Using PHP CodeSniffer With WordPress: Installing and Using the WordPress Rules_part2 (end)

3. Running PHP CodeSniffer Against WordPress Projects

Assuming you're working out of a directory that includes a WordPress plugin, then you can skip the following step. If, on the other hand, you do not have a copy of a WordPress script, file, theme, or plugin installed in the project directory, go ahead and copy one over to your project directory now.

As mentioned, we'll be testing the Hello Dolly plugin.

To run PHP CodeSniffer with the WordPress rules against the files in the plugin directory, enter the following command in the Terminal:

1. $ vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=WordPress hello-dolly

This will result in output that should correspond to what you see here:

1. FILE: /Users/tommcfarlin/Desktop/tutsplus_demo/hello-dolly/hello.php
2. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
3. FOUND 14 ERRORS AFFECTING 14 LINES
4. ----------------------------------------------------------------------
5.   2 | ERROR | Missing short description in doc comment
6.   5 | ERROR | There must be exactly one blank line after the file
7.     |       | comment
8.   6 | ERROR | Empty line required before block comment
9.  15 | ERROR | You must use "/**" style comments for a function
10.     |       | comment
11.  46 | ERROR | Inline comments must end in full-stops, exclamation
12.     |       | marks, or question marks
13.  49 | ERROR | Inline comments must end in full-stops, exclamation
14.     |       | marks, or question marks
15.  53 | ERROR | Inline comments must end in full-stops, exclamation
16.     |       | marks, or question marks
17.  54 | ERROR | You must use "/**" style comments for a function
18.     |       | comment
19.  56 | ERROR | Expected next thing to be an escaping function (see
20.     |       | Codex for 'Data Validation'), not '"<p
21.     |       | id='dolly'>$chosen</p>"'
22.  59 | ERROR | Inline comments must end in full-stops, exclamation
23.     |       | marks, or question marks
24.  62 | ERROR | Inline comments must end in full-stops, exclamation
25.     |       | marks, or question marks
26.  63 | ERROR | You must use "/**" style comments for a function
27.     |       | comment
28.  64 | ERROR | Inline comments must end in full-stops, exclamation
29.     |       | marks, or question marks
30.  67 | ERROR | Expected next thing to be an escaping function (see
31.     |       | Codex for 'Data Validation'), not '"
32.     |       | '
33. ----------------------------------------------------------------------

Of course, some of these things may change depending on when you're reading this tutorial.

The errors should be pretty clear as to what needs to be fixed:

• The first column denotes the line in which the problem exists.
• The second column determines if there is an error or a warning.
• The third column explains the problem and what's expected of the code.

Note that although these are errors or warnings, the code will obviously still work. But let's pull this through end-to-end and see what it's like to fix up a plugin, arguably the most popular since it comes with each installation of WordPress, and review the differences in the quality of the code.

4. Refactoring Hello Dolly

Note the plugin, before we begin working on it, includes the following source code:

1. <?php
2. /**
3.  * @package Hello_Dolly
4.  * @version 1.6
5.  */
6. /*
7. Plugin Name: Hello Dolly
8. Plugin URI: https://wordpress.org/plugins/hello-dolly/
9. Description: This is not just a plugin, it symbolizes the hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong: Hello, Dolly. When activated you will randomly see a lyric from <cite>Hello, Dolly</cite> in the upper right of your admin screen on every page.
10. Author: Matt Mullenweg
11. Version: 1.6
12. Author URI: http://ma.tt/
13. */ 
14. function hello_dolly_get_lyric() {
15.     /** These are the lyrics to Hello Dolly */
16.     $lyrics = "Hello, Dolly
17. Well, hello, Dolly
18. It's so nice to have you back where you belong
19. You're lookin' swell, Dolly
20. I can tell, Dolly
21. You're still glowin', you're still crowin'
22. You're still goin' strong
23. We feel the room swayin'
24. While the band's playin'
25. One of your old favourite songs from way back when
26. So, take her wrap, fellas
27. Find her an empty lap, fellas
28. Dolly'll never go away again
29. Hello, Dolly
30. Well, hello, Dolly
31. It's so nice to have you back where you belong
32. You're lookin' swell, Dolly
33. I can tell, Dolly
34. You're still glowin', you're still crowin'
35. You're still goin' strong
36. We feel the room swayin'
37. While the band's playin'
38. One of your old favourite songs from way back when
39. Golly, gee, fellas
40. Find her a vacant knee, fellas
41. Dolly'll never go away
42. Dolly'll never go away
43. Dolly'll never go away again"; 
44.     // Here we split it into lines
45.     $lyrics = explode( "\n", $lyrics ); 
46.     // And then randomly choose a line
47.     return wptexturize( $lyrics[ mt_rand( 0, count( $lyrics ) - 1 ) ] );
48. } 
49. // This just echoes the chosen line, we'll position it later
50. function hello_dolly() {
51.     $chosen = hello_dolly_get_lyric();
52.     echo "<p id='dolly'>$chosen</p>";
53. } 
54. // Now we set that function up to execute when the admin_notices action is called
55. add_action( 'admin_notices', 'hello_dolly' ); 
56. // We need some CSS to position the paragraph
57. function dolly_css() {
58.     // This makes sure that the positioning is also good for right-to-left languages
59.     $x = is_rtl() ? 'left' : 'right'; 
60.     echo "
61.     <style type='text/css'>
62.     #dolly {
63.         float: $x;
64.         padding-$x: 15px;
65.         padding-top: 5px;       
66.         margin: 0;
67.         font-size: 11px;
68.     }
69.     </style>
70.     ";
71. } 
72. add_action( 'admin_head', 'dolly_css' ); 
73. ?>

It should be relatively easy to follow as it uses only a few basic PHP features and Matt's done a good job of commenting the code.

But given the 14 errors that the CodeSniffer found, let's refactor the plugin. Taking into account the errors they presented and what it's expecting to see, let's address each of them.

Once done, the plugin should look like the following:

1. <?php
2. /**
3.  * This is a plugin that symbolizes the hope and enthusiasm of an entire
4.  * generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong.
5.  *
6.  * @package Hello_Dolly
7.  * @version 1.6
8.  *
9.  * @wordpress-plugin
10.  * Plugin Name: Hello Dolly
11.  * Plugin URI: https://wordpress.org/plugins/hello-dolly/
12.  * Description: This is not just a plugin, it symbolizes the hope and enthusiasm of an entire generation summed up in two words sung most famously by Louis Armstrong: Hello, Dolly. When activated you will randomly see a lyric from <cite>Hello, Dolly</cite> in the upper right of your admin screen on every page.
13.  * Author: Matt Mullenweg
14.  * Version: 1.6
15.  * Author URI: http://ma.tt/
16.  */ 
17. /**
18.  * Defines the lyrics for 'Hello Dolly'.
19.  *
20.  * @return string A random line of from the lyrics to the song.
21.  */
22. function hello_dolly_get_lyric() {
23.     /** These are the lyrics to Hello Dolly */
24.     $lyrics = "Hello, Dolly
25. Well, hello, Dolly
26. It's so nice to have you back where you belong
27. You're lookin' swell, Dolly
28. I can tell, Dolly
29. You're still glowin', you're still crowin'
30. You're still goin' strong
31. We feel the room swayin'
32. While the band's playin'
33. One of your old favourite songs from way back when
34. So, take her wrap, fellas
35. Find her an empty lap, fellas
36. Dolly'll never go away again
37. Hello, Dolly
38. Well, hello, Dolly
39. It's so nice to have you back where you belong
40. You're lookin' swell, Dolly
41. I can tell, Dolly
42. You're still glowin', you're still crowin'
43. You're still goin' strong
44. We feel the room swayin'
45. While the band's playin'
46. One of your old favourite songs from way back when
47. Golly, gee, fellas
48. Find her a vacant knee, fellas
49. Dolly'll never go away
50. Dolly'll never go away
51. Dolly'll never go away again"; 
52.     // Here we split it into lines.
53.     $lyrics = explode( "\n", $lyrics );
54.     // And then randomly choose a line.
55.     return wptexturize( $lyrics[ mt_rand( 0, count( $lyrics ) - 1 ) ] );
56. } 
57. add_action( 'admin_notices', 'hello_dolly' );
58. /**
59.  * This just echoes the chosen line, we'll position it later. This function is
60.  * set up to execute when the admin_notices action is called.
61.  */
62. function hello_dolly() {
63.     $chosen = hello_dolly_get_lyric();
64.     echo "<p id='dolly'>$chosen</p>"; // WPCS: XSS OK.
65. } 
66. add_action( 'admin_head', 'dolly_css' );
67. /**
68.  * Add some CSS to position the paragraph.
69.  */
70. function dolly_css() { 
71.     /**
72.      *This makes sure that the positioning is also good for right-to-left languages.
73.      */
74.     $x = is_rtl() ? 'left' : 'right';
75.     echo "<style type='text/css'> #dolly { float: $x; padding-$x: 15px; padding-top: 5px; margin: 0; font-size: 11px; } </style> "; // WPCS: XSS OK. 
76. }

Notice that the plugin continues to work and the code is a bit cleaner. Lastly, let's verify that this passes the PHP CodeSniffer test. Let's re-run the code that we used above to initially evaluate the plugin.

1. $ vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=WordPress hello-dolly

And the output that we see:

1. Skyhopper5:tutsplus_demo tommcfarlin$

Exactly: There should be no output. Instead, it should be a return to the standard command prompt.

Excellent. The plugin has been brought up to standard. This is why having a code sniffer is so valuable: It finds the errors in your code based on the rules you define and then reports any errors that may exist.

Ultimately, this ensures that you're releasing the highest quality written code into a production-level site. Now, this does not mean you should avoid unit testing or other types of testing, nor does this mean bugs don't exist. It just means that your code is up to a high standard.

Conclusion

And with that, we conclude the series on using PHP CodeSniffer. Recall that throughout the series, we have covered the idea of code smells, how to refactor them, and what tools are available to us when working with PHP applications.

In this article, we saw how we can use a provided set of rules for the WordPress Coding Standards to evaluate our code while working on a new or an existing project. Note that some IDEs support the ability to execute the rules while writing code.

Although that's beyond the scope of this particular tutorial, you can find resources for this in various places throughout the web.
Written by Tom McFarlin

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