Link to Second Level Admin Page

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I have created a plug-in with an Admin Menu that displays a list of artists saved into the database in a custom table. This page is a “master” page and I am trying to figure out how to link the artist name to a “details” page all in the backend. From the codex and other books I have determined that the second level pages should be like the top level pages in that it will be a function that displays the content. I cannot figure out how do I “link” to that callback function.

I add the first level page with this:

add_submenu_page('ppmtalentexpo', 'TARSTE II', 'TARSTE II', 'administrator', 'tarste2submenu2', 'jwg_talentexpo_options2_page');

and diplay the first level with this:

function jwg_talentexpo_options2_page() {
    global $wpdb;

    $cnt = 0;
    $rows = $wpdb->get_results("SELECT * from ppm_tarste2_bands ORDER BY band_name");
    //echo '<pre>'; echo var_dump( $rows ); echo '</pre>';
    $retHTML = "<div class="wrap trkr"><h2><div id='icon-upload' class="icon32"></div> PPM Talent Expo Administrator -- TARSTE II</h2><br><br>";
    $retHTML .= "<table cellpadding='5' cellspacing='0' border="1" style="width:96%;margin:auto;">";
    $retHTML .= "<tr><td colspan='4'>" . count($rows) . " registered.</td></tr>";
    for( $c = 0; $c<count($rows);$c++ ) :
        $retHTML .= "<tr>";
        $retHTML .= "<td><span style="font:bold 16px sans-serif;color:#F87114;"><a href="#">" . $rows[$c]->band_name . "</a></span>";
        $retHTML .= "<br><b>Contact: " . $rows[$c]->band_contact_person . "</b></td>";
        $retHTML .= "<td><a href="mailto:" . $rows[$c]->band_email . "">EMAIL</a>";
        if( $rows[$c]->band_url != '' && $rows[$c]->band_url != 'n/a' ){
            $retHTML .= " | <a target="_blank" href="" . $rows[$c]->band_url . "">WEB</a></td>";
        } else {
            $retHTML .= "</td>";
        } // end if
        $retHTML .= "<td>" . formatPhone($rows[$c]->band_contact_phone) . "</td>";
        $retHTML .= "<td>";
        switch( (int) $rows[$c]->status ){
            case 1:
                $retHTML .= "Registered";
                break;
            case 2:
                $retHTML .= "Selected";
                break;
            case 3:
                $retHTML .= "Face-Off";
                break;
            case 4:
                $retHTML .= "Winner";
                break;
        } // end switch
        $retHTML .= "</td>";
        $retHTML .= "</tr>";
    endfor;
    $retHTML .= "</table>";
    $resHTML .= "</div>";
    echo $retHTML;
} // end function

So, within the for loop I am trying to link to the details page of each registered artist in the second $retHTML line with an anchor tag. My plan is to create a function to display the details of that artist. Again, what do I put in the anchor tag OR is there a better way to do what I am trying?

Thanks in advance for any guidance or help provided,
Jon

1 Answer
1

The add_submenu_page function allows you to link to a callback function and its this callback function which handles the display of that pages content.

add_submenu_page( 
     $parent_slug, //The slug name for the parent menu i.e. ppmtalentexpo
     $page_title, 
     $menu_title, 
     $capability, 
     $menu_slug, 
     $callback_function //your callback i.e. jwg_talentexpo_options2_page
);

So far what you have appears right, assuming all your arguments are correct.

Instead of creating a custom table, you could probably get away with using a Custom Post Type to handle your “bands”.

Then all details like,

band_contact_person
band_email
band_url

…could be post_meta associated with your custom post type “bands”.

This would make querying data so much easier for you with the built in WordPress API functions such as WP_Query and get_post_meta.

Because as it stands right now, you may very well be able to list all of the band names with,

$retHTML .= "<td><span style="font:bold 16px sans-serif;color:#F87114;"><a href="#">" . $rows[$c]->band_name . "</a></span>";

But then question I must ask you is that, where does that $rows[$c]->band_name point to? No where. That’s where.

Unless you are comfortable with building custom tables as well as the data to go along with it, then you’re making life hard for yourself straight out the gate.

Instead you should take advantage of the inbuilt custom post types as well as the automatic URL/permalink handling that goes along with it.

  1. Does this make sense so far?
  2. Are you aware of custom post types?
  3. What is your purpose for this custom table instead of using custom
    post types?

Happy to help, but lets clarify these points first… Just so we’re all on the same page.

Update

Based on your additional comments, I can see where you were coming from now. While Laravel and CI are fine in external applications, introducing them into the WordPress environment (albeit entirely possible) is not recommended, unless you have a special use case where nothing else but that will do.

WordPress bakes in a lot of the functionality you are looking for, in fact, all of it, in an easy to use API that abstracts away much of the heavy lifting and prevents that need to re-invent the wheel.

So to kick you off, become acquainted with…

  • Custom Post Types

  • WP_Query

  • Custom Fields

  • add_meta_box for “prettier” custom fields

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