WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / content / course-locations

Course Locations

A learning project covering the four building blocks of custom WordPress development

by wdverse · github.com/wdverse/course-locations

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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/wdverse/course-locations/archive/refs/heads/main.zip
Readme github.com/wdverse/course-locations ↗

Course Locations — a WordPress plugin

A learning project covering the four building blocks of custom WordPress development:

Screenshot

Screenshot

Feature File WordPress APIs used
Custom post type + custom fields includes/post-type.php register_post_type, register_post_meta, add_meta_box, nonces
Shortcode includes/shortcode.php add_shortcode, shortcode_atts, WP_Query
Actions & filters includes/hooks.php wp_enqueue_scripts, the_content, admin column hooks
Custom REST endpoint includes/rest-api.php register_rest_route, WP_REST_Request, WP_Error

What it does

  • Adds a Course Locations menu in wp-admin with Address, City and Capacity fields.
  • [course_locations] shortcode lists locations on any page. Options: city="Toronto", limit="5".
  • Single location pages automatically show the address and capacity below the content.
  • Admin list shows City and Capacity columns.
  • JSON API:
    • GET /wp-json/course-locations/v1/locations
    • GET /wp-json/course-locations/v1/locations?city=Toronto&per_page=5
    • GET /wp-json/course-locations/v1/locations/{id} (returns 404 if not found)

Install locally

  1. Install LocalWP (free) and create a new site.
  2. Copy this course-locations folder into wp-content/plugins/.
  3. In wp-admin go to Plugins and activate Course Locations.
  4. Go to Settings → Permalinks and make sure it's not set to "Plain" (the REST URLs and pretty location URLs need this).

Try it

  1. Course Locations → Add New. Create 3 locations with different cities.
  2. Create a page containing [course_locations] and view it.
  3. Change it to [course_locations city="Toronto"] and check the filter works.
  4. Open http://your-site.local/wp-json/course-locations/v1/locations in the browser.
  5. Try /locations/99999 and confirm you get a 404 JSON error.

Decisions I made

  • Plugin, not theme: the locations are content. If the code lived in a theme, switching themes would make them disappear from the admin.
  • Prefixed function names (cl_): all WordPress plugins share one global space, so prefixes prevent name clashes with other plugins.
  • Security: form saves are protected with a nonce and a permission check. Input is sanitized when saved (sanitize_text_field, absint), and output is escaped when printed (esc_html, esc_attr, esc_url).
  • Rewrite rules flushed only on activation: this makes location URLs work immediately without slowing down every page load.
  • Custom REST endpoint: returns only the fields an app needs, in a stable shape, and is versioned (v1) so it can change later without breaking existing apps.

What I'd add next

  • A POST endpoint to create locations, restricted to logged-in editors.
  • A Gutenberg block as an alternative to the shortcode.
  • Automated tests with PHPUnit.