Esmond Daily Posts Queue

Project: https://github.com/Esmond-M/em-daily-posts-queue
Author: esmondmccain.com
Version: 0.1.2

Summary

Originally made for an intranet website. Packaged as a reusable plugin. Allows daily posts to be displayed on the front end via shortcode. Visitors submit photos through a front-end form; a custom admin role can then review, reorder, and manage the queue. The top post in the queue is automatically rotated out on a weekday schedule using Action Scheduler.

Requirements

• WordPress: 6.1+
• PHP: 7.4+
• Required Plugin: Action Scheduler

Quick Start — Shortcodes

After activation, go to Net Submissions → 📋 Shortcodes in the WP admin sidebar, or check the Daily Posts Queue widget on the main dashboard. Both show copy buttons for each shortcode.

Shortcode	Where to use
[EmDailyPostsQueueForm]	Any page where visitors submit photos
[EmDailyPostsQueueDisplayPost]	Any page/widget area to show today's post

Both shortcodes accept an optional class attribute:

[EmDailyPostsQueueForm class="my-wrapper"]
[EmDailyPostsQueueDisplayPost class="my-wrapper"]

Features

• Photo submission form — front-end shortcode form; visitors upload a photo, headline, and caption (max 8 MB, JPG/PNG)
• Daily post display — shortcode that renders the current first-in-queue post (image, headline, caption)
• Drag-and-drop queue management — admin sub-menu to reorder or remove submissions
• Automatic daily rotation — Action Scheduler advances the queue every weekday; admins can customise the trigger time from the WP timezone settings
• Demo content import — one-click button on the queue edit page to seed 4 sample posts
• Custom post type net_submission — separate from regular posts; supports title and featured image
• Custom role Net Submitter — limited access; can submit and view own submissions only
• Shortcode reference — dedicated admin sub-menu page + dashboard widget so shortcodes are always visible
• Optimistic concurrency — queue edits check for stale data and warn before overwriting
• JSON queue storage — queue stored as JSON (migrated transparently from legacy serialize+base64)

Installation

1. Download the latest zip from build/em-daily-posts-queue.zip.
2. In WordPress admin go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Upload the zip and activate.
4. Install and activate the Action Scheduler plugin.
5. Find your shortcodes under Net Submissions → 📋 Shortcodes.

Usage

1. Add the submission form to a page

[EmDailyPostsQueueForm]

Visitors fill in a headline, caption, and photo. On submission an email is sent to the site admin.

2. Display the current daily post

[EmDailyPostsQueueDisplayPost]

Shows the featured image, headline, and caption of the first item in the queue.

3. Manage the queue

1. Go to Net Submissions → Edit Photo Queue
2. Reorder items by changing the queue number fields and saving
3. Delete individual items with the remove button
4. Import demo content with the Import Demo button
5. Adjust the daily rotation time under the cron settings panel

4. Review submissions

Go to Net Submissions to see all submitted posts. Publishing a post automatically appends it to the end of the queue.

Technical Details

Database

Table	Purpose
{prefix}edpq_net_photos_queue_order	Stores queue order as a JSON array of {postid, queueNumber} objects

Meta Fields

Key	Description
topic_headline_value	Submission headline
topic_caption_value	Submission caption

Custom Post Type

• Slug: net_submission
• Supports: title, thumbnail
• Custom capabilities: edit_net_submission, read_net_submission, delete_net_submission, etc.

User Roles

• Net Submitter — can create/read own net_submission posts and upload files; no access to queue management
• Administrator — full access including queue edit, wipe, and cron controls

Shortcodes

Shortcode	Class	Description
[EmDailyPostsQueueForm]	EmDailyPostsQueue\init_plugin\Classes\Shortcodes	Renders the photo submission form
[EmDailyPostsQueueDisplayPost]	EmDailyPostsQueue\init_plugin\Classes\Shortcodes	Renders the current daily post

API Hooks

Actions

Hook	Description
init	CPT registration, role setup, cron scheduling
add_meta_boxes	Custom meta box registration
save_post	Saves headline/caption meta
publish_net_submission	Appends post to queue on first publish
trashed_post	Force-deletes instead of trashing
eg_1_weekdays_log	Action Scheduler hook that advances the queue

Filters

Hook	Description
post_row_actions	Removes Quick Edit and Trash from submission list
bulk_actions-edit-net_submission	Removes bulk edit action
template_include	Loads plugin template for single net_submission view

Development Setup

Prerequisites

• WordPress local environment with database access
• Composer
• PHPUnit (included via composer)
• Node.js + npm (for plugin-zip build script)

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Esmond-M/em-daily-posts-queue.git
cd em-daily-posts-queue
composer install

Configure tests/wp-config.php:

define( 'DB_NAME',     'wordpress_test' );
define( 'DB_USER',     'your_username' );
define( 'DB_PASSWORD', 'your_password' );
define( 'DB_HOST',     'localhost' );

Build zip

npm run plugin-zip
# Output: build/em-daily-posts-queue.zip

File Structure

em-daily-posts-queue/
├── admin/assets/           # Admin-only CSS and JS
├── assets/                 # Frontend CSS, JS, images
├── classes/
│   ├── class-cpt-net-submission.php          # CPT registration + roles
│   ├── class-cpt-net-submission-meta.php     # Meta box (headline, caption)
│   ├── class-cron-event-timer.php            # Action Scheduler scheduling
│   ├── class-cron-events.php                 # Weekly queue rotation logic
│   ├── class-photo-submission-ajax.php       # All AJAX handlers
│   ├── class-photo-submission-queue-manager.php  # Main admin controller
│   ├── class-photo-submission-utils.php      # DB helpers, queue encode/decode
│   └── class-shortcodes.php                  # Frontend shortcode renderers
├── templates/
│   ├── options-page-admin-queue-edit.php     # Queue reorder UI
│   ├── options-page-admin-queue-list.php     # Queue read-only list
│   ├── shortcode-reference.php               # Shortcode reference card
│   └── single-net-submission.php             # Single post template
├── tests/
│   ├── bootstrap.php
│   ├── EmDailyPostsQueueUIManagerTest.php
│   └── wp-config.php
├── docs/
├── vendor/
├── composer.json
├── phpunit.xml
├── package.json
├── em-daily-posts-queue.php   # Plugin entry point
└── readme.md

Testing

# Run all tests
.\vendor\bin\phpunit --bootstrap tests/bootstrap.php tests

# Run with verbose output
.\vendor\bin\phpunit --bootstrap tests/bootstrap.php tests --verbose

Coverage areas

• CPT registration, roles, capabilities
• Meta box rendering and save
• Queue array comparison and conflict detection
• Cron scheduling and queue rotation
• Shortcode registration
• AJAX handler security (nonce, capability checks)

Changelog

Version 0.1.2

• Security: Replaced serialize/base64 queue storage with json_encode; eliminates PHP object injection risk
• Security: net_photo_deletion_info_ajax no longer registered as nopriv; added nonce and capability checks to AJAX handlers
• Security: Sanitised all $_POST inputs (sanitize_text_field, sanitize_textarea_field, (int) casts)
• Security: $wpdb->prepare() used consistently; removed one unparameterised UPDATE query
• Feature: Added Shortcodes submenu page (📋) under Net Submissions CPT menu
• Feature: Added dashboard widget showing both shortcodes with copy-to-clipboard buttons
• Bug fix: Fatal TypeError: Cannot access offset on string on queue list page when DB contained the install greeting row
• Bug fix: get_queue_list_from_db and get_queue_list were identical; unified via decode_queue() helper with legacy migration
• Bug fix: new CronEvents at file scope removed; instantiation moved to plugin bootstrap only
• Bug fix: wp_set_current_user() hack replaced with direct admin_url() call for edit links

Version 0.1.1

• Queue system now guarantees sequential queue numbers (no gaps)
• Changed admin queue container class name for uniqueness
• Removed bulk edit options for net_submission post type
• Added demo content import button to admin queue edit page
• Added cron event time update and display using WordPress timezone
• Added stubs for Action Scheduler functions to prevent IDE warnings
• Disabled submit buttons during form submission for better UX

Version 0.1.0

• Initial release
• Custom post type and user role creation
• Frontend form and display shortcodes
• Queue management system
• Cron-based automatic posting
• Comprehensive test suite

Support

For issues and feature requests, please visit the GitHub repository.

License

This plugin is licensed under GPL