OptiPub

OptiPub synchronizes content from the OptiPub platform to your WordPress installation. Creates custom post types for Resources, Videos, FAQs and Authors with automated sync every 5 minutes via WP-Cron.

Features: Custom post types (Resources, Videos, FAQs, Authors), automated content synchronization via WP-Cron, secure API authentication with encrypted token storage, multiple publication support, widget integration with custom content, tag and category management, static and dynamic pages sync, redirect handling, theme template integration, and file copying utilities.

Source Code for Minified Files

This plugin includes one minified JavaScript file (public/js/video.js) which is a third-party library. The source code for this minified file is publicly available:

Video.js v4.6.3 (Location: public/js/video.js)
* Source Code Repository: https://github.com/videojs/video.js/tree/v4.6.3
* License: Apache 2.0
* Documentation: https://docs.videojs.com/

All other JavaScript and CSS files in this plugin (public/js/archive-filters.js, public/js/gtm.js, public/js/init.js, public/js/login-forms.js, public/js/navigation-collapse.js, and public/css/subscribers.css) are provided in their original, unminified source code format and are fully human-readable.

External services

This plugin connects to the following external services:

Google Tag Manager

Provides tag management and analytics functionality when GTM containers are configured in OptiPub. Sends the container ID to www.googletagmanager.com on every page load. Data collection is controlled by your GTM configuration.

• Service Provider: Google LLC
• Terms of Use: https://www.google.com/analytics/tag-manager/use-policy/
• Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

YouTube

Embeds YouTube videos when video content is configured to use YouTube as the player. Sends video IDs to youtube.com/embed only when displaying YouTube video content. Data collection is controlled by YouTube’s privacy policy.

• Service Provider: Google LLC (YouTube)
• Terms of Use: https://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms
• Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Wistia

Embeds Wistia videos when video content is configured to use Wistia as the player. Sends video IDs to fast.wistia.net only when displaying Wistia video content. Data collection is controlled by Wistia’s privacy policy.

• Service Provider: Wistia, Inc.
• Terms of Use: https://wistia.com/terms
• Privacy Policy: https://wistia.com/privacy

OptiPub API

Synchronizes content (publications, resources, videos, FAQs, authors, tags, categories, redirects) from the OptiPub platform to WordPress. Sends authenticated API requests with encrypted tokens to your configured OptiPub domain (typically https://.app.optipub.com) via WP-Cron at configured intervals (default: every 5 minutes). Also creates edit links to OptiPub content management pages in WordPress admin.

• Service Provider: OptiPub
• Terms of Use & Privacy Policy: Please refer to your OptiPub service agreement for terms of use and privacy policy.

Third Party Libraries

This plugin includes one minified JavaScript library for video functionality:

• Video.js v4.6.3 – Used for video player functionality
  • Source Code Repository: https://github.com/videojs/video.js/tree/v4.6.3
  • License: Apache 2.0
  • Location in Plugin: public/js/video.js
  • Documentation: https://docs.videojs.com/

The source code for this minified library is publicly available at the GitHub repository link above. This plugin does not include any custom build process – the minified file is used directly from the Video.js project.

Development Documentation

Technical documentation for developers working with the OptiPub plugin. Topics covered:

• OptiPub Introduction
• Prepare
• Installation
• Activation
• OptiPub Admin Page (Save Changes Button, Clear Data Button)
• Cron Job & Troubleshooting
• Plugin Configurations (wp-config.php, Configuring WP-Cron)
• Deactivation & Rescheduling the cron job
• Uninstallation
• Theme dependencies

OptiPub Introduction

OptiPub syncs OptiPub Resources to a WordPress installation. The plugin schedules the WP-Cron event optipub_sync to sync Publications, Resources, Videos, FAQs, Authors, Pages, Custom Content, Tags, Categories and Redirects.

The plugin creates Custom Post Types (CPTs): Resources, Videos, FAQs and Authors. Resources synced to these post types store OptiPub metadata and properties in the wp_postmeta table. OptiPub Tags are saved as WordPress Tags. OptiPub Resource Categories are saved as WordPress Categories.

WordPress Widgets can be created with OptiPub Custom Content from the OptiPub Admin page.

Prepare

From WordPress Admin: Settings > General, select timezone (recommended: ‘New York’) and click [Save Changes].

OptiPub syncs with UTC but displays dates in EST. If you don’t select ‘New York’, website dates may differ from OptiPub dates. WordPress automatically converts post_date and post_modified to the selected timezone. Configure this before syncing data.

Bitnami permissions and configurations (Optional)

Note: This section is only required if you’re using Bitnami WordPress. Skip this if you’re using a standard WordPress installation.

Increase upload file size:
1. sudo -i
2. sudo nano /opt/bitnami/php/etc/php.ini
3. Update upload_max_filesize, e.g. upload_max_filesize = 128M
4. Restart: sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Set permissions before activation (required for proper activation and uninstallation – vendor files need deletion permissions):

Note: These commands apply to all WP plugins. Modify paths to target only OptiPub if needed.

1. sudo find /home/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/plugins/ -type d -exec chmod 775 {} \;
2. sudo find /home/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/plugins/ -type f -exec chmod 664 {} \;
3. sudo chown -R bitnami:daemon /home/bitnami/apps/wordpress/htdocs/wp-content/plugins/

This sets user/group to bitnami:daemon, file permissions to 664 (read/write for user/group, read for others), and folder permissions to 775 (read/write/execute for user/group, read/execute for others).

Activation

Activate from Plugins page. After activation, a green OptiPub Admin menu item appears in the left sidebar.

Activation Processes

During activation, three processes execute:

1. Override WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT constant – Locates wp-config.php and overrides the constant. See WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT. Note: May fail in Bitnami if permissions aren’t set first.
2. Generate OPTIPUB_KEY encryption key – Generates a random key stored in wp-config.php as OPTIPUB_KEY. Used to encrypt/decrypt the API token during cron job execution.
3. Change permalink structure – Changes permalink structure to /%postname%/ to accommodate static pages with multiple slugs (e.g., https://www.energyandcapital.com/pubs-detailed/bab where pubs-detailed/bab is defined in /pages OptiPub API).

OptiPub Admin Page

The green menu icon opens the Admin Page for migrating data from the OptiPub API.

OptiPub Sync Options:
1. OptiPub Domain – HTTPS URL of the OptiPub API
2. API Token – The provided API Token from OptiPub will be used to authenticate with the API. Encrypted and stored in database, decrypted for API calls
3. Open Graph Image Link – Backup/default image URL. Access with:
function get_optipub_opengraph_image() {
return get_option(\OptiPub\Base\Constants::OPTIPUB_OPENGRAPH_IMAGE_LINK);
}
4. WP Auth Token – Create a WP Auth Token to authenticate subscriber logins through OptiPub
5. Home Page Template – Template name from OptiPub:
– OptiPub > Administration > Templates – create template with .php extension (e.g., optipub_home_page.php)
– OptiPub > Content > Pages – create page with path / using the template
– Optional: OptiPub > Content > Redirects – create redirect from domain.com/home to https://www.domain.com/
6. Publication Dropdown – Generated after OptiPub Domain and API Token are provided and Save changes is clicked
7. Publication Domain Id – Publication domain ID (integer) used to retrieve redirects

Copy Files To Theme (feature complete – documentation under construction)
View more documentation in the plugin ‘OptiPub Admin’ page

1. Files copied to [theme-directory]/inc/optipub
2. Select file categories and click [Copy Files]
3. Reference from current location or use as integration guide

If copying Helper Functions, copy content from [theme-directory]/inc/optipub/php/add_to_bottom_of_functions.php.txt to your theme’s functions.php. include statements and filter/action calls are commented out. Review functions before uncommenting.

Custom Content Widget Sidebars (feature complete – documentation under construction)
View more documentation in the plugin ‘OptiPub Admin’ page

Create custom content macro in OptiPub > Content > Custom Content. Custom Content syncs to WordPress as options.

Click [Create New Widget]:
– Title – WordPress Admin Console
– Sidebar ID – Display widget in theme templates
– File Name – WordPress Sidebar Widget content file
– Description – WordPress Admin Console
– Custom Content – OptiPub custom content macro name
– Class Name – CSS class for styling
– Before Widget – HTML before widget
– After Widget – HTML after widget
– Before Title – HTML before title (displays Title if used)
– After Title – HTML after title (displays Title if used)

How OptiPub Custom Content creates WordPress Sidebar Widgets:

Widget files created at:
[theme-directory]/inc/optipub/widget-templates/File Name

Default content:

Include in theme templates:
if (is_active_sidebar('sidebar-id')) {
dynamic_sidebar('sidebar-id');
}

Save Changes Button

Validates API Domain and token, then stores Optipub Domain, Api Token, Publication, Publication Domain, Header Pencil Ad Macro, Article bottom Ad Macro, Signup Sidebar Macro in wp_options table.

Schedules cron job to run every 5 minutes if Optipub Domain, Api Token, and Publication are provided correctly.

After saving, an API call fetches publication metadata. Fetched metadata appears in the WordPress admin left menu. New CPT links appear in green to differentiate from other CPTs.

Clear Data Button

Clears all imported posts (articles, resources, reports, etc.). Publication metadata remains, but imported posts are deleted. Stops and reschedules the cron job. Use to reset the plugin after errors.

Important Note: The clear button stops the current cron job, deletes all posts imported from the API, and reschedules the cron job.

Cron Job

Syncs content from the OptiPub API. Scheduled to run every CRON_INTERVAL_IN_SECONDS after OptiPub Domain, API key, and Publication are selected.

First run: Loads all content for Custom Post Types, dynamic pages (nav menu pages like Videos, FAQs, Authors), static pages (from /contents/pages endpoint), and Widget contents (from /custom-contents endpoint).

Subsequent runs: Loads only new or updated content using the updated_at attribute and last cron run timestamp.

Troubleshooting the Cron Job

WP-CLI commands:
– wp cron event list – Lists all cron jobs (optipub_sync is the plugin cron job)
– wp cron event delete optipub_sync – Deletes the cron job. Use Save changes to reschedule.

Plugin Configurations

Constants control plugin behavior: Cron Job scheduling, error handling, widgetized areas, template directory paths.

Constants defined in two places:
1. wp-config.php – WordPress environment variables
2. Plugin Constants ([plugin-directory]/inc/Base/Constants.php) – Plugin runtime configuration

wp-config.php

WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT – Defines cron job execution period (default: 60 seconds, can be changed to 3600 seconds for 60 minutes). Plugin attempts to write this during activation. If it fails, cron job won’t schedule and error appears:

Could not activate Cron Job since WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT is smaller than the expected value of: 3000 (e.x);

Configuring WP-Cron

WP-Cron documentation: https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/cron/

Configuration in [plugin-directory]/inc/Base/Constants.php:

1. CRON_INTERVAL_IN_SECONDS – Default: 60 – Interval in seconds for optipub_sync wp-cron job. Creates a lock option in wp_options table; cron won’t run again until it finishes and deletes the option.

2. WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT – Default: 3600 – Changes WP-Cron timeout in wp-config.php:
   define( 'WP_CRON_LOCK_TIMEOUT', 3600 );
   Plugin updates this during Activation, when clearing plugin data, or when changing Publication.

   NOTE: WP-Cron checks for scheduled jobs on every page load. For more consistent intervals, create a system cron job (requires server access).

   Crontab in Linux:

   PHP Command:

   * * * * * HTTP_HOST=www.domain.com $(which php) /opt/bitnami/wordpress/wp-cron.php >> /path/to/file.log 2>&1
   

   Configure HTTP_HOST to your site domain.

   WP-CLI:

   * * * * * sudo wp cron event run optipub_sync
   

   Note: Cannot log output and less reliable than PHP command.

Deactivation

Deactivate from Plugins page. Deactivation pauses execution, temporarily disables custom post types and admin page, and stops cron job schedule. Cron job won’t reschedule on reactivation. If cron is running during deactivation, it finishes its job, then gets deleted on next run.

Rescheduling the cron job

After deactivation clears the cron job, reschedule via Save Changes button (even without data changes).

Uninstallation

Uninstall from WP Plugin page. Deactivate first to enable delete option.

Uninstallation removes all plugin directory files. During uninstall, database commands delete all plugin-created content. Details in uninstall.php file.

Theme dependencies

Content loaded by the plugin is displayed via custom WP theme templates. Theme must provide templates for dynamic pages and widgets, and register/display widgets. Page templates in theme root directory. Widget templates in theme widget-templates directory.

Templates in plugin /templates directory are not used by the plugin but serve as guides for retrieving content from the WP Database. Only optipub_admin.php in /templates is used (decorates the Admin page).

Theme must know Widget area IDs to register them in functions.php. IDs are documented above and found in plugin Constants.php class.

template-parts/archives/
optipub-filters.php
optipub-pagination_params.php

template-parts/videos/
mv display.php videos_handler.php

1. Upload the plugin files to /wp-content/plugins/optipub/
2. Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ screen in WordPress
3. Navigate to ‘OptiPub Admin’ in the WordPress admin menu
4. Configure your OptiPub domain and API token
5. Select publications to sync and click ‘Save Changes’Bundle the plugin:
6. Run composer install
7. Zip the plugin

Install via WordPress Admin:
1. Navigate to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin
2. Upload the zipped plugin file
3. Click Install Plugin (Note: May need to increase max file upload size in Bitnami)
4. Activate the plugin (Note: Set Bitnami permissions first if applicable)
5. Activate the associated custom theme before configuring (Note: Required for widget registration)
6. Configure from OptiPub Admin page

1. 

   OptiPub Admin Dashboard

2. 

   Publication Selection Interface

3. 

   Widget Creation Tool

4. 

   Content Sync Status

5. 

   Publications

6. 

   Publication Page Settings

7. 

   Publication Settings

1.0.3

Bug fixes

• Replaced the incorrect namespace alias/class prefix from Inc to OptiPub across various uses of the base constants.