Developing for MultiSite

Freelance WordPress Developer

Owner and Lead Developer at

PhotographyBlogSites.com

martythornley.com @martythornley

A Little About Me

Standard WordPress

Single site for youSingle site for client

MultiSite

Series of personal sitesMultiple client sites

Signups open to the public

What is MultiSite?

Single WordPress installation One “main site”

Lots of “sub-sites”

Network of Many Sites

What is MultiSite?

Single databaseSingle set of core filesShared Plugins folderShared Themes folder

Shared Files and DB

Manages the networkThere should be only 1 ( or very

few )Installs and updates themes,

plugins

“Super Admin” user

MultiSiteAdmin

Can only access their site(s)Can not install, update or edit:Core, plugins, themes, users

“Administrator” users

Admin area for each siteAccessed by users of that site

Settings and content for that site

every-site/wp-admin/

MultiSiteAdmin Only the Super Admin can access

Network-wide settingsEdit configurations for each site

Add and edit sites and usersInstall and activate plugins &

themes

/wp-admin/network/

Plugins shared by all sitesCan be network activated

Can be activated site by site

/plugins/

Plugins and

MultiSitealways on

used on all sitesno activation hook

no deactivation hook

/mu-plugins/

Network Site-by-site

Settings

Plugin Developer

sNeed to

Think Ahead Network admin

Sub-site admin

Menus

Super Admins Admins

Users

BackWPup

Sucuri Scanner

W3 Total Cache

WordPress SEO

Let’s look at some Plugins

Standard Network Sub-Site

The Plugins Screen

Standard Network Sub-Site

Admin Menus

No Sucuri Menu

No BackWPup Menu

MultiSite - only in Network Admin

BackWPup

BackWPupCan add user capabilities

Gives Non Super AdminsAccess to /network/ admin!

BackWPup - Ideas

Let each site back up their own stuff?

Let Super Admins determine how often they can do that?

Standard WordPress

Sucuri Scanner

MultiSite - No Network Admin

Sucuri Scanner

MultiSite - SubSite as Super Admin

Sucuri Scanner

MultiSite - SubSite as Admin User

Sucuri Scanner

Sucuri ScannerMultiSite - SubSite as Admin User

Sucuri Scanner - Ideas

Provide network admin screen so settings can be set site wide.

Most settings for this plugin should be network wide.

Right now, you need to go into each site and set it up again, even if you want to use the same settings.

W3 Total CacheSame screen - Standard, Network and SubSite

W3 Total Cache - Ideas

Are these network settings or site settings?

Most settings for this plugin should be network wide.

Probably only needs a network admin screen.

Each site should clear its own cache but not the entire cache.

WordPress SEOStandard WordPress

Network Admin

WordPress SEO

SubSite - As Super Admin

WordPress SEO

SubSite - As Admin

WordPress SEO

Edit Files

WordPress SEO

Edit Files

WordPress SEO

Allow super admins option to control settings once.

Still have subsite settings for Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Why "Edit Files" within a subsite?

Each subsite can not technically add or remove plugins so why advertise to them? Brand it, but don't advertise.

WordPress SEO - Ideas

Navigating MultiSite

Knowing Where We Are

is_multisite()

is_main_site()

is_admin()

is_network_admin()

Knowing Who

We Are

is_super_admin()

is_user_logged_in()

$current_user = wp_get_current_user();

if( current_user_can( ‘edit_themes’ ) )

What Sub-Site

are We In?

global $blog_id;

$id = get_current_blog_id();

$details = get_blog_details( $id );

URL Functions

home_url();

site_url();

admin_url();

network_home_url();

network_site_url();

network_admin_url();

$url = get_home_url( $blog_id );

$url = get_site_url( $blog_id );

$url = get_admin_url( $blog_id );

WP Constants

WP_CONTENT_DIR

WP_CONTENT_URL

WP_PLUGIN_DIR

WP_PLUGIN_URL

WPMU_PLUGIN_DIR

WPMU_PLUGIN_URL

Site-by-Site Settings

add_option( $option , $value );

update_option( $option , $value );

get_option( $option );

add_blog_option( $blog_id , $option , $value );

update_blog_option( $blog_id , $option , $value );

get_blog_option( $blog_id , $option );

Network Settings

add_site_option( $option , $value );

update_site_option( $option , $value );

get_site_option( $option );

Adding Menus

add_action( ‘admin_menu’ , ‘add_my_menu’ );

add_action( ‘network_admin_menu’ , ‘add_my_menu’ );

function add_my_menu() {add_menu_page( $page_title , $menu_title , $capability , $menu_slug , $function

, $icon_url , $position );add_submenu_page( $parent_slug , $page_title , $menu_title , $capability , $menu_slug ,

$function );}

Admin users lose a lot of capabilities.

User Capabilities

update_coreupdate_pluginsupdate_themesinstall_pluginsinstall_themesdelete_themes

edit_pluginsedit_themesedit_users

create_usersdelete_users

unfiltered_html

The register_setting functions work but ONLY on single site settings.

Network settings need to be processed and saved.

Saving Network Settings

add_action( ‘admin_init’ , ‘process_and_save_my_settings’ );

Making Use of It All

Network Options Hide Stuff

Add a network admin menu pageAllow super admins to save a setting

update_site_option( ‘allow_sites_to_see_stuff’ , true );

Network Options Hide Stuff

Check the site_option Only do stuff if allowed by site_option

if ( get_site_option( ‘allow_sites_to_see_stuff’ ) ) {// do stuff

}

Update Options Site-By-SiteBased on Network Option

Super admin chooses a setting ( like a permalink structure )

ALL sub-sites get the same setting.

Lots of BAD ways to do this.

update_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option’ , $value );

$blogs = $wpdb->get_results( SELECT blog_id FROM {$wpdb->blogs} … a bunch of other stuff ...

$value = get_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option’ );

foreach ( $blogs as $blog ) {update_blog_option( $blog['blog_id'] , ‘option_name’ , $value );

}

Do NOT do this!

Will cycle through EVERY blog, which could be 1,000‘s.

A Better Way

update_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option’ , $value );

add_action( ‘init’ , ‘update_my_site_options’ );

function update_my_site_options() {$value = get_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option’ );update_option( ‘awesome_option’ , $value );

}

Only happens as each site loads. BUT... happens every page load.

An Even Better Way

update_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option’ , $value );update_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option_updated’ , time() );

add_action( ‘init’ , ‘update_my_site_options’ );

function update_my_site_options() {$net_time = get_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option_updated’ );$site_time = get_option( ‘awesome_option_updated’ );if ( $net_time > $site_time ) {$value = get_site_option( ‘awesome_site_option’ );update_option( ‘awesome_option’ , $value );update_option( ‘awesome_option_updated’ , time() );}}

Checks times first. BUT... still happens every page load.

Maybe the Best Way?

add_filter( ‘pre_option_posts_per_page’ , ‘network_limit_posts’ );

function network_limit_posts( $num_posts ) {

if ( $network_posts = get_site_option( ‘network_post_limit’ ) ) {return $network_posts;

} else {return $num_posts;

}

}

Only looks for site_option when option is needed.

What settings should be network-wide? What settings should be site-by-site?

Settings

What should be in the network admin?What should be in the site admin?

Menus

What should Super Admins see?What should Admins see?

Users

Ask

Questions

theuproots.com

PhotographyBlogSites.com martythornley.com

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