Lesson 5 – Storing and retrieving data with a WordPress Plugin

MainWP itself is not primarily a data management system for storing and retrieving arbitrary data; rather, it’s focused on managing WordPress site-related data. Therefore, If you need to store and retrieve custom data in a WordPress environment managed by MainWP, you typically do this within the context of WordPress itself, using custom post types, custom fields, or custom database tables.

It’s essential to have a solid understanding of the particular native WordPress classes and functions required for storing and retrieving data. These foundational WordPress tools enable you to manage and manipulate data within your WordPress sites, which can then be seamlessly integrated and utilized through MainWP for your overall objectives.

For example, we could instantiate the $wpdb class & utilize its built-in methods to Create & Delete tables as well as Add, Update & or remove data from specific data sets within our MainWP Database tables. You can read more in-depth about this class here: https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/

Here’s a general overview of how you can accomplish this:

1. Custom Post Types: WordPress allows you to define custom post types, which are different content types beyond just posts and pages. You can use plugins like “Custom Post Type UI” to create custom post types easily. Once created, you can store and retrieve data associated with these custom post types using WordPress functions like wp_insert_post() and WP_Query.
   Resources:
   https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wp_query/
   https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/wp_insert_post/
2. Custom Fields (Meta Data): Each post in WordPress can have custom fields associated with it. You can use functions like get_post_meta() and update_post_meta() to store and retrieve additional data associated with posts or custom post types.
   Resources:
   https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_post_meta/
   https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/update_post_meta/
3. Custom Database Tables: For more complex data structures or performance reasons, you might choose to create custom database tables. WordPress provides functions like $wpdb->insert and $wpdb->get_results for interacting with custom database tables.
   Resources:
   https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/insert/
   https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/classes/wpdb/get_results/
4. Plugins and Custom Code: Depending on your specific needs, you might develop custom plugins or write custom code snippets to handle data storage and retrieval. This could involve creating forms for data input, processing the form submissions, and storing the data appropriately.

Database Architecture & Optimization: Regardless of the method you choose, remember to consider security best practices, such as data validation and sanitization, especially when dealing with user input. Again, we must keep in mind that the architecture of the database holds significant importance and should not be overlooked, especially when considering add-ons that may lead to the expansion of database data and scalability. Thus, meticulous planning of database aspects becomes crucial. It should be best practice to assign each add-on a dedicated database table and minimize the utilization of wp_options or any other database table whenever feasible.

While MainWP itself doesn’t provide direct support for storing and retrieving custom data, it can still be used alongside these WordPress-native methods to manage and monitor your WordPress sites efficiently. This knowledge will empower you to swiftly develop a tailor-made MainWP Add-on to suit your requirements.

In the next lesson, we will be going over how to utilize the built-in MainWP Webhooks called “Actions & Filters” to either grab and or manipulate data within MainWP.