WordPress Frontend Post Submission

While customizing the WordPress Core features to submit posts from the front end will help the administrator to securing the things from the evil eyes. Now we are going to create plugin for  WordPress frontend post submission. It will be helpful those who are creating multi-author site and User management sites.

Lets begin with writing of a plugin.

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: KV Front-end Post Submission
Plugin URI: http://wordpress.org/plugins/kv-front-post-submission/
Description: A simple wordpress plugin for front-end post submission
Version: 1.0
Author: Varadharaj	
Author URI: http://profiles.wordpress.org/kvvaradha
*/
define('KV_PLUGIN_URL', plugin_dir_url( __FILE__ ));
define('KV_SUBMIT_VERSION', '1.0');
global  $wpdb ; 

The above code help you to create simple plugin with my custom defined constants and wp global variable. Now we are going to create admin menu item and option variables with the following code.

function kv_admin_menu() { 		
	 add_menu_page('Kv Settings', 'Kv Settings', 'manage_options', basename(__FILE__) , 'kv_admin_settings', KV_PLUGIN_URL.'/images/kv_logo.png', 66);
	// add_submenu_page( 'Kv Settings', 'Settings', 'Settings', 'manage_options', 'initial_settings_callfn', 'kv_settings_page' );
	
	add_option('kv_post_status', 'Publish');
	add_option('kv_media_button', 'true'); 
	add_option('kv_richtext_editor', 'Yes');
	 //add_action("load-{$settings_page}", 'kv_admin_settings');
}
add_action('admin_menu', 'kv_admin_menu');
add_action('admin_init', 'kv_admin_register');

function kv_admin_register() {
	//register_setting('kvcodes' , 'kv_post_types');
	register_setting('kvcodes' , 'kv_media_button');
	register_setting('kvcodes' , 'kv_richtext_editor');
	//register_setting('kvcodes' , 'kv_commentbox');
	register_setting('kvcodes' , 'kv_post_status');
}

And than, lets write the code for  admin page to configure your settings,

function kv_admin_settings() { 
	 ?>
 <div class="wrap">
        <div class="icon32" id="icon-tools"><br/></div>
        <h2><?php _e('Kv Settings', 'kvcodes') ?></h2>

		<div class="welcome-panel">
		<?php //kv_admin_thirty_day_chart () ; ?>
		Thank you for using KV Front post Submission Plugin <p>
		<script async src="//pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/js/adsbygoogle.js"></script>
<!-- leaderboard -->
<ins class="adsbygoogle"
     style="display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px"
     data-ad-client="ca-pub-9927149984527168"
     data-ad-slot="7855465734"></ins>
<script>
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
</script>
		<a href="https://kvcodes.com/2014/02/front-end-post-submission-wordpress/" target="_blank" ><h3>Setup Guide</h3></a></p> 
		</div> 
		<div id="dashboard-widget-wrap" >
			<div id="dashboard-widgets" class="metabox-holder columns-1" >
				<div id="postbox-container-1" class="postbox-container" > 
					<div class="meta-box-sortables"> 
						<div id="dashboard_right_now" class="postbox">
							<div class="handlediv" > <br> </div>
							<h3 class="hndle" > General Settings </h3> 
							<div class="inside"> 
								
								<form method="post" action="options.php">
								    <?php settings_fields( 'kvcodes' ); ?>
								    <?php do_settings_sections( 'kvcodes' ); ?>
								    <table class="form-table">								                 
								        <tr valign="top">
								        <th scope="row">Use TinyMCE Rich Text Editor</th>
										<td> <select name="kv_richtext_editor" >
											<option value="Yes" <?php if(get_option('kv_richtext_editor') == 'Yes') echo 'selected' ; ?>> Yes </option>
											<option value="No" <?php if(get_option('kv_richtext_editor') == 'No') echo 'selected' ; ?>> No </option>
										</select> </td>
								        </tr>
								        
										<tr valign="top">
								        <th scope="row">Media Upload Support </th>
								        <td>
										<select name="kv_media_button" >
											<option value="true" <?php if(get_option('kv_media_button') == 'true') echo 'selected' ; ?>> Yes </option>
											<option value="false" <?php if(get_option('kv_media_button') == 'false') echo 'selected' ; ?>> No </option>
										</select> </td>
										</tr>	

										<tr valign="top">
								        <th scope="row">Default Post Status </th>
								        <td><select name="kv_post_status" >
											<option value="Publish" <?php if(get_option('kv_post_status') == 'Publish') echo 'selected' ; ?>> Publish </option>
											<option value="Pending Review" <?php if(get_option('kv_post_status') == 'Pending Review') echo 'selected' ; ?>> Pending Review </option>
											<option value="Draft" <?php if(get_option('kv_post_status') == 'Draft') echo 'selected' ; ?> > Draft </option>
										</select>
										</td>
								        </tr>
								    </table>								    
								    <?php submit_button(); ?>
								</form>
							</div> 
						</div> 
					</div>
				</div> 
			</div>
		</div> 
</div> <!-- /wrap -->
<?php
	
}

The following code will help you to create a settings link on Plugin activation.

// Add the settings link to the plugins page
        function plugin_settings_link($links)
        { 
            $settings_link = '<a href="admin.php?page=kv_front_post.php">Settings</a>'; 
            array_unshift($links, $settings_link); 
            return $links; 
        }

        $plugin = plugin_basename(__FILE__); 
        add_filter("plugin_action_links_$plugin", 'plugin_settings_link');

Create a new page programmatically for the post submission .

		
		add_action('admin_init', 'kv_page_register');

function kv_page_register() {
	$page = get_page_by_title('Submit A Post'); 
	
	if(!$page) {
		$submit_page = array(	'slug' => 'submit-post',	'title' => 'Submit A Post'	);
		$page_id = wp_insert_post(array(
			'post_title' => $submit_page['title'],
			'post_type' =>'page',		
			'post_name' => $submit_page['slug'],
			'post_content' => '[kv_submit_post]',
			'post_status' => 'publish',
			'comment_status' => 'closed',
			'ping_status' => 'closed',
			
			'post_excerpt' => 'Custom page For Front end Post Publishing! '	
		));
	} 		
	//add_post_meta( $page_id, '_wp_page_template', 'pages/submit-project.php' );
}

And finally, the following function will help you to create content for your post submission page and which will be stored as a short code, it will be called on the page.

add_shortcode( 'kv_submit_post', 'kv_front_post_creation' );

function kv_front_post_creation() { 
	 $sub_success ='FAILURE' ;
	global $wpdb; 
	if( 'POST' == $_SERVER['REQUEST_METHOD'] && !empty( $_POST['action'] ) &&  $_POST['action'] == "new_post") {
		$errors = new WP_Error();
		// Do some minor form validation to make sure there is content
		if (isset ($_POST['title'])) {
			$title =  $_POST['title'];
		} else {
			$errors->add('empty_title', __('<strong>Notice</strong>: Please enter a title for your post.', 'kvcodes'));
		}
		if (isset ($_POST['description'])) {
			$description = $_POST['description'];
		} else {
			$errors->add('empty_content', __('<strong>Notice</strong>: Please enter the contents of your post.', 'kvcodes'));
		}

		$tags = $_POST['post_tags'];

		// ADD THE FORM INPUT TO $new_post ARRAY
		$new_post = array(
		'post_title'	=>	$title,
		'post_content'	=>	$description,
		'post_category'	=>	array($_POST['cat']),  // Usable for custom taxonomies too
		'tags_input'	=>	array($tags),
		'post_status'	=>	 get_option('kv_post_status'),           // Choose: publish, preview, future, draft, etc.
		'post_type'	=>	'post'  //'post',page' or use a custom post type if you want to
		);

		//SAVE THE POST
		$query = $wpdb->prepare('SELECT ID FROM ' . $wpdb->posts . ' WHERE post_title = %s', $title  );
		$wpdb->query( $query );
		if (!$wpdb->num_rows ) {	
			 if ( !$errors->get_error_code() ) { 
				$pid = wp_insert_post($new_post);

	             //SET OUR TAGS UP PROPERLY
				wp_set_post_tags($pid, $_POST['post_tags']);
		
				if ( $pid ) 
	            	 $sub_success ='Success' ;
			}
		}
		//REDIRECT TO THE NEW POST ON SAVE
		//$link = site_url('submit-post');
		//wp_redirect( $link );
			if ($sub_success == 'Success' ) {
				unset($title, $description, $post_cat, $tags,  $new_post);
				
			}
	} // END THE IF STATEMENT THAT STARTED THE WHOLE FORM

	if($sub_success == 'Success') {
		echo '<div class="kv-success">' . __( 'Project Posted succesfully.', 'post_new' ) . '</div>';
		$sub_success = null;
	} 
	if (isset($errors) && sizeof($errors)>0 && $errors->get_error_code()) :
		echo '<ul class="kv-errors">';
		foreach ($errors->errors as $error) {
			echo '<li>'.$error[0].'</li>';
		}
	echo '</ul>';
	endif; 	?>
	<style> 
	
ul.kv-errors {
	padding: 0;
	margin: 1.54em 0 1.54em !important;
	list-style: none !important;
	border: 1px solid #DE5749;
	background: #FFE8E6;
	padding: 10px 20px;
}
ul.kv-errors li {
	list-style: none;
	color: #AA4433;
}

.kv-errors {
	padding: 0;
	margin: 1.54em 0 1.54em !important;
	list-style: none !important;
	border: 1px solid #DE5749;
	background: #FFE8E6;
	padding: 10px 20px;
}

.kv-success {
	padding: 0;
	margin: 1.54em 0 1.54em !important;
	list-style: none !important;
	border: 1px solid #026E02;
	background: #BEF7C5;
	padding: 10px 20px;
	text-color: #2DB4E5 ; 
}

</style>
<form id="new_post" name="new_post" method="post" action=""  enctype="multipart/form-data">
			<!-- post name -->
			<fieldset name="name">
				<label for="title">Post Name:</label>
				<input type="text" id="title" value="" tabindex="5" name="title" />
			</fieldset>

			<!-- post Category -->
			<fieldset class="category">
				<label for="cat">Type:</label>
				<?php wp_dropdown_categories( 'tab_index=10&taxonomy=category&hide_empty=0' ); ?>
			</fieldset>

			<!-- post Content -->
			<fieldset class="content">
				<label for="description">Description and Notes:</label>
				
				<?php  if(get_option('kv_richtext_editor') == 'Yes' ) { $editor_id = 'description' ;
							$kv_media_button = get_option('kv_media_button'); 
							$kv_editor_settings= array('media_buttons' => $kv_media_button, 
												'textarea_name' => 'description' ,
												'teeny' => true, 
												'dfw' => true);
							wp_editor('',$editor_id, $kv_editor_settings );
						} else echo '<textarea name="description" id="description" value="" > </textarea> ' ; 
					?>
			</fieldset>

			<!-- post tags -->
			<fieldset class="tags">
				<label for="post_tags">Additional Keywords (comma separated):</label>
				<input type="text" value="" tabindex="35" name="post_tags" id="post_tags" />
			</fieldset>

			<fieldset class="submit">
				<input type="submit" value="Post Review" tabindex="40" id="submit" name="submit" />
			</fieldset>

			<input type="hidden" name="action" value="new_post" />
			<?php wp_nonce_field( 'new-post' ); ?>
		</form>

<?php
}

That’s it , now  our custom front post submission plugin is ready, just move to plugins and activate it, and visit

http://your-site. com/submit-post/ page for new post submission.

Front end post submission

I made it as plugin and submitted it on WordPress plugins directory, if you want the  entire source code download it from here.

Download Source.

and here is the doc for better usage of the plugin.