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Docs/Guides: WordPress Playground for plugin developers (#1750)
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This PR addresses
#1664

This PR belong to a set of three guides that are meant to be published
together
- WordPress Playground for Theme Developers
#1732
- WordPress Playground for Plugin Developers
#1750
- Providing content for your demo
#1747

_Note: There was an older version of this PR at
#1745 that was
closed_

---------

Co-authored-by: Birgit Pauli-Haack <[email protected]>
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juanmaguitar and bph authored Sep 12, 2024
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8 changes: 7 additions & 1 deletion packages/docs/site/docs/main/about/build.md
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Expand Up @@ -31,11 +31,17 @@ Some more examples of this workflow:

![Storage Type Device Snaphsot](../_assets/storage-type-device.png)

With Google Chrome (it only works with this browser, for now) you can synchronize your Playground instance with a local directory, that can be either:
With Google Chrome you can synchronize your Playground instance with a local directory, that can be either:

- And empty directory – to save this Playground and start syncing
- An existing directory – to load it here and start syncing

:::info

This feature is only available for Google Chrome for now. It won't work with other browsers, yet.

:::

Regarding changes done on both sides of the connection:

- Files changed in Playground will be synchronized to on your computer.
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221 changes: 220 additions & 1 deletion packages/docs/site/docs/main/guides/for-plugin-developers.md
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---
title: For Plugin Developers
title: Playground for Plugin Developers
slug: /guides/for-plugin-developers
description: WordPress Playground for Plugin Developers
---

The WordPress Playground is an innovative tool that allows plugin developers to build, test and showcase their plugins directly in a browser environment.

This guide will explore how you can leverage the WordPress Playground to enhance your plugin development workflow, create live demos to showcase your WordPress plugin to the world, and streamline your plugin testing process.

:::info

Discover how to [Build](/about/build), [Test](/about/test), and [Launch](/about/launch) your products with WordPress Playground in the [About Playground](/about) section.

:::

## Launching a Playground instance with a plugin

### Plugin in the WordPress themes directory

With WordPress Playground, you can quickly launch a WordPress installation with almost any plugin available in the [WordPress Plugins Directory](https://wordpress.org/plugins/) installed and activated. All you need to do is to add the `plugin` [query parameter](/developers/apis/query-api) to the [Playground URL](https://playground.wordpress.net) and use the slug of the plugin from the WordPress directory as a value. For example: https://playground.wordpress.net/?plugin=create-block-theme

:::tip
You can install and activate several plugins via query parameters by repeating the `plugin` parameter for every plugin you want to be installed and activated in the Playground instance. For example: https://playground.wordpress.net/?plugin=gutenberg&plugin=akismet&plugin=wordpress-seo.
:::

You can also load any plugin from the WordPress plugins directory by setting the [`installPlugin` step](/blueprints/steps#InstallPluginStep) of a [Blueprint](/blueprints/getting-started) passed to the Playground instance.

```json
{
"landingPage": "/wp-admin/plugins.php",
"login": true,
"steps": [
{
"step": "installPlugin",
"pluginZipFile": {
"resource": "wordpress.org/plugins",
"slug": "gutenberg"
}
}
]
}
```

[<kbd> &nbsp; Run Blueprint &nbsp; </kbd>](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html#{%22landingPage%22:%22/wp-admin/plugins.php%22,%22login%22:true,%22steps%22:[{%22step%22:%22installPlugin%22,%22pluginZipFile%22:{%22resource%22:%22wordpress.org/plugins%22,%22slug%22:%22gutenberg%22}}]})

Blueprints can be passed to a Playground instance [in several ways](/blueprints/using-blueprints).

### Plugin in a GitHub repository

A plugin stored in a GitHub repository can also be loaded in a Playground instance via Blueprints.

With the `pluginZipFile` property of the [`installPlugin` blueprint step](/blueprints/steps#installPlugin), you can define a [`url` resource](/blueprints/steps/resources#urlreference) that points to the location of the `.zip` file containing the plugin you want to load in the Playground instance.

To avoid CORS issues, the Playground project provides a [GitHub proxy](https://playground.wordpress.net/proxy) that allows you to generate a `.zip` from a repository (or even a folder inside a repo) containing your plugin.

:::info
[GitHub proxy](https://playground.wordpress.net/proxy) is an incredibly useful tool to load plugins from GitHub repositories as it allows you to load a plugin from a specific branch, a specific directory, a specific commit or a specific PR.
:::

For example, the following `blueprint.json` installs a plugin from a GitHub repository leveraging the https://github-proxy.com tool:

```json
{
"landingPage": "/wp-admin/admin.php?page=add-media-from-third-party-service",
"login": true,
"steps": [
{
"step": "installPlugin",
"pluginZipFile": {
"resource": "url",
"url": "https://github-proxy.com/proxy/?repo=wptrainingteam/devblog-dataviews-plugin"
}
}
]
}
```

[<kbd> &nbsp; Run Blueprint &nbsp; </kbd>](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html#{%22landingPage%22:%22/wp-admin/admin.php?page=add-media-from-third-party-service%22,%22login%22:true,%22steps%22:[{%22step%22:%22installPlugin%22,%22pluginZipFile%22:{%22resource%22:%22url%22,%22url%22:%22https://github-proxy.com/proxy/?repo=wptrainingteam/devblog-dataviews-plugin%22}}]})

### Plugin from code in a file or gist in GitHub

By combining the [`writeFile`](/blueprints/steps#WriteFileStep) and [`activatePlugin`](/blueprints/steps#activatePlugin) steps you can also launch a WP Playground instance with a plugin built on the fly from code stored on a gist or [a file in GitHub](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/custom-post/books.php):

```json
{
"landingPage": "/wp-admin/plugins.php",
"login": true,
"steps": [
{
"step": "login"
},
{
"step": "writeFile",
"path": "/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/cpt-books.php",
"data": {
"resource": "url",
"url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/custom-post/books.php"
}
},
{
"step": "activatePlugin",
"pluginPath": "cpt-books.php"
}
]
}
```

[<kbd> &nbsp; Run Blueprint &nbsp; </kbd>](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html#{%22landingPage%22:%22/wp-admin/plugins.php%22,%22login%22:true,%22steps%22:[{%22step%22:%22login%22},{%22step%22:%22writeFile%22,%22path%22:%22/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/cpt-books.php%22,%22data%22:{%22resource%22:%22url%22,%22url%22:%22https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/custom-post/books.php%22}},{%22step%22:%22activatePlugin%22,%22pluginPath%22:%22cpt-books.php%22}]})

:::info

The [Install plugin from a gist](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html?blueprint-url=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wordpress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/install-plugin-from-gist/blueprint.json#{%22meta%22:{%22title%22:%22Install%20plugin%20from%20a%20gist%22,%22author%22:%22zieladam%22,%22description%22:%22Install%20and%20activate%20a%20WordPress%20plugin%20from%20a%20.php%20file%20stored%20in%20a%20gist.%22,%22categories%22:[%22plugins%22]},%22landingPage%22:%22/wp-admin/plugins.php%22,%22preferredVersions%22:{%22wp%22:%22beta%22,%22php%22:%228.0%22},%22steps%22:[{%22step%22:%22login%22},{%22step%22:%22writeFile%22,%22path%22:%22/wordpress/wp-content/plugins/0-plugin.php%22,%22data%22:{%22resource%22:%22url%22,%22url%22:%22https://gist.githubusercontent.com/ndiego/456b74b243d86c97cda89264c68cbdee/raw/ff00cf25e6eebe4f5a4eaecff10286f71e65340b/block-hooks-demo.php%22}},{%22step%22:%22activatePlugin%22,%22pluginName%22:%22Block%20Hooks%20Demo%22,%22pluginPath%22:%220-plugin.php%22}]}) example in the [Blueprints Gallery](https://github.com/WordPress/blueprints/blob/trunk/GALLERY.md) shows how to load a plugin from code in a gist

:::

## Setting up a demo for your plugin with Blueprints

When providing a link to a WordPress Playground instance with some plugins activated, you may also want to customize the initial setup for that Playground instance using those plugins. With Playground's [Blueprints](/blueprints/getting-started) you can load/activate plugins and configure the Playground instance.

:::tip

Some useful tools and resources provided by the Playground project to work with blueprints are:

- Check the [Blueprints Gallery](https://github.com/WordPress/blueprints/blob/trunk/GALLERY.md) to explore real-world code examples of using WordPress Playground to launch a WordPress site with a variety of setups.
- The [WordPress Playground Step Library](https://akirk.github.io/playground-step-library/#) tool provides a visual interface to drag or click the steps to create a blueprint for WordPress Playground. You can also create your own steps!
- The [Blueprints builder](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html) tool allows you edit your blueprint online and run it directly in a Playground instance.

:::

Through properties and [`steps`](/blueprints/steps) in the Blueprint, you can configure the Playground instance's initial setup, providing your plugins with the content and configuration needed for showcasing your plugin's compelling features and functionality.

:::info

A great demo with WordPress Playground might require that you load default content for your plugin and theme, including images and other assets. Check out the [Providing content for your demo](/guides/providing-content-for-your-demo) guide to learn more about this.

:::

### `plugins`

If your plugin has dependencies on other plugins you can use the `plugins` shorthand to install yours along with any other needed plugins.

```json
{
"landingPage": "/wp-admin/plugins.php",
"plugins": ["gutenberg", "sql-buddy", "create-block-theme"],
"login": true
}
```

[<kbd> &nbsp; Run Blueprint &nbsp; </kbd>](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html#{%22landingPage%22:%22/wp-admin/plugins.php%22,%22plugins%22:[%22gutenberg%22,%22sql-buddy%22,%22create-block-theme%22],%22login%22:true})

### `landingPage`

If your plugin has a settings view or onboarding wizard, you can use the `landingPage` shorthand to automatically redirect to any page in the Playground instance upon loading.

```json
{
"landingPage": "/wp-admin/admin.php?page=my-custom-gutenberg-app",
"login": true,
"plugins": ["https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/block-development-examples/deploy/zips/data-basics-59c8f8.zip"]
}
```

[<kbd> &nbsp; Run Blueprint &nbsp; </kbd>](https://playground.wordpress.net/builder/builder.html#{%22landingPage%22:%22/wp-admin/admin.php?page=my-custom-gutenberg-app%22,%22login%22:true,%22plugins%22:[%22https://raw.githubusercontent.com/WordPress/block-development-examples/deploy/zips/data-basics-59c8f8.zip%22]})

### `writeFile`

With the [`writeFile` step](/blueprints/steps#writeFile) you can create any plugin file on the fly, referencing code from a \*.php file stored on a GitHub or Gist.

Here’s an example of a **[plugin that generates Custom Post Types](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wordpress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/custom-post/books.php)**, placed in the `mu-plugins` folder to ensure the code runs automatically on load:

```json
{
"landingPage": "/wp-admin/",
"login": true,
"steps": [
{
"step": "writeFile",
"path": "/wordpress/wp-content/mu-plugins/books.php",
"data": {
"resource": "url",
"url": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wordpress/blueprints/trunk/blueprints/custom-post/books.php"
}
}
]
}
```

## Plugin Development

### Local plugin development and testing with Playground

From a plugins' folder in your local development environment, you can quickly load locally a Playground instance with that plugin loaded and activated.

Use the [`wp-now` command](/developers/local-development/wp-now) from your plugin's root directory using your preferred command line program.

With [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) IDE, you can also use the [Visual Studio Code extension](/developers/local-development/vscode-extension) while working in the root directory of your plugin.

For example:

```bash
git clone [email protected]:wptrainingteam/devblog-dataviews-plugin.git
cd devblog-dataviews-plugin
npx @wp-now/wp-now start
```

### See your local changes in a Playground instance and directly create PRs in a GitHub repo with your changes

With Google Chrome you can synchronize a Playground instance with your local plugin's code and your plugin's GitHub repo. With this connection you can:

- See live (in the Playground instance) your local changes
- Create PRs in the GitHub repo with your changes

Here's a little demo of this workflow in action:

<iframe width="800" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UYK88eZqrjo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<p></p>

:::info

Check [About Playground > Build > Synchronize your playground instance with a local folder and create Github Pull Requests](/about/build#synchronize-your-playground-instance-with-a-local-folder-and-create-github-pull-requests) for more info.

:::
4 changes: 2 additions & 2 deletions packages/docs/site/sidebars.js
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Expand Up @@ -45,9 +45,9 @@ const sidebars = {
},
items: [
'main/guides/wordpress-native-ios-app',
'main/guides/for-plugin-developers',
'main/guides/for-theme-developers',
'main/guides/providing-content-for-your-demo',
// 'main/guides/for-plugin-developers',
'main/guides/providing-content-for-your-demo'
],
},
{
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