With it’s easy to use interface, it is good for novice writers, but it also stands on a very powerful data management platform.

This makes it a real candidate for Rapid Application Development, but how to package and distribute those applications?

Before I present my latest project for building structured WordPress plugins, packaged with properly formatted readme file, straight from the Pods interface let me explain what Pods is.

WordPress Pods Background

Pods builds applications by creating data tables and presenting that data on pages, using display templates to keep presentation simple. Going beyond basic table administration, Pages and Templates can include any HTML or PHP code you like to manipulate data. And going beyond that, there are Helpers that can manipulate data before during or after it has been entered.

This means that any extension to WordPress can be coded in Pods. Tasks that do not require data manipulation probably do not need Pods. On the other hand, most plugins do need to use the WordPress database, even if only to store some options. Using Pods makes that data easy to maintain and it’s structure means that it is very easy to build reusable code libraries.

I will explain Pods Data, Template, Page and Helper features in more detail when I explain how my Pods projects work. First let’s look at my current to build WordPress plugins using Pods.

WordPress Pods Plugin Builder

Pods already does a good job of easing distribution of projects. It is extremely easy to bundle your project components together and export them as a Pods Package. The Pods CMS site has several examples of these packages which as well as being useful in their own right, can be used to learn various techniques.

These packages can be pasted directly into Pods, or loaded programatically, as demonstrated in the Pods UI demo. This makes distribution very easy, but there is one vital thing missing for most projects, and another missing for many.

The vital missing part is data. Though pods can export and import data, this is not part of the Pods package process. If you are handling a project for a client, it is very easy to move data to your clients site by exporting and importing, but it is not possible to supply a single package including code and data.

For most Pods projects, that data problem is the only one, and the import and export routines simply mean you have to distribute code and data separately. For many of my projects, I want to provide WordPress plugin functionality. This means that I need at least one plugin file to hook the functions into WordPress.

My Pods Plugin Builder produces standard format WordPress plugin files from Pods. The plugin it produces will load a Pods package, load the data, and add the hooks that WordPress needs. It also produces a correctly formatted readme.txt file which is so important if you want people to be able to find your plugin in the WordPress repository.

I passed a milestone today when I used the package to produce my first plugin.

WordPress Pods Plugin Builder: Next Steps

In the next few articles I will:

• Describe the package in detail, including work still to do, and potential additional features.
• Introduce the plugin that this package has produced, and describe how key features of Pods work.
• Apply the package to my shrewdBar & shrewdChat projects.
• Release the package for wider testing and distribution.

Mad with admiration one minute, mad with frustration the next.

It’s like breaking your leg when you jump around to celebrate a lottery win. Fantastic find – frustrating failings.

Let me say first, that so far, I believe the potential of this plugin is tremendous. I’m just letting off a bit of steam here because the excitement of finding a truly great WordPress plugin is making me emotional about the rough edges. I am certain those rough edges can be easily smoothed. The proof of the pudding will come in a day or so, when I complete my replacement toolbar.

The developers describe it as:

WordPress evolved.
Pods is a CMS framework for WordPress.
It’s a plugin that sits on top of WordPress, allowing you to add and display your own content types.

I see it as a Rapid Application Development (RAD) tool that could change the way we look at plugins.

Why am I so pleased with this gem?

For months, I have been looking for an easy way to work with extra data tagged onto WordPress. With a background in relational database planning and management, it is frustrating to have to workround things like usermeta & WordPress options. Also, I like simple but comprehensive forms to manage linked data, and it is daunting to have to code a relational database application to integrate with WordPress.

I can see that it can be done. Simple:Press forum is a prime example of integrating a rich database application into WordPress, but it has a scary amount of code and complex field relationships, with little in the way of generic routines that can be adapted for other applications.

Other tools I have seen, only allow simple flat file manipulation, and would need a lot of adapting to tackle relationships. Enter Pods – an easy way to add relational tables as separate applications, or linked into WordPress users or posts. Amazing potential, and amazingly easy to use.

So what are the problems?

Not much if you are familiar with coding, and do not mind getting your hands dirty.

• The user guide is very poor in examples, and I suspect some of it is out of date, as the plugin is still on a steep development curve.
• The forum, and the guide, have been radically pruned recently, so just as you think you have found an answer to something – click – 404 not found!
• Pods has a great way of attaching code to fields called helpers, but the names of these have been changed in the latest release, so many of the example packages do not work. However, it is very easy to find and replace on these, so very easy to fix – I’m just surprised it should be necessary.

So that’s a very brief introduction to Pods. I’ll go and finish the toolbar, then go through some code over the next few posts to show you just how easy it is to build an application. Early days yet, but I think this might be the answer to my nightmare about the lack of good, well-structured example plugins.