Shortcode API

The Shortcode API is basically made up of the add_shortcode() function. It’s important to note that functions attached to shortcodes should always return output, not echo. If you’d like to output HTML in a shortcode by escaping from PHP or using echo / print, start with ob_start(); and end with return ob_get_clean();

A shortcode can be executed from PHP using the do_shortcode() function.

Coding Exercise

Go through the add_shortcode() documentation, and create a shortcode with the following requirements:

• The shortcode name should be photos.
• Display random photos from Picsum Photos.
• Shortcode should have height and width attributes.

Ideas to Explore:

• How does WordPress parse the shortcode content?
• What happens in the front end if WordPress is unable to find the shortcode but the shortcode is present in the content?
• How can you escape shortcodes? That is, you want to display the shortcode as it is and not parsed.
• How do you create a custom shortcode in WordPress?
• When you do add_shortcode(), where are the shortcodes stored?
• How can you pass attributes to a shortcode? How are default attributes handled?
• How can you handle nested shortcodes in WordPress?