Shortcodes with parameters in Wordpress - Mini Project: Build & Apply

Shortcodes with parameters

📖 Scenario: You are building a WordPress site and want to create a shortcode that shows a greeting message. The message should change based on a name you provide as a parameter.

🎯 Goal: Create a WordPress shortcode called [greet] that accepts a name parameter and displays a greeting like "Hello, [name]!".

📋 What You'll Learn

Create a function called greet_shortcode that accepts attributes.

Use shortcode_atts to set a default name parameter to "Guest".

Return a greeting string using the name parameter.

Register the shortcode greet with the greet_shortcode function.

💡 Why This Matters

🌍 Real World

Shortcodes let WordPress users add dynamic content easily inside posts or pages without coding each time.

💼 Career

Knowing how to create and customize shortcodes is useful for WordPress developers and site builders to extend site functionality.

1

Create the shortcode function

Create a function called greet_shortcode that accepts one parameter called $atts.

Wordpress

// Your code here

Need a hint?

Start by defining a function named greet_shortcode that takes $atts as input.

2

Set default parameter with shortcode_atts

Inside the greet_shortcode function, use shortcode_atts to create a variable called $atts with a default name set to "Guest".

Wordpress

<?php
function greet_shortcode($atts) {
    // Use shortcode_atts to set default name to 'Guest'
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use shortcode_atts with an array setting 'name' => 'Guest' and pass $atts as the second argument.

3

Return the greeting message

In the greet_shortcode function, return a string that says "Hello, " followed by the name parameter from $atts, and then an exclamation mark.

Wordpress

 'Guest'
    ), $atts);
    // Return greeting message
    // Your code here
}

Need a hint?

Use string concatenation to build the greeting using $atts['name'].

4

Register the shortcode

After the greet_shortcode function, add a line to register the shortcode greet with the greet_shortcode function using add_shortcode.

Wordpress

 'Guest'
    ), $atts);
    return "Hello, " . $atts['name'] . "!";
}

// Register shortcode here
// Your code here

Need a hint?

Use add_shortcode with the shortcode name 'greet' and the function name 'greet_shortcode'.