Title: Help! First plugin.
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Help! First plugin.

 *  [youngmicroserf](https://wordpress.org/support/users/youngmicroserf/)
 * (@youngmicroserf)
 * [18 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/help-first-plugin/)
 * Hi, I’m writing my first plugin, so please bear with me. It’s supposed to execute
   when a post is initially published (when the button is clicked, but before the
   status change, hopefully, and check whether appropriate categories have been 
   chosen, otherwise have a pop up appear telling the author to choose a category
   and then try again.
 * So I have my basic plugin set up and add an action at “wp_publish” checking for
   the categories.
 * And then I run into some problems comprehending the hook/filter structure and
   possibly experience the consequences of my general state of coding skills, i 
   suppose.
 * So I can use a add_filter(submitpost_box) to put a div under the submit button,
   but it will always be there. I cannnot dynamically but it there via the wp_publish
   hook, or can I?
 * If I cannot, I could put an empty div there and possibly change it via Javascript,
   but how would I call a javascript function from within a php functin without 
   an event handler of some sort?
 * Sorry if these are stupid questions, my “how to write a plugin” tutorial doesn’t
   really answer them. Maybe someone here can.
 * Thanks in advance!
 * yms

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Thread Starter [youngmicroserf](https://wordpress.org/support/users/youngmicroserf/)
 * (@youngmicroserf)
 * [18 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/help-first-plugin/#post-710439)
 * OK, I’ve managed to get an ajax script executed when someone clicks on “publish”.
   But I can’t access the post_id of the a post.
 * I’m adding a javascript with wp_enqueue and it’s included just fine. And I want
   to use php to define some variable for the JS, including the post’s ID.
 * But as much as I try I can’t access the post’s ID. I can see it in the URL, but
   apparently I cannot access the $post Object for some reason.
 * I thought it’s caused by the fact that no ID had been assigned prior to saving/
   autosaving (at which point is a new post assigned an ID? Directly? First autosave?)
   but I can’t even access the ID of posts I know do have an id.
 * Anyone? Help would really be appreciated!
 * yms
 *  Thread Starter [youngmicroserf](https://wordpress.org/support/users/youngmicroserf/)
 * (@youngmicroserf)
 * [18 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/help-first-plugin/#post-710456)
 * OK, no worries, managed to get it done. Took the value of the #post_ID field 
   that is updated by the autosave.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘Help! First plugin.’ is closed to new replies.

 * 2 replies
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [youngmicroserf](https://wordpress.org/support/users/youngmicroserf/)
 * Last activity: [18 years, 3 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/help-first-plugin/#post-710456)
 * Status: not resolved

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