Global custom fields

Ad Inserter settings are accessible only to administrators or users who have the manage_options WP capability. Normally you would need to grant admin access to anybody who needs to update ad codes or the text that is inserted via Ad Inserter. Global custom fields are a simple solution to this problem. They allow other users without admin access to edit custom fields with the code or text that is used in Ad Inserter blocks or elsewhere in the site. With custom pages and fields you can create new, customized sub-admin pages to edit global fields.

Ad Inserter global custom fields are universal pieces of data (ad codes, HTML code, text, or anything that can be inserted) that appear across the entire site (globally) and are managed in one central location. The site administrator can define page title, menu position and access level. They are a kind of option pages with sets of custom fields that are available globally throughout the website and don’t belong to any particular post. The data from the global custom fields can be accessed via shortcode or PHP function and can easily be used in Ad Inserter blocks. This way administrators can keep restricted access to plugin settings while allow other users like editors or authors to edit common data or codes that are used elsewhere on the site.

To use global custom fields you need to define pages and fields and then use shortcodes or PHP functions to access field data.

Please note that WordPress (and Ad Inserter) also supports custom fields that can be defined for each post. Those custom fields are not global, i.e. they can be used only inside the post where they are defined. This page describes how to configure and use global custom fields that can be used globally – in Ad Inserter and on any WordPress post or page.

Pages for custom fields

With custom admin pages (sometimes named also options pages) you define custom settings pages where the users will be able to edit custom fields. Go to general plugin settings ( tab / tab General / tab Pages for custom fields).

For each page you need to define a name for the page. The same name will also be used for the menu item so make it short. Then you need to define the menu position where the link to this page will be placed. You can choose either Top menu (link to the page will be displayed as top menu item in the left menu bar) or submenu on any of the existing top menu items. You also need to define priority for the menu item – menu items with lower number will appear before menu items with higher number. Finally, you need to define the access level for the page. Choose one of the available user roles (Editor, Author, Subscriber, etc.).Each page you would like to use needs to be enabled with the checkbox in front of the page name. Disabled pages will not appear in the menu and can not be accessed.

Global custom fields

On the tab Global custom fields you define the fields that the users will be able to edit. You need to set a name for the field and select the page where this field will be edited. The name of the field will be displayed above each field on the page. Each global custom field you would like to use needs to be enabled with the checkbox in front of the field name. Disabled fields will not appear on the pages.

After you are done save settings and reload the page so the created pages will be available for custom fields.

Editing global custom fields

Now when the page with custom fields is created you can define/edit custom fields. 

Please note that after you save settings for custom fields you need to reload the admin dashboard so that the new settings are loaded and the new menu is created. 

For the example above you should now get a new submenu Post ads in the Settings WP menu. Clicking on the Post ads menu should open a page with custom fields like the one below. Enter the codes and save settings.

PRO Types of global custom fields

Basic custom fields use a code editor where you can put some ad code or text. Ad Inserter Pro supports additional field types:

• Code editor
• Image
• Checkboxes
• Selection
• Checkbox

Field types and settings can be accessed by clicking the small button right of field data:

For field types Checkboxes and Selection you need to select also a block with rotation code which will be used for the selection options. You don’t need to insert this block anywhere, option name and option code will be used for the options. For Code editor field type there are two additional settings for code sanitization – forbidden or allowed tags and tag attributes.

Code editor

For field type Code editor selecting a block is optional. If selected, then this field will edit the specified block code. Otherwise (if selected None), this will be an independent code that can be used anywhere. There are also additional options to either forbid or to allow tags or tag attributes. When the default options are used (no forbidden tag and no forbidden attribute) no sanitization is performed on the code. However, when you define tags or attributes, before the custom fields are submitted for saving, the plugin will sanitize the entered code according to the settings. In this process the plugin will parse the code, apply settings and generate new sanitized code so some longer tags might lose line formatting. To forbid or to allow HTML comments use tag comment. An example of Code editor field:

Image

When the field type is set to Image you can select any uploaded image (or upload a new one). A click on the image icon will open an image selection dialog where you can select the image and optionally set a link url and select whether the link should be opened in a new tab. The shortcode for this field will generate the complete HTML code including link tag for the banner. A click on the top right close button on the image icon removes the selected image.

It is also possible to get raw image and link data via PHP function – see below for details.

Checkboxes

Checkboxes are one way to select multiple choices. For each option there is a checkbox which can be checked or not. For this type you need to select a block with rotation code which will be used for the options, for example:

[ADINSERTER ROTATE name="Pro Agency" index="3"]
<div class="code-block-labels">Advertisements</div>
<a href="#"><img src="https://dummyimage.com/468x60/44FF44/969697.png?text=Pro%20Agency"></a>

[ADINSERTER ROTATE name="AdSense Homepage" share="90" index="1"]
<div class="code-block-labels">Advertisements</div>
<a href="#"><img src="https://dummyimage.com/468x60/0044FF/969697.png?text=AdSense%20Homepage"></a>

[ADINSERTER ROTATE name="Affiliate Banner" index="2"]
<div class="code-block-labels">Advertisements</div>
<a href="#"><img src="https://dummyimage.com/468x60/0044FF/969697.png?text=Affiliate%20Banner"></a>

Each rotation option must have a name attribute. This name will appear as the checkbox name. The index attribute is optional and defines the order of options. Index can be any number betwwen 1 and 99. Each option can have some code. The output of the shortcode is the rotation code which contains only the enabled options. This way the administrator can prepare a block with many options and the ad manager can then enable or disable each of them. 

The code above will display the following checkboxes:

It is also possible to use rotation code only to name options and get raw selection data via PHP function – see below for details.

Selection

Selection field type allows you to select only one option from the list. For this type you need to select a block with rotation code which will be used for the options. The output of the shortcode is the code for the selected option. The code for the example above will generate the following selection field:

It is also possible to use rotation code only to name options and get raw selection data via PHP function – see below for details.

Checkbox

Checkbox field type allows you to enable (check) or disable (uncheck) some option. The output of the shortcode is either 1 or 0. In most cases you will use Checkbox field type with PHP function. Example of the Checkbox field:

Accessing global custom fields

Ad Inserter global custom fields can be accessed via shortcode or PHP function.

Via shortcode the field (defined end enabled on Custom pages and Global custom fields) can be accesses via field number of field name. For example:

[ADINSERTER global-custom-field="1"]

[ADINSERTER global-custom-field="Before content"]

The shortcode when expaned will return the code or text saved for the custom field 1 named Before content. This is the easiest way to use global fields in Ad Inserter blocks

To access custom field from PHP code you should use PHP function adinserter_global_custom_field () with field number or field name as the parameter:

<?php if (function_exists ('adinserter_global_custom_field')) echo adinserter_global_custom_field (1); ?>

<?php if (function_exists ('adinserter_global_custom_field')) echo adinserter_global_custom_field ("Before content"); ?>

Of course, global fields defined in Ad Inserter can be used anywhere on the website, in the theme or in other plugins. 

You can easily get field shortcode copied to the clipboard by clicking on the field number:

PRO Accesing raw data from global custom fields

For some field types you can get raw field data via PHP function with additional second parameter set to true. For example:

<?php $raw_data = function_exists ('adinserter_global_custom_field') ? adinserter_global_custom_field (1, true) : array (); ?>

Image

For Image field types the function will return an array with the following fields: id with WordPress attachment/image ID, link with link url and new-tab with 0 or 1 to indicate if the link should open in a new tab.

Checkboxes

For Checkboxes field types the function will return an array of options where each option is an array with the following fields: name with option name, code with option code and selected with 0 or 1 to indicate if the option is selected or not.

Selection

For Selection field types the function will return an array of options where each option is an array with the following fields: name with option name, code with option code and selected with 0 or 1 to indicate if the option is selected or not. Of course, only one option can be selected.