The WordPress API is accessed mostly through a vast array of functions that exist in the global namespace. Vulnero only accesses these functions through the Vulnero_WordPress broker which distributes requests to the appropriate functions through a more object-oriented interface. The benefits of this include:

1. Requests and responses can be mocked in a non-WordPress environment when executing cli-scripts or running unit tests.
2. Parameters can be simplified. For example, callbacks can be automatically assigned to the bootstrap when hooking actions.
3. When WordPress updates or deprecates parts of their API, it simplifies Vulnero updates by consolidating all of the calls to one consistent source.
4. We can easily extend the API by adding additional functionality to the calls.

Vulnero_WordPress is instantiated during Vulnero's bootstrap. Obtaining it to make a request from a controller is rather simple:

class MyController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        $wp = $this->getInvokeArg('bootstrap')
                   ->bootstrap('wordPress')
                   ->getResource('wordPress');
        $wp->addAction('wp_head', $this);
    }

    public function onWpHead()
    {
        echo '';
    }
}

Of course in most cases you shouldn't need to directly access the API directly. For example, the above code could easily be rewritten to leverage the headScript() view helper and would make more sense to a Zend Framework developer. There are, however, examples where accessing the WordPress API does make sense, such as for getting and setting custom persisted options to and from the wp_options table:

class MyController extends Zend_Controller_Action
{
    public function indexAction()
    {
        $wp = $this->getInvokeArg('bootstrap')
                   ->bootstrap('wordPress')
                   ->getResource('wordPress');
        if (!$colors = $wp->getCustomOptions('my-colors')) {
            $colors = array('red', 'blue');
            $wp->setCustomOption('my-colors', $colors);
        }

        $this->view->colors = $colors;
    }
}

This example leverages WordPress' add_option, update_option and get_option global namespace functions through the Vulnero_WordPress broker. The biggest advantage here is that those options don't support non-scalar values like our PHP array. Vulnero_WordPress automatically serializes and deserializes non-scalar values, prefixes your settings with the plugin name and validates your calls throwing SPL exceptions for anything that might cause the API functions to fail (such as key names exceeding allowed length).

Vulnero_WordPress API Method Brokers

• Writing Unit Tests
• Persisting Options with WordPress