The main point of this article is to show you how to create multiple Custom Taxonomies using a more easy and re-usable approach.
We’re going to create a file called custom-taxonomies.php and place it a folder called ‘config’ inside your theme.
In custom-taxonomies.php we’re going to create a class that will generate Custom Taxonomies. It will be called DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy.
<?php
class DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy {
} // End class
new DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy;
In here we create 3 fuctions: a __construct, one to define the custom taxonomies and one that will register them.
<?php
class DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy {
public function __construct() {
}
public function all_custom_taxonomies() {
}
private function dm_register_custom_taxonomy( $data ) {
}
} // End class
new DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy;
In the all_custom_taxonomies function we define all the custom post types that we want to use and will pass that data into the dm_register_custom_taxonomy.
public function all_custom_taxonomies() {
$custom_taxonomies = [
[
'taxonomy_type' => 'custom_taxonomy',
'singular' => 'Custom Taxonomy',
'plural' => 'Custom Taxonomies',
'slug' => 'custom-taxonomy',
'custom_post_type' => 'post',
],
[
'taxonomy_type' => 'second_custom_taxonomy',
'singular' => 'Second Custom Taxonomy',
'plural' => 'Other Custom Taxonomies',
'slug' => 'second-custom-taxonomy',
'custom_post_type' => 'my_custom_taxonomy_type',
],
];
foreach ($custom_taxonomies as $key => $custom_taxonomy) {
$this -> dm_register_custom_taxonomy( $custom_taxonomy );
}
}
And the dm_register_custom_taxonomy will look like this
private function dm_register_custom_taxonomy( $data ) {
$singular = $data['singular'];
$plural = ( isset( $data['plural'] ) ) ? $data['plural'] : $data['singular'] . 's';
$custom_taxonomy = $data['taxonomy_type'];
$slug = $data['slug'];
$custom_post_type = $data['custom_post_type'];
$labels = array(
'name' => _x( $plural, 'post type general name', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'singular_name' => _x( $singular, 'post type singular name', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'menu_name' => _x( $plural, 'admin menu', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'name_admin_bar' => _x( $singular, 'add new on admin bar', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'add_new' => _x( 'Add New', $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'add_new_item' => __( 'Add New ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'new_item' => __( 'New ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'edit_item' => __( 'Edit ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'view_item' => __( 'View ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'all_items' => __( 'All ' . $plural, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'search_items' => __( 'Search ' . $plural, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'parent_item_colon' => __( 'Parent ' . $plural . ':', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'not_found' => __( 'No ' . $plural . ' found.', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'not_found_in_trash' => __( 'No ' . $plural . ' found in Trash.', 'dm-artillerie-theme' )
);
$args = array(
'labels' => $labels,
'description' => __( $singular .'.', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'public' => true,
'publicly_queryable' => true,
'show_ui' => true,
'show_in_menu' => true,
'query_var' => true,
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => $slug ),
'capability_type' => 'post',
'has_archive' => false,
'hierarchical' => false,
'menu_position' => null,
'supports' => array( 'title', 'author', 'thumbnail', 'excerpt', 'comments' )
);
register_taxonomy( $custom_taxonomy, array($custom_post_type) , $args );
}
If you want to do a small adjustment you can also define a variable from ‘textdomain’. In my case that is ‘dm-artillerie-theme’ and it’s hardcoded in there.
Now in the __construct we make sure to init the all_post_types function
public function __construct() {
add_action( 'init', array( $this, 'all_custom_taxonomies' ) );
}
Your final code in the custom-taxonomies.php file should look like this:
<?php
class DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy {
public function __construct() {
add_action( 'init', array( $this, 'all_custom_taxonomies' ) );
}
public function all_custom_taxonomies() {
$custom_taxonomies = [
[
'taxonomy_type' => 'custom_taxonomy',
'singular' => 'Custom Taxonomy',
'plural' => 'Custom Taxonomies',
'slug' => 'custom-taxonomy',
'custom_post_type' => 'post',
],
[
'taxonomy_type' => 'second_custom_taxonomy',
'singular' => 'Second Custom Taxonomy',
'plural' => 'Other Custom Taxonomies',
'slug' => 'second-custom-taxonomy',
'custom_post_type' => 'my_custom_post_type',
],
];
foreach ($custom_taxonomies as $key => $custom_taxonomy) {
$this -> dm_register_custom_taxonomy( $custom_taxonomy );
}
}
private function dm_register_custom_taxonomy( $data ) {
$singular = $data['singular'];
$plural = ( isset( $data['plural'] ) ) ? $data['plural'] : $data['singular'] . 's';
$custom_taxonomy = $data['taxonomy_type'];
$slug = $data['slug'];
$custom_post_type = $data['custom_post_type'];
$labels = array(
'name' => _x( $plural, 'post type general name', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'singular_name' => _x( $singular, 'post type singular name', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'menu_name' => _x( $plural, 'admin menu', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'name_admin_bar' => _x( $singular, 'add new on admin bar', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'add_new' => _x( 'Add New', $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'add_new_item' => __( 'Add New ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'new_item' => __( 'New ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'edit_item' => __( 'Edit ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'view_item' => __( 'View ' . $singular, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'all_items' => __( 'All ' . $plural, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'search_items' => __( 'Search ' . $plural, 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'parent_item_colon' => __( 'Parent ' . $plural . ':', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'not_found' => __( 'No ' . $plural . ' found.', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'not_found_in_trash' => __( 'No ' . $plural . ' found in Trash.', 'dm-artillerie-theme' )
);
$args = array(
'labels' => $labels,
'description' => __( $singular .'.', 'dm-artillerie-theme' ),
'public' => true,
'publicly_queryable' => true,
'show_ui' => true,
'show_in_menu' => true,
'query_var' => true,
'rewrite' => array( 'slug' => $slug ),
'capability_type' => 'post',
'has_archive' => false,
'hierarchical' => false,
'menu_position' => null,
'supports' => array( 'title', 'author', 'thumbnail', 'excerpt', 'comments' )
);
register_taxonomy( $custom_taxonomy, array($custom_post_type) , $args );
}
} // End class
new DM_Project_Custom_Taxonomy;
In functions.php add the PHP file that you just worked on:
require_once('config/custom-taxonomies.php');
Using this code you’ll be able to generate multiple custom taxonomies without having to repeat the code and easily assigning the post type.
This is also a very clean way of keeping your code and not putting everything in functions.php. Use separate files and just call them from function.php.
You can find a similar article on how to create multiple Custom Post Types with the same approach.
