Plugin installation and activation in Wordpress - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Plugin installation and activation

📖 Scenario: You are setting up a WordPress website for a small business. To add new features, you need to install and activate a plugin called Contact Form 7. This plugin will help the business collect messages from customers.

🎯 Goal: Learn how to install the Contact Form 7 plugin and activate it in WordPress using PHP code in a theme or plugin file.

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a variable with the plugin slug

Set a variable for the plugin file path

Use WordPress functions to install the plugin

Activate the installed plugin programmatically

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Automating plugin installation and activation saves time when setting up multiple WordPress sites or deploying new features quickly.

💼 Career

WordPress developers and site administrators often need to manage plugins programmatically for custom themes, client sites, or automated deployments.

1

Set the plugin slug

Create a variable called $plugin_slug and set it to the string 'contact-form-7'.

Wordpress

$plugin_slug = '';
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The plugin slug is the folder name of the plugin in the WordPress repository.

2

Set the plugin main file path

Create a variable called $plugin_file and set it to the string 'contact-form-7/wp-contact-form-7.php'.

Wordpress

$plugin_slug = 'contact-form-7';
$plugin_file = '';
# Your code here

Need a hint?

The plugin file path is the folder name plus the main plugin PHP file.

3

Install the plugin programmatically

Use the WordPress function plugins_api to get plugin information for $plugin_slug, then use download_url and unzip_file to download and unzip the plugin. Write the code to download and unzip the plugin using $plugin_slug.

Wordpress

$plugin_slug = 'contact-form-7';
$plugin_file = 'contact-form-7/wp-contact-form-7.php';

// Your code here to download and unzip the plugin

Need a hint?

Use WordPress admin includes and Plugin_Upgrader class to install the plugin.

4

Activate the installed plugin

Use the WordPress function activate_plugin with the variable $plugin_file to activate the plugin after installation.

Wordpress

$plugin_slug = 'contact-form-7';
$plugin_file = 'contact-form-7/wp-contact-form-7.php';

include_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin-install.php';
include_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/file.php';
include_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/misc.php';
include_once ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/class-wp-upgrader.php';

$api = plugins_api('plugin_information', array('slug' => $plugin_slug));

$upgrader = new Plugin_Upgrader();
$upgrader->install($api->download_link);

// Your code here to activate the plugin

Need a hint?

Use activate_plugin with the plugin file path to activate it.