Sometimes, you run into a situation where you just need to manually run a script. The actual logic might be as simple as generating a csv from a query, or changing a user's settings, or even just running a single line of SQL. WordPress makes this difficult.<\/p>\n\n
There are many hacky solutions to the problem, but most of them lack security or are too difficult for anyone but a developer to run or just take too long to build. That's where we come in.<\/p>\n\n
WP Utility Script Runner lets you start with a simple 17 line template, add in your custom code, save to the server, and in minutes you have a secure, fully featured utility, that you can safely run from the WordPress dashboard.<\/p>\n\n
But that's not all! With a few extra lines of code, your utility can:<\/p>\n\n
\/wp-content\/plugins\/plugin-name<\/code> directory, or install the plugin through the WordPress plugins screen directly.<\/li>\n- Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' screen in WordPress<\/li>\n
- Use the Settings->Utility Scripts screen to manage and run utility scripts<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n
\n- Why would I ever need to run a script on-demand, rather than on page load?<\/dt>\n
There are many times running on page load is not the best option:<\/p>\n\n
\n- You may want to ensure that a task only happens once, when many people may be visiting the page<\/li>\n
- You may need to capture some form of output from the script, without showing it to all users<\/li>\n
- You may have multiple team members working on the site, and not want to harm their workflow with your debugging output<\/li>\n
- You may need to be able to have non-developers run the script periodically, for tasks like report generation<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
There are too many other use cases to count. If you don't see a use case, you probably don't need this tool, and that's ok.<\/p><\/dd>\n
- Why not just write some custom PHP and tuck it in a subfolder?<\/dt>\n
There are many caveats to taking this approach, but mostly it just leaves you writing a lot of (probably insecure) code.<\/p>\n\n
To build a custom script properly, you need to:<\/p>\n\n
\n- Handle security on your own.<\/li>\n
- Either duplicate or side-load any WordPress functions you need<\/li>\n
- Build an interface and form handler<\/li>\n
- Handle downloads<\/li>\n
- Handle cron<\/li>\n
- Get around PHP_MAX_EXECUTION_TIME<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
That can be a massive amount of code, for a script that could be as simple as a single SQL query.<\/p><\/dd>\n
- Why not WP-CLI?<\/dt>\n
We love WP-CLI, but sometimes the command line is just not the right tool for the job. Often you can't get WP-CLI on shared hosts, and users who may need to use the utilities may not be comfortable with the command line. But stay tuned, WP-CLI integration is on our roadmap.<\/p><\/dd>\n
- Why not (Insert Solution Here)?<\/dt>\n
The most common answer is feature completion and ease of access. A utility script can contain as little as 17 lines of overhead, before you are free and clear to write whatever you need. We dare you to find a lighter-weight, more feature-complete option. We wrote WP Utility Script Runner because there wasn't one.<\/p><\/dd>\n
- Is it possible to get down to under 17 lines of boilerplate?<\/dt>\n
Technically? Yes. But you'll be sacrificing a lot of features. You can write your utility in \"legacy mode\", where it can be written as simply as:<\/p>\n\n
\n <?php\n \/\/ Utility Name: My Legacy Utility\n \/\/ Description: An example of a legacy utility\n echo \"Hello World\"; \/\/ your custom code goes here<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n
You will not get native handling for inputs, files, state, downloads, or error output, but it is pretty darn short.<\/p><\/dd>\n
- Why aren't there any useful utilities bundled in?<\/dt>\n
Most of the time, we find that Utility Scripts are very custom to the specific site and hosting environment. We have plans to build a library of useful scripts, but for now, we just included a couple examples to help you get started writing your own.<\/p><\/dd>\n
- Your plugin is bad, and You should feel bad!<\/dt>\n
While that's not exactly a question, we do take bug reports and reviews very seriously. In addition, you can always contact us directly with your thoughts, at support@burlingtonbytes.com.<\/p><\/dd>\n\n<\/dl>\n\n\n
08\/29\/2018 - 1.1.0<\/h4>\n\n\n- Bugfix for form fields with hyphens in name improperly serializing<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
11\/16\/2017 - 1.0.1<\/h4>\n\n\n- Bugfix for sample Comment2Post utility<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n
08\/19\/2017 - 1.0.0<\/h4>\n\n\n- Initial Release!<\/li>\n<\/ul>","raw_excerpt":"Create custom scripts and manage them directly from the WordPress Dashboard. Schedule scripts, handle user input, download reports, and more.","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin\/73465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/plugin"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73465"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wporg\/v1\/users\/burlingtonbytes"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"plugin_section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_section?post=73465"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_tags?post=73465"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_category?post=73465"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_contributors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_contributors?post=73465"},{"taxonomy":"plugin_business_model","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcd.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/plugin_business_model?post=73465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}