Enhancements to the Network Sites Screen in WordPress 5.3

Changes to the database

The introduction of Site metadata in WordPress 5.1 has opened up a lot of new possibilities for multisitemultisite Used to describe a WordPress installation with a network of multiple blogs, grouped by sites. This installation type has shared users tables, and creates separate database tables for each blog (wp_posts becomes wp_0_posts). See also network, blog, site.

Save database version and date updated in multisite site metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress.

In [46193], the database version and the updated dates are now stored in the blogmeta table.

If your setup of multisite requires the database version to be accessed from a global context, instead of looping around every site with an expensive switch_to_blog call to get_option( 'db_version' ), you maybe want to try a function like the following.

function get_site_versions() {
	global $wpdb;
	$query = $wpdb->prepare( "SELECT blog_id, meta_value FROM $wpdb->blogmeta WHERE meta_key = 'db_version' ORDER BY blog_id DESC");
	return $wpdb->get_results( $query );
}

Remove blog_versions table

Currently, there is a table in multisite called blog_versions. This table stores the database version as a number and the updated date. It was introduced in #11644 and has never been used in CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. since then.

With the database version and updated date now stored in theblogmeta table, blog_versionstable becomes redundant. In [46194], this table is removed from Core.

Changes to WP_MS_Sites_List_Table

WordPress 5.3 adds several enhancements to the WP_MS_Sites_List_Table class that allows pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party authors to take advantage of Site metadata to provide a richer experience for multisite administrators on the Networknetwork (versus site, blog) Adminadmin (and super admin) Sites screen.

These enhancements will be very familiar to those who have used and/or customized the All Posts screen.

Site Status Views

The Network Sites screen now displays a list of links with the counts of Sites by status (e.g., Public, Spam, etc.), similar to the post status links on the All Posts screen.

The status links can also be filtered with the new views_sites-network filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output., introduced in TracTrac An open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress. ticketticket Created for both bug reports and feature development on the bug tracker. #37392.

For example, imagine there is a multisite where the main site acts as a directory of local restaurants and each separate site is for an individual restaurant, and restaurant owners can purchase a “subscription” that would allow them to display more information about their restaurant listing: a basic subscription would allow them to add photographs of their restaurant and an advanced subscription would additionally allow them to include their menu.

The subscription level could then be stored in the blogmeta table and “status” links can be added for the different subscription levels as follows:

add_filter( 'views_sites-network', 'myplugin_add_site_status_views' );
function myplugin_add_site_status_views( $view_links ) {
	$statuses = array(
		'free'      => _n_noop(
			'Free <span class="count">(%s)</span>',
			'Free <span class="count">(%s)</span>',
			'myplugin'
		),
		'basic'   => _n_noop(
			'Basic <span class="count">(%s)</span>',
			'Basic <span class="count">(%s)</span>',
			'myplugin'
		),
		'advanced'   => _n_noop(
			'Advanced <span class="count">(%s)</span>',
			'Advanced <span class="count">(%s)</span>',
			'myplugin'
		),
	);

	// get the count of sites with each of our custom statuses.
	$args = array(
		'meta_query' => array(
			array(
				'key'     => 'myplugin-status',
				'compare' => '=',
			),
		),
		'count' => true,
	);
	$counts = array();
	foreach ( array_keys( $statuses ) as $status ) {
		$args['meta_query'][0]['value'] = $status;
		$counts[ $status ] = get_sites( $args );
	}

	$requested_status = isset( $_GET['status'] ) ? wp_unslash( trim( $_GET['status'] ) ) : '';

	foreach ( $statuses as $status => $label_count ) {
		$current_link_attributes = $requested_status === $status ?
			' class="current" aria-current="page"' :
			'';
		if ( (int) $counts[ $status ] > 0 ) {
			$label = sprintf( translate_nooped_plural( $label_count, $counts[ $status ] ), number_format_i18n( $counts[ $status ] ) );

			$view_links[ $status ] = sprintf(
				'<a href="%1$s"%2$s>%3$s</a>',
				esc_url( add_query_arg( 'status', $status, 'sites.php' ) ),
				$current_link_attributes,
				$label
			);
		}
	}

	return $view_links;
}

When a user clicks on one of the custom status links, the rows in the list table can be limited to those sites with that specific custom Status using the existing ms_sites_list_table_query_args as follows:

add_filter( 'ms_sites_list_table_query_args', 'myplugin_sites_with_custom_status' );
function myplugin_sites_with_custom_status( $args ) {
	$status = ! empty( $_GET['status' ] ) ? wp_unslash( $_GET['status' ] ) : '';

	if ( empty( $status ) || ! in_array( $_GET['status'], array( 'free', 'basic', 'advanced' ) ) ) {
		return $args;
	}

	$meta_query = array(
		'key'   => 'myplugin-status',
		'value' => $status,
	);

	if ( isset( $args['meta_query'] ) ) {
		// add our meta query to the existing one(s).
		$args['meta_query'] = array(
			'relation' => 'AND',
			$meta_query,
			array( $args['meta_query'] ),
		);
	}
	else {
		// add our meta query.
		$args['meta_query'] = array(
			$meta_query,
		);
	}

	return $args;
}

Extra Tablenav

The posts displayed on the All Posts screen can be filtered by date and categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging.. Plugins can also add custom filter criteria with the restrict_manage_posts filter.

To continue with the above restaurant guide example, imagine the food served by each restaurant is also stored in the blogmeta table. We could then allow Network administrators to filter the Sites by the type of food by adding a dropdown of the various cuisines:

Dropdowns like this can now be added on the Network Sites screen with the new restrict_manage_sites action ( introduced in Trac ticket #45954), as follows:

add_action( 'restrict_manage_sites', 'myplugin_add_cuisines_dropdown' );
function myplugin_add_cuisines_dropdown( $which ) {
	if ( 'top' !== $which ) {
		return;
	}

	echo '<select name="cuisine">';
	printf( '<option value="">%s</option>', __( 'All cuisines', 'myplugin' ) );

	$cuisines = array(
		'French'  => __( 'French', 'myplugin' ),
		'Indian'  => __( 'Indian', 'myplugin' ),
		'Mexican' => __( 'Mexican', 'myplugin' ),
	);
	
	$requested_cuisine = isset( $_GET['cuisine'] ) ? wp_unslash( $_GET['cuisine'] ) : '';
	
	foreach ( $cuisines as $cuisine => $label ) {
		$selected = selected( $cuisine, $requested_cuisine, false );
		printf( '<option%s>%s</option>', $selected, $label );
	}

	echo '</select>';

	return;
}

When a user selects a food type and clicks the Filter button, the rows in the list table can be limited to just those Sites that serve that cuisine using the existing ms_sites_list_table_query_args filter, as follows:

add_filter( 'ms_sites_list_table_query_args', 'myplugin_sites_with_cuisine' );
function myplugin_sites_with_cuisine( $args ) {
	if ( empty( $_GET['cuisine' ] ) ) {
		return $args;
	}

	$meta_query = array(
		'key'   => 'myplugin-cuisine',
		'value' => wp_unslash( $_GET['cuisine' ] ),
	);

	if ( isset( $args['meta_query'] ) ) {
		// add our meta query to the existing one(s).
		$args['meta_query'] = array(
			'relation' => 'AND',
			$meta_query,
			array( $args['meta_query'] ),
		);
	}
	else {
		// add our meta query.
		$args['meta_query'] = array(
			$meta_query,
		);
	}

	return $args;
}

Site Display States

As with other list tables, each row in the Sites list table can now have display states. By default, all Site statuses (other than Public) of each Site are included as display states. Additionally, the main Site for the Network also has the “Main” display state.

When a specific Site status view has been selected by the user, that status will not be among the display states (this is just like the All Posts screen).

Plugins can also modify the display states with the new display_site_states filter, introduced in Trac ticket #37684.

To further continue our restaurant guide example, we can add our custom statuses and the cuisine served at each restaurant as display states. This can be achieved as follows:

add_filter( 'display_site_states', 'site_display_states', 10, 2 );
function site_display_states( $display_states, $site ) {
	$status = get_site_meta( $site->blog_id, 'myplugin-status', true );
	$requested_status = isset( $_GET['status'] ) ? wp_unslash( trim( $_GET['status'] ) ) : '';

	if ( $status !== $requested_status ) {
		switch ( $status ) {
			case 'free':
				$display_states['free']     = __( 'Free', 'myplugin' );
				break;
			case 'basic':
				$display_states['basic']    = __( 'Basic', 'myplugin' );
				break;
			case 'advanced':
				$display_states['advanced'] = __( 'Advanced', 'myplugin' );
				break;
		}
	}

	$cuisine = get_site_meta( $site->blog_id, 'myplugin-cuisine', true );
	$requested_cuisine = isset( $_GET['cuisine'] ) ? wp_unslash( trim( $_GET['cuisine'] ) ) : '';

	if ( $cuisine !== $requested_cuisine ) {
		$display_states[ $cuisine ] = $cuisine;
	}

	return $display_states;
}

Misc changes

Return for short circuits for multisite classes.

Fixing a bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. created in the [44983] original patchpatch A special text file that describes changes to code, by identifying the files and lines which are added, removed, and altered. It may also be referred to as a diff. A patch can be applied to a codebase for testing., introduced pre query filters in multisite classes. This bug made short circuit act differently from other short circuits and as it still continues to execute. Now after the filter networks_pre_query and sites_pre_query run, the code will exit straight away. This allows developers to completely hot-wire the network and site query, to load from another source, such as a different cache or Elastic search.

Improved performance for site and network lookups by ID

In earlier versions of WordPress when running the code get_site( 12345 ) was run and no ID with that site exists, the result is not being cached. That means every subsequent lookup will still cause a DB query to be fired, which is unnecessary. In [45910] non-existent sites data is stored as -1 instead of false to save further database lookups.

#5-3, #dev-notes, #multisite, #networks-sites