UIX

UIX is a small framework for creating user interfaces ( Post Types, Settings Pages, and Metaboxes ) and config structures with the least code possible. It only handles the UI. The program logic is up to you.

Documentation

Important note is that UIX used namespacing so it is PHP 5.3+. It's also heavy in development, so treat this as an ALPHA.

Installation

There are three ways to use UIX; Include, Composer & Grunt.

Include

Simply add it to a uix folder in the root of your plugin and include the uix-bootstrap.php and include it in your main plguin file like below:

require_once( 'uix/uix-bootstrap.php' );

Composer

Using composer, add the following to require property of your composer.json file: "desertsnowman/uix": "dev-master" then run $ composer install

In your main plugin file include the composer autoloader: require_once( 'vendor/autoload.php' );

Grunt

The problem with both the include and composer is versioning. The Grunt installer overcomes this by "installing" the library under your plugins namespace. Get the UIX-WP starter plugin and copy it a folder in your plugins directory. Edit the package.json file with the details of your plugin. Pay close attention to the namespace and the prefix as these are very important.

Once thats done, run npm install and wait. The latest version will be pulled from this repo, and the uix namespace rewritten under your own plugin. So theres no chance of having a clashing version

Then simply go to WordPress admin and activate the plugin.

Registration

UIX has a uix() helper function you can use to add UI objects as needed, or it can auto load UI structures from a defined UI folder.

Helper Function

The helper function makes it easy to add UI structures quickly.

$employees = uix()->add( 'post_type', 'employees', array(
    'settings' => array(
        'label'                 => __( 'Employee', 'text-domain' ),
        'description'           => __( 'Employees Post Type', 'text-domain' ),
        'labels'                => array(
            'name'                  => _x( 'Employees', 'Post Type General Name', 'text-domain' ),
            'singular_name'         => _x( 'Employee', 'Post Type Singular Name', 'text-domain' ),
            'menu_name'             => __( 'Employees', 'text-domain' ),
            'name_admin_bar'        => __( 'Employee', 'text-domain' ),
        ),
        'supports'              => array( 'title' ),
        'public'                => true,
        'menu_name'             => 'Employees',
        'menu_icon'             => 'dashicons-menu',
    ),
));

Now $employees is the UI object created. From here you just leave it and your post type is registered. However, you can also add metaboxes to the object like this:

$metabox = $employees->metabox( 'meta_fields', array(
    'name'              =>  esc_html__( 'Metabox Fields', 'text-domain' ),
    'context'           =>  'normal',
    'priority'          =>  'high',
));

This adds a Metabox Fields meta box to the post type. You'll need to have some sections and controls for the metabox to be useful, so you can add them to the metabox object:

$metabox->section( 'employee_details', array(
    'label' => esc_html__( 'Employee Details', 'text-domain' ),
))->control( 'employee_name', array(
    'label' => esc_html__( 'Name', 'text-domain' ),    
))->parent->control( 'employee_bio', array(
    'label' => esc_html__( 'Bio', 'text-domain' ),
    'type' => 'textarea'
));

Autoloading

You can register a folder for UIX to scan and auto load any structures it finds. This means that you don't need ever write registraion code to make stuff happen.

There is a uix_register hook that will allow you to register the folder location where the definition files are kept. You can use it like this:

function register_ui_folders( $uix ){
    $uix->register( plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) . 'includes/ui' );
}
add_action( 'uix_register', 'register_ui_folders' );

The path registered should have folders of each type of UI object and contain fields defining the UI structure:

ui/
├── metabox/
│   ├── user_fields.php
│   └── post_meta.php
├── post_type/
│   ├── portfolio.php
│   └── employees.php
└── page/
    └── my_settings.php

The file needs to return an array structure of the objects to auto load. The ui/employees.php mentioned above, could look like this:

$post_type = array(
    'post_type_slug' => array(
        'settings' => array(
            'label'                 => __( 'Employee', 'text-domain' ),
            'description'           => __( 'Employees Post Type', 'text-domain' ),
            'labels'                => array(
                'name'                  => _x( 'Employees', 'Post Type General Name', 'text-domain' ),
                'singular_name'         => _x( 'Employee', 'Post Type Singular Name', 'text-domain' ),
                'menu_name'             => __( 'Employees', 'text-domain' ),
                'name_admin_bar'        => __( 'Employee', 'text-domain' ),
            ),
            'supports'              => array( 'title' ),
            'public'                => true,
            'menu_name'             => 'Employees',
            'menu_icon'             => 'dashicons-menu',
        ),
        'metabox'                   => array(
            'meta_fields'           =>  array(
                'name'              =>  esc_html__( 'Metabox Fields', 'text-domain' ),
                'context'           =>  'normal',
                'priority'          =>  'high',
                'section'               =>  array(
                    'employee_details'  =>  array(
                        'label'         =>  esc_html__( 'Employee Details', 'text-domain' ),
                        'control'       =>  array(
                            'employee_name' =>  array(
                                'label'     => esc_html__( 'Name', 'text-domain' ),
                            ),
                            'employee_bio'    =>  array(
                                'label' => esc_html__( 'Bio', 'text-domain' ),
                                'type' => 'textarea'
                            ),
                        ),
                    ),
                ),
            ),  
        ),
    ),
);
return $post_type;

This will create and register the post type automatically on load, including the metabox and controls attached.