I want to use the get_option() function of wordpress in one of my theme’s files, which is not related to WP, it is just located in the same directory of the other theme files. I need this file because of some extra IPN paypal related actions, but I need some values from the options table that exists in WP to be called in this page in order for it to work. I know I can’t just use get_option() as this file is overlooked by wordpress. Is there any approach by including some parts of wordpress in my theme to make this functionality only work?
The shortest way is to load wp-load.php and abort the loading of the template engine (Note: You couldn’t do that, if you’d be loading the header file, like you see it on many sites in the interweb).
# No need for the template engine
define( 'WP_USE_THEMES', false );
# Load WordPress Core
// Assuming we're in a subdir: "~/wp-content/plugins/current_dir"
require_once( '../../../wp-load.php' );