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A Few Spotify Playlists for Work

November 18, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

A few weeks ago, I was talking with some others about the types of Spotify playlists we listen to whenever we’re working primarily to help us focus and get things done. (And no, I’ve nothing against Apple Music, fanboys, I pay for it, too so ease up. ).

Spotify Playlists for Work, Volume 1

I forgot to ‘heart’ or ‘like’ or ‘star’ or whatever Twitter is calling is currently calling the act of bookmarking a tweet, but I still thought it was a neat idea to list out some of the things we all listen to whenever we’re writing code, writing words, or taking a break.

So here’s what I’ve been listening to lately.

Setting Up PHP CodeSniffer in Visual Studio Code

November 17, 2016 / Tom

This post was last updated on July 31st, 2020 to include the most recent updates.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I think code sniffing (as funny as that sounds) is something that I believe to be a staple of any WordPress development environment. And this is how you can setup PHP CodeSniffer in Visual Studio Code.

But first, a word about Code.

Visual Studio Code is a source code editor developed by Microsoft for Windows, Linux and macOS. It includes support for debugging, embedded Git control, syntax highlighting, intelligent code completion, snippets, and code refactoring.

I’ve been using Code as my primary IDE for years at this point and have been extremely happy with it. I’m not going to belabor the points as to why. I’ve written about them in other posts.

But here’s how to set up PHP CodeSniffer in Visual Studio Code.

An Implementation of the Repository Pattern

November 16, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

I talk about design patterns quite a bit on this blog, though I don’t know if I ever really do a good job of doing a deep-dive into individual patterns, why I’ve used them, or even how they are structured.

I’m okay with that as I’m not always aiming to give tutorials on principles and patterns as I am on WordPress-specific programs, but let’s say you’re someone who wants to use a design pattern in WordPress and isn’t sure where to start.

Given all of the above, I thought it might be worth giving a high-level look at how I’m implementing a pattern in a current project – at least at a high level – and then where you can refer to other design patterns for your future work.

Programmatically Add a WooCommerce Variable Product

November 15, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

Adding a custom WooCommerce variable product isn’t something that’s terribly difficult given the hooks that WooCommerce provides, but there’s always a bit of context that helps when giving an example like this, right?

Last week, I shared a small bit of a code that shows how to add a custom input field to a WooCommerce product. And in that post, one of the things I shared what how I like how easy it is to create UI elements using server-side logic.

WooCommerce Variable Product: Creating the UI

And working with variable products is no different. It is, however, a matter of using a different hook.

Use and Abuse Singletons in WordPress

November 14, 2016 / Tom / 0 Comments

For those who make a living by creating custom solutions for others using WordPress, you likely have your approach to how you structure the foundation of your typical plugin. And I think that’s a Good Thing™.

If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I generally prefer the object-oriented approach to building plugins so there are a number of patterns, common solutions, and architectural decisions that I try to employ from project-to-project.

I’m not dogmatic about it, though:

If something new comes along, I’m willing to give it a try. Similarly, if someone I’ve been using for a while is criticized, I’m willing to take a look but that doesn’t mean I’ll change it.

In short, I need a lot of information to sell my on why I should change something that works, that’s maintainable, and that reads well for other developers.

And one of the points of discussion that comes up periodically is the idea of using Singletons in WordPress development.

Tom McFarlin

A Few Spotify Playlists for Work

Setting Up PHP CodeSniffer in Visual Studio Code

An Implementation of the Repository Pattern

Programmatically Add a WooCommerce Variable Product

Use and Abuse Singletons in WordPress