The most common errors that WordPress developers make when writing snippets of code are listed below. These errors will not stop your WordPress site from working if you use WPCodeBox, but you can avoid them by following these simple tips.
WordPress code snippets are small pieces of PHP scripts. And, like any other PHP scripts, they must start with <?php open tag.
Missing to add the <?php tag as the first line of your PHP WordPress code snippet can cause errors and the editor won’t highlight the code appropriately for the PHP context.
WPCodeBox will not fail if you miss the <?php open tag, but the best practice is to have it present on the first line of any PHP Code Snippet.
A lot of developers who are new to writing code have a hard time remembering all the different functions and their syntax. This is because there are so many ways to do one thing in PHP. There are also a number of WordPress functions that can be used inside code snippets.
WPCodeBox has an autocomplete function, that will auto-suggest PHP functions and WordPress functions, filters and actions, to make sure that you won’t misspell a function again.
Also, in the event a WordPress function is misspelled, WPCodeBox will automatically disable that snippet and let you know about the error, with 0 downtime for your WordPress site.
All php instructions must end with a semicolon. An instruction is a line that does something (eg. variable assignment, calling a function, doing an arithmetic operation).
Lines that don’t need a semicolon after them are mostly conditional statements, like if or switch statements.
WPCodeBox will let you know if a line is missing a semicolon, and if you choose to save a snippet like that and the snippet will cause an error, the snippet will be disabled and you will be notified about the error.
One of the most common errors WordPress developers make when writing WordPress code snippets is not closing the quotes or closing the wrong type of quotes. This WordPress error will stop your WordPress code snippet from working, but you can avoid it by following these simple tips.
Always make sure that if you open a string, you close it with the same type of quotes. “This is correct”, ‘This is correct’, “This is not correct’
If you want to include variables in strings, make sure to include double quotes: “This will work $value”, ‘This will not work $value’.
Braces need to close correctly and nest correctly. When writing complex if statements, or deep nested conditions, it’s easy to miss a closing brace or a curly bracket. WPCodeBox will notify you of these problems and show the line on which the problem occurred. In case of an error, the offending snippet will be disabled. But it’s also safest to double-check that the braces are closed correctly before enabling and saving a WordPress code snippet in WPCodeBox.
These are a few mistakes that users make when writing custom WordPress code snippets. WPCodeBox is a powerful plugin, that is with you along the way and will notify you about these problems, so you can add code snippets to WordPress with confidence.
