It is possible. It would need to be done using JavaScript, and with jQuery pretty much built-in, I’d suggest looking at that.
The basic idea behind it is that you’d set up an array of available values, and when the user clicks the ‘Add’ button you take away any selected value and output a drop-down with only the reamining values.
I don’t know if anything that’s pre-built for this, but even though it’s not a small job, it’s also not to bad, and it won’t seen quite so scary once you start off with it.
Yeah jquery seems to way to go. Too bad there’s no tool/framework to generate this code. Perhaps it’s a closely guarded secret amongst all the “pro” plugin writers. 😉
Other suggestions still welcome.
There’s no “pro” plugin writers. Just people that have gone through it all and learnt along the way. 🙂 That’s one of the main reasons that people here, and other places, will give you tips and hints on what to do and where to look, but not actually straight-out give you a block of code to do what you want. It’s because if we did it that way no one would ever learn how to do it themselves.
There’s no framework for this because writing this sort of code really is fairly straight forward. When learning, it will still be a struggle. In the end, you’ll be surprised how little is actually involved.
TL;DR – If you can’t learn for yourself for any reason, help out a struggling coder 🙂
IMO, learning by doing really is the best way, and that is in part why I don’t provide code here, only advice and opinion. In a sense there are ‘pro’ plugin writers if you define pro as anyone who does something for pay (it’s not that simple in reality). There are very few who can make a living this way, even then they are not getting rich this way.
There are many more who are struggling, and while it is just supplemental income, it can be essential to make ends meet. It is for these people why I don’t provide code here. I don’t wish to take away from someone where a bit of coding income is very important to them.
My advice here is to use either javascript or jquery as suits your experience.
Google is your friend, use it to search for plugins which fulfill specific questions.
Download and study plugins, as many as you need.
If you have specific problems or questions then start a thread, provide as much detail as you can and give it a good title.
The problem I also have with studying plugin development, is the fact that there aren’t a lot of good tutorials that use proper coding technique. Or if I find some tuts, I feel that they are outdated or try to re-invent the wheel (don’t use built in functions for security). Also, when I study code of plugins, various techniques are used (singleton pattern, functions.php hacks, plugin “the wordpress way”, fragmented code, etc…).
I’m trying to make the best of it, for my own peace of mind, for easy maintenance later. That’s why I ask for useful pointers if you know any existing tools for this task.
But yeah don’t get me wrong please. I’m not afraid to do it myself, because trust me I will. I’m certainly not looking for blocks of code. Still I feel it’s useless to code something from the ground up if there is an elegant way to do it by using built-in wordpress functions.
Looks like there is no such thing for my requirements, so yes, I’ll look at jquery indeed. 🙂 Thanks for your answers so far.
There really isn’t a “proper” coding technique that should be applied for any project. There’s many who will say their way is the right way, but it’s a matter of opinion. Who’s to say what is elegant and what is ugly? Code can be elegant and clever but difficult for others to follow the logic. In my mind that is not good coding. You’ll eventually develop your own style for what works for you, that will be your proper way.
That only comes with time and experience. What’s one to do in the mean time? If you’re working mainly with WP projects, you can start with WP Coding Standards. Assuming you haven’t yet looked at this, you’ll find there is still a lot of latitude within the standards, they do not necessarily prevent one from doing some rather awful things. It’s more just an accepted style so all core code has a cohesive appearance. Ya gotta start somewhere 🙂
