In the previous part of this series, we learned about bundling a WordPress installation with plugins and themes, and tweaking the
wp-config-sample.php
file.Granted, bundling themes and plugins isn't such an amazing idea, but you have to admit that editing
wp-config-sample.php
to install WordPress with custom wp-config.php
tweaks is kind of cool. Plus, both tips work in conjunction with the magical
trick we're going to see in this tutorial and complete an extremely
useful way to use an out-of-the-box WordPress installation for your
future projects.In this part, we're going to uncover an exciting discovery about activating the bundled themes and plugins upon WordPress installation. You will see this first on Tuts+ because it hasn't been revealed anywhere on the internet until today.
Get excited.
One of the Handiest WordPress Constants I've Ever Seen: WP_DEFAULT_THEME
About a year ago, I shared a little discovery I made on Tuts+ about using the wp-config-sample.php
file to customize the generated wp-config.php
file before installing WordPress. And it was the example of a known wp-config.php
constant called WP_DEFAULT_THEME
—.If you delete all the default "Twenty-Something" themes from the default WordPress package, WordPress will give you an error instead of a front-end after the installation, because every WordPress version comes with a "default theme" and it doesn't look for another theme in the
wp-content/themes
folder if the default theme isn't there.That's why after writing that article, I thought I could use that tweak for another tutorial, called something like "Building an Out-of-the-Box WordPress Package". I just noted the title, didn't care to create an outline, and left the note in my computer for almost a year. (Talk about procrastination... I should write an article about it. I should note that down.)
Over 10 months later, I decided to create an outline and submit to the project management system of Tuts+ Code and get our editor Tom McFarlin's approval. When he approved the outline and I started writing the single-part tutorial I initially had in mind, I started thinking about
WP_DEFAULT_THEME
.While it's kind of unusual to think about a WordPress constant for two days, I ended up with an idea that I could use this constant and the trick of editing
wp-config-sample.php
before installing
WordPress to do some errands (like deleting the default post and page,
changing the permalink structure and disabling comments) that I normally
do with a "starter plugin". Then I realized I could activate some
plugins, bundled with the package beforehand. Then I realized I could
switch the theme to a real theme after this sort-of-theme is done.And then it hit me: All of this meant that I can actually activate pre-bundled plugins and a theme automatically upon the installation of WordPress! You probably can feel my excitement from the words you're reading now—imagine how I felt when I made this discovery.
Is it a workaround? Absolutely. You might even call it a WordPress "hack". But it doesn't edit any core files (other than
wp-config-sample.php
,
which we are allowed to edit) and it's not against any WordPress
convention other than "functional code is plugin territory", but I
believe using a "disposable theme" that deactivates itself in a second
isn't "not kosher". In the end, it doesn't break any files or rules, and it's a completely safe solution to an out-of-the-box WordPress installation.Making the "Warm-Up Band" Theme
Now that we've gone through the logic of what we're going to do, it's time to create the disposable "Warm-Up Band" theme.In this theme, there will be just two files: The mandatory
style.css
and the functions.php
file which will run our four-part code that will:- change the default options
- delete the default content
- activate our pre-bundled plugins
- switch to the "Headliner" theme
style.css
file content below for you to copy:
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| /* Theme Name: Warm-Up Band Author: Baris Unver from Tuts+ Code Description: Disposable theme to run some errands. Version: 0 */ |
Changing the Default Options
WordPress doesn't let you change the default options because, well, it would be a longer install if it did. But that doesn't mean that you can't change them programatically. With the help of some core functions, it's easy to tailor the options for your needs:
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| <?php // set the options to change $option = array ( // we don't want no description 'blogdescription' => '' , // change category base 'category_base' => '/cat' , // change tag base 'tag_base' => '/label' , // disable comments 'default_comment_status' => 'closed' , // disable trackbacks 'use_trackback' => '' , // disable pingbacks 'default_ping_status' => 'closed' , // disable pinging 'default_pingback_flag' => '' , // change the permalink structure 'permalink_structure' => '/%postname%/' , // dont use year/month folders for uploads 'uploads_use_yearmonth_folders' => '' , // don't use those ugly smilies 'use_smilies' => '' ); // change the options! foreach ( $option as $key => $value ) { update_option( $key , $value ); } // flush rewrite rules because we changed the permalink structure global $wp_rewrite ; $wp_rewrite ->flush_rules(); ?> |
- first created an associative array of options and their values
- ran the array in a
foreach
loop to use theupdate_option()
function for each array item - flushed the rewrite rules because we changed the permalink structure
wp-admin/includes/schema.php
file.Deleting the Default Content
Now that we've changed some default options, it's time to delete that unwanted content that we always delete manually. This one's easier:
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| <?php // delete the default comment, post and page wp_delete_comment( 1 ); wp_delete_post( 1, TRUE ); wp_delete_post( 2, TRUE ); ?> |
Activating Bundled Plugins
Remember that we decided to bundle our package with three popular plugins back in the previous part? We settled on WP Super Cache, WordPress SEO by Yoast, and Contact Form 7. Let's activate them now:
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| <?php // we need to include the file below because the activate_plugin() function isn't normally defined in the front-end include_once ( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php' ); // activate pre-bundled plugins activate_plugin( 'wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php' ); activate_plugin( 'wordpress-seo/wp-seo.php' ); activate_plugin( 'contact-form-7/wp-contact-form-7.php' ); ?> |
Switching to the "Headliner" Theme
Everything is set, and now we can switch to the actual theme we're going to use! It's the easiest part because we're going to run theswitch_theme()
function with the folder name of the theme as the parameter:
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| <?php // switch the theme to "Headliner" switch_theme( 'headliner' ); ?> |
The Full functions.php
File
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| <?php // set the options to change $option = array ( // we don't want no description 'blogdescription' => '' , // change category base 'category_base' => '/cat' , // change tag base 'tag_base' => '/label' , // disable comments 'default_comment_status' => 'closed' , // disable trackbacks 'use_trackback' => '' , // disable pingbacks 'default_ping_status' => 'closed' , // disable pinging 'default_pingback_flag' => '' , // change the permalink structure 'permalink_structure' => '/%postname%/' , // dont use year/month folders for uploads 'uploads_use_yearmonth_folders' => '' , // don't use those ugly smilies 'use_smilies' => '' ); // change the options! foreach ( $option as $key => $value ) { update_option( $key , $value ); } // flush rewrite rules because we changed the permalink structure global $wp_rewrite ; $wp_rewrite ->flush_rules(); // delete the default comment, post and page wp_delete_comment( 1 ); wp_delete_post( 1, TRUE ); wp_delete_post( 2, TRUE ); // we need to include the file below because the activate_plugin() function isn't normally defined in the front-end include_once ( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php' ); // activate pre-bundled plugins activate_plugin( 'wp-super-cache/wp-cache.php' ); activate_plugin( 'wordpress-seo/wp-seo.php' ); activate_plugin( 'contact-form-7/wp-contact-form-7.php' ); // switch the theme to "Headliner" switch_theme( 'headliner' ); ?> |
The End
While WordPress is famous for its "five minute installation process", I believe that it's possible to save a few minutes more, if you know what you're doing. With the things we've covered in this series, you might gain more time before and during the WordPress installation process.What do you think about creating automated WordPress installs? Do you think there's more room to improve the series? Tell us what you think by writing in the Comments section below. And if you liked the series, don't forget to share both parts!
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