Plugin Template

Plugin Name: UBC Courses Plugin URI: https://github.com/ubc/course-shortcode Description: Allows the listing of UBC courses and sections with data from the UBC calendar. Version: 1.0.2 Author: Michael Ha (CTLT) and Shaffiq Rahemtulla (ArtsISIT) Author URI: http://isit.arts.ubc.ca License: GPL3

A simple WordPress plugin that allows the listing of UBC courses, sections and instructors with data from the UBC calendar.

Description

A simple OOP WordPress plugin that allows the listing of UBC courses, sections and instructors with data from the UBC calendar. This plugin comes with an options page "UBC Courses" with form submission, a route handler (for custom submission, AJAX and page rendering), activation and deactivation actions, automatic admin panel JavaScript and CSS loading, string sanitization function, further validation constraints on allowable option size and two main shortcodes, "ubccourses" and "ubcinstructors".

The continuing operation of this plugin is dependent on the good graces of the folks at UBCIT who provide the necessary business functions to serve up the data.

Features

Uses the WordPress Transients API throughout the coding as a way of storing cached Calendar data in the database temporarily and reduces the amount of traffic to and from the UBC Calendar server.

[ubccourses] shortcode

In its basic form the [ubccourses] shortcode allows the listing of UBC courses with data obtained from the UBC Calendar. Some of the allowed parameters are as below:

department={enter department name} e.g. department=APSC (default – if left empty will show example of usage).
course={enter course number} e.g. [department=LLED course=200] (default – if department filled and course empty then you get all depatmental courses listed).
tabs={either true or false} (default false – if true, the data is setup with tabs for each level of courses e.g. 100 year level, 200 year level etc).
pills={either true or false} (default false – if true, the data is setup with pills for each level of courses e.g. 100 year level, 200 year level etc).
tabcount={enter number}Enter "g" for graduate courses only, "n" for undergraduate only. Enter "n*" for a particular year. E.g. n3 for 300 level courses.
parentslug (default ” – if entered, any page title (of the form e.g. “ANTH201A” that matches has has a parent equal to the slug will be linked to from the list with a “Details” button
opentab (New parameter not in production – default 1 – has to be between 1 and tabcount – if entered will auto open at that tab/pill.
profileslug (!New parameter not in production – default ” – if entered and a profile exists on the website, shows a link next to instructors name in the sections listing.
stickyyear - if true, then the shortcode will always pull up courses in the current year.
stickywinter (New parameter not in production – default ‘false’ – if true session remains as Winter even if Summer term has begun. Set to "W" to display winter courses. And "S" to display summer courses. Also declare stickyyear as true in this case. See examples for more detail.
instructors={either true or false} (default false - if true and plugin configured (via the settings panel), will list instructors on the main listing page (without users having to click on the "sections" button to see them).
fuzzy (default on and set to 80% - does fuzzy matching of instructor names (80% usually "fixes" special char issues in a name)).

[ubcinstructors] shortcode

In its basic form the [ubccourses instructorname={name}] shortcode allows the listing of UBC courses that the instructor teaches in the current session. The instructor name has to match exactly with the name in the UBC Calendar.

If used without the instructorname parameter and on a profile singular page, will show courses taught by that instructor.

Note: To use, first go to Settings --> UBC Courses. Select your department from the list and generate a list of all instructors. You can select other departments and keep building the list. When all the instructors names have loaded, save the list and use the shortcode.

Some of the allowed parameters are as below:

instructorname={"name matching that of UBC Calendar exactly"} e.g. instructorname="Wayne, Bruce" (default- if entered and plugin configured (via the settings panel), will list all courses that an instructor teaches within the current session).
parentslug (default – if entered, any page title (of the form e.g. “ANTH201A” that matches has has a parent equal to the slug will be linked to from the list with a “Details” button.
profileslug (New parameter not in production – default – if entered and a profile exists on the website, shows a link next to instructors name in the sections listing.
stickywinter={either true or false} (New parameter not in production – default ‘false’ – if true session remains as Winter even if Summer term has begun.
instructors={either true or false} (default false - if true and plugin configured (via the settings panel), will list instructors on the main listing page (without users having to click on the "sections" button to see them.

Examples

Simple tabbed example:

[ubccourses department=EDCP tabs=true instructors=true stickyyear=true tabcount=6 opentab=3]

Displaying one course:

[ubccourses department=EDCP course=302A]

Displaying Graduate courses only

[ubccourses department=EDCP instructors=true stickyyear=true tabcount=g pills=true]

Force summer courses in a particular year

[ubccourses department=LLED stickyyear=true stickywinter="S" tabcount=n3]

Force winter courses in a particular year

[ubccourses department=LLED stickyyear=true stickywinter="W" tabs=true]

Installation

The plugin is simple to install:

Download ubccourses.zip
Unzip
Upload plugin-template directory to your /wp-content/plugins directory
Go to the plugin management page and enable the plugin

Changelog

1.0

Initial release

Added admin page under Settings to collect instructor data.
Added shortcode [ubcinstructors] to display courses by instructor name.

darshandsoni / course-shortcode