On 16 December 2022, Kev Quirk wrote:
One of the things I really miss from my days using Jekyll, is the use of data files. Can this be done in WordPress?
Based on his blogpost, I threw together this very basic skeleton plugin that uses a shortcode to loop through a blogroll (stored in YAML format, in the plugin directory, though honestly it could go anywhere). If you wanted a "generic" YAML-to-content tool for WordPress you might have to work a little harder. Or somebody might've already done it. But I just wanted to put something basic together in 20 minutes to show that it could be done, and perhaps provide a jumping-off point for others.
See the original blog post for an understanding of what's being achieved here.
- Put everything into the
wp-content/plugins/danq-blogrollfolder. - In that folder, run
composer installto install dependencies (there's only one dependency, the Symphony YAML parser: if you can install the PECL YAML parser you can probably use that instead, but my approach will work even if you don't have root on your server). - Create
blogroll.ymlin that directory; you can copyblogroll.yml.exampleif you like. - Activate the plugin in the usual way.
Put the shortcode [blogroll] anywhere you like on your site: in page content, in a paragraph block in a widget area, wherever. I've opted for a shortcode for speed, simplicity, and backwards-compatibility, but you could reimplement as a Gutenberg block if that's your preferred poison.
If you want to expand this into something generic, perhaps you're looking for a shortcode that looks something like this - a template inside a shortcode that specifies the data file:
<ul>
[yaml_looper file="blogroll.yml"]
<li>
<a target="_blank" href="{{link}}">{{name}}</a>
(<a href="{{rss}}">RSS feed</a>)
</li>
[/yaml_looper]
</ul>
Implementation is left as an exercise for the reader.