Fabio Cicerchia

<p>This script is useful during the development of WordPress, because will extend with a set of functions.</p>
<h3>Usage</h3>
<p>class <code>WP_Dev_Utilities</code>:</p>
<ul>
<li>_debug() – A function to print variable only if the user logged as administrator</li>
<li>_retrieve_user_data() – Retrive user data informations only if user is logged in</li>
<li>count_num_pages_post($id) – Returns the number of pages of a post</li>
<li>get_current_execution_time($precision = 3) – Get the current execution time</li>
<li>get_logged_username() – Returns the name of the user logged on</li>
<li>get_post_content_from_id($id) – Return the content of the post from his id</li>
<li>get_post_content_from_permalink($permalink) – Return the contents of the post permalink</li>
<li>get_post_id_from_permalink($permalink) – Return the id of the post permalink</li>
<li>is_administrator() – Check if logged user has the administrator privileges</li>
<li>get_web_browser($shortname = false, $uppercase = false) – Returns the user’s browser name</li>
<li>get_web_server($uppercase = false) – Returns the web server is use</li>
<li>get_wp_version() – Get the current wordpress version</li>
<li>get_tag_slug($title) – Get the tag slug from tag title</li>
<li>get_current_tag_slug($title) – Get the tag slug from the current tag title</li>
</ul>


WP Development Utilities

Extends the template tags with more functions that are very useful.

Patabugen

<p>Integrates WordPress with Browsersync to trigger events like reload when you edit pages.</p>
<p>The plugin also only triggers a reload for now. If you have requests or ideas for other functionality, get in touch.</p>
<p>Since you (should) disable this plugin on production sites, the WordPress stats won’t be reliable – if you find the plugin useful I’d really appreciate it if you’d let me know with a quick email or message!</p>
<h4>Triggers</h4>
<p>By default the plugin will trigger a reload on these actions:</p>
<ul>
<li>save_post – Editing posts/pages/custom posts etc</li>
<li>added_option – Changing settings</li>
<li>attachment_updated – Editing media fields (caption etc)</li>
<li>updated_postmeta – Covers many things, particularly regenerating media thumbnails. Some meta_fields are ignored (see <code>trigger_browsersync_irrelevant_meta_keys</code>)</li>
<li>activated_plugin</li>
<li>deactivated_plugin</li>
<li>delete_widget</li>
</ul>
<p>you can customise this as well as other Browsersync settings using filters:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('trigger_browsersync_reload_actions', function($filters) {
    // Remove a default. Bear in mind that one action you take (e.g. saving a page)
    // may trigger more than one hook.
    unset($filters['save_post']);
    // Add your own. The key name lets other filters remove it (like the line above)
    $filters['wp_logout'] = 'wp_logout';
    return $filters;
});
</code></pre>
<h4>Ignoring Meta Keys</h4>
<p>Not all meta_key updates (triggered by <code>updated_postmeta</code>) have any impact on the front-end functioning of your site. You can customise which <code>meta_key</code> values are ignored with the <code>trigger_browsersync_irrelevant_meta_keys</code> filter:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('trigger_browsersync_irrelevant_meta_keys', function($filters) {
    // Remove a default.
    unset($filters['_edit_lock']);
    // Add your own. The key name lets other filters remove it (like the line above)
    $filters['_edit_lock'] = '_edit_lock';
    return $filters;
});
</code></pre>
<h4>Configuration with Filters</h4>
<p>The default Browsersync settings will be used (<code>http://localhost:3000</code>) but you can use filters to change them. The filters are used every time the trigger is activated so you don’t need to set them before instanciating the class.</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('trigger_browsersync_protocol', function(){ return 'https'; } );
add_filter('trigger_browsersync_host', function(){ return 'dev.server'; } );
add_filter('trigger_browsersync_port', function(){ return '4321'; } );
</code></pre>
<p>Or you can specify the whole URL which will cause the others to be ignored, but don’t include a trailing slash.</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('trigger_browsersync_url', function(){ return 'http://localhost:3000'; } );
</code></pre>
<h4>Environmental Configuration</h4>
<p>Since you probably only want Browsersync on your development or staging site, the plugin will do nothing once you activate it it in WordPress.</p>
<p>To make it work, you’ll want to create a file to activate it. See Installation for instructions.</p>
<h4>Logging Activity</h4>
<p>Trigger Browsersync can log events to the WordPress log – this is especially useful for development on the plugin when you want to add or exclude a new event from triggering an action.</p>
<p>To enable logging add this filter to your <code>enable-trigger-browsersync.php</code> file (see Installation);</p>
<pre><code>add_filter('trigger_browsersync_log_events', '__return_true');
</code></pre>


Trigger Browsersync

Thank goodness we have the Trigger Browsersync WordPress plugin by Sami Greenbury. And, I love the way it piggy backs onto Browsersync (loose coupling).

You will need to follow the install instructions carefully. And, the big prerequisite is knowing how to set up Browsersync of course. Knowing Gulp would be even better. If you aren't comfortable wading through PHP and JavaScript, this plugin might be too intimidating. But, I highly recommend giving it a try because it will save you tons of dev time. Assuming you have a local WordPress dev env and are working on a lot of WordPress sites.

I did find a teeny bug (typo) that can be easily fixed. If you run into it too, then change "emssage" to "message" on line 275 in the trigger-browsersync.php file. I posted about this in the support forum. 

If you have any issues at all with the set up, I suggest turning on your PHP debugging and telling the Trigger Browsersync plugin to log events via a filter. See the plugin details page.

A couple FYIs 

1) This plugin does not seem to watch PHP and CSS updates. I have Gulp file that instantiates Browsersync reloads my browser on any PHP and CSS file changes. This setup runs perfectly with this plugin. I didn't have to change a thing in my Gulp file. 

2) There has not been any plugin updates for 9 months at the time of this post.

What a time saver!

Integrates WordPress with Browsersync to trigger events like Reload when you edit pages and settings.

WP Development Utilities vs Trigger Browsersync