Custom Post Types: Wordpress 3.0 Beta or Use a Plugin?

dchuk

dchuk

Senior Botter
Oct 30, 2008
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Alright guys, I'm at a crossroads here. I have a client project where I need to use custom posts (so as to avoid custom fields, I want to be able to define my own custom fields, like "zip code" and such).

I know Wordpress 3.0 is supposed to launch with this functionality, but deadlines don't allow me to wait for that to be stable. I'm looking at the plugin "more fields" as a solution, but I don't want to use something that will get FUBARed when 3.0 goes live.

Anyone dealing with this issue right now?
 


3.0 launches with the same functionality as the current version, only with some API calls to add things to the menu, as far as I understand.

Implement it right now using custom fields. That's all 3.0 is doing anyway. You won't FUBAR anything.

Edit: if you want, use custom fields that start with an '_' and write a quick hook in to the menu function to add a menu to display them... this is the ideal solution, '_' starting custom fields don't show in the custom field list, and you can validate them as you like with a save_post hook and update_post_meta.

I think I just gave you enough to get started even if you had no experience working with WordPress, assuming you know some PHP. :-)
 
dchuk said:
well after reading this post I assumed they were going a little more serious than just some custom fields: Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.0

hence why I asked
Click to expand...

Dude they already allow for completely different custom post/page types within your template....you can use them to change up the entire look + feel of a page (not to mention what functionality is offered/used) to the point where they can be entirely different than the layout/look of the rest of your theme...really the only thing thats different in 3.0 is that you can pull out any variable content (i.e. images for thumbnails or slideshows, music or video files, etc..) and have it be it's own menu option. It makes teaching your client how to use their theme/features 10x easier when you can tell them that in order to add a a podcast to the post all they have to do is click on 'podcast' when they create a new post rather than the long instructions on how to add it via your custom fields (which always takes a bit of hand-holding to explain). To add them you need to use the register_post_type function - Function Reference/register post type WordPress Codex

Here's a good example of how to use it with 3.0 - Custom Post Types in WordPress 3.0
 
Ok, I don't know where we got off track here, but I understand very well how to use custom fields/custom templates/yadda yadda in Wordpress.

What I'm asking is that I don't have time due to deadline constraints to wait for Wordpress 3.0 to go live, so I'm leaning towards using existing plugins. BUT, I don't want to use a plugin if they will be breaking when 3.0 goes live. I was just curious if anyone was in the same boat at the same time as me currently.

/confusion.

And thank you guys for the answer though, I do appreciate it.
 
dchuk said:
Ok, I don't know where we got off track here, but I understand very well how to use custom fields/custom templates/yadda yadda in Wordpress.

What I'm asking is that I don't have time due to deadline constraints to wait for Wordpress 3.0 to go live, so I'm leaning towards using existing plugins. BUT, I don't want to use a plugin if they will be breaking when 3.0 goes live. I was just curious if anyone was in the same boat at the same time as me currently.

/confusion.

And thank you guys for the answer though, I do appreciate it.
Click to expand...

My bad. According to their current 'roadmap' the stable 3.0 version won't be released until sometime in May. If it was me i'd probably stick with the plugin solution just to finish the project + deliver on time, not to mention you're just asking for trouble by installing any beta wordpress version on a production site, especially if its for a client. The functionality you're looking for should be solid by the official release though (or so i've been led to believe based on tweets + blog posts by the dev team) so if you're going to still be updating that client site come May you might want to consider incorporating them into your theme .
 
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