create new page with shortcode
• wp_ajax_add_shortcode_to_page - Add shortcode to existing page
• wp_ajax_approve_leave_request - Approve leave request
• wp_ajax_reject_leave_request - Reject leave request
• wp_ajax_submit_leave_request - Submit new leave request (with proper nonce validation)

Hooks and Filters

• employee_leave_form - Shortcode hook
• Standard WordPress activation/deactivation hooks

Security Features

• XSS Protection - All user input properly sanitized and output escaped
• Nonce Verification - All forms and AJAX requests protected with WordPress nonces
• Capability Checks - Role-based access control with manage_options capability
• SQL Injection Prevention - All database queries use prepared statements
• CSRF Protection - Cross-site request forgery protection on all admin actions
• Input Validation - Comprehensive server-side validation for all user inputs
• Secure Headers - Proper security headers for admin pages

Internationalization

• Text Domain: wp-employee-leaves
• Translation Ready - All strings properly internationalized
• Included Languages: Spanish (es_ES), French (fr_FR)
• JavaScript Localization - Frontend and admin JavaScript strings localized
• Translation Files: .pot, .po, and .mo files included in /languages/ directory

Troubleshooting

Page Creation Issues

1. Check browser console for JavaScript errors
2. Verify user has 'manage_options' capability
3. Ensure plugin is properly activated
4. Check WordPress error logs

Email Issues

1. Verify HR email is configured in settings
2. Check email template settings
3. Ensure WordPress mail function is working
4. Review email notification logs

Form Submission Issues

1. Verify user is logged in
2. Check leave balance availability
3. Ensure JavaScript is enabled
4. Review form validation errors

Support

For issues and feature requests, please check the WordPress admin error logs and browser console for detailed error messages.

Testing

A test script is included for API testing:

# Make the script executable
chmod +x test-curl.sh

# Run tests
./test-curl.sh

The test script includes:

• AJAX endpoint connectivity tests
• Form validation tests
• Authentication tests
• Error handling tests

Note: Update the COOKIES variable in the script with current WordPress session cookies before running.

Version History

• 1.0.0 - Initial release with full functionality

  • Leave request form with multi-type support
  • Admin dashboard with approval workflow
  • Email template system
  • Page creation tools
  • Modern responsive design

• 1.1.0 - Enhanced user experience and validation

  • Added success modal confirmation
  • Improved duplicate date validation
  • Enhanced email validation with real-time feedback
  • Better error handling and AJAX response management
  • Added comprehensive test suite

• 1.2.0 - My Leave Requests feature and Email Notifications

  • Added [my_leave_requests] shortcode with pagination
  • Implemented automatic email notifications for all parties
  • Added admin controls for email notification settings
  • Enhanced admin dashboard with dual page creation
  • Improved notification logging and tracking

• 1.3.0 - Security Hardening and Internationalization

  • Comprehensive XSS protection and input sanitization
  • Enhanced nonce verification for all AJAX handlers
  • Removed debug statements and console.log calls
  • Full internationalization support with translation files
  • Added Spanish (es_ES) and French (fr_FR) translations
  • Security audit and vulnerability remediation
  • Improved code quality and WordPress standards compliance