🧩 WordPress Task Manager Plugin

A lightweight WordPress plugin built to learn and understand WordPress plugin development, with a focus on hooks, database handling, security, and admin dashboard customization.

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📌 Purpose

This project was created as a hands-on learning exercise to explore core WordPress plugin concepts, including:

• WordPress plugin structure and lifecycle
• Using hooks and activation hooks
• Secure interaction with the WordPress database
• Building custom admin dashboard pages

The primary goal is clarity, correctness, and best practices, rather than production-level complexity.

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✨ Features

• Custom Admin Menu Page in the WordPress dashboard
• Add and delete tasks using a simple, clean UI
• Secure form handling using nonces and input sanitization
• Custom MySQL table creation using dbDelta
• Clean and minimal plugin architecture following WordPress standards

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🛠️ Tech Stack

• PHP
• WordPress
• MySQL
• WordPress Hooks & $wpdb

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📂 Folder Structure

simple-task-manager/
│── simple-task-manager.php
│── README.md

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🚀 How to Run This Plugin

Step 1: Set Up WordPress Locally

1. Install XAMPP / WAMP / LocalWP

2. Start Apache and MySQL

3. Download WordPress from https://wordpress.org

4. Extract WordPress into:

   htdocs/wordpress
   

5. Create a database named wordpress using phpMyAdmin

6. Complete the WordPress installation via:

   http://localhost/wordpress
   

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Step 2: Install the Plugin

1. Navigate to:

   wp-content/plugins/
   

2. Create a folder named:

   simple-task-manager
   

3. Copy simple-task-manager.php into this folder

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Step 3: Activate the Plugin

1. Open WordPress Admin:

   http://localhost/wordpress/wp-admin
   

2. Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins

3. Activate WordPress Task Manager Plugin

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Step 4: Use the Plugin

1. After activation, find Task Manager in the admin sidebar
2. Add new tasks using the input field
3. Delete tasks using the delete button
4. All tasks are stored securely in the WordPress database

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🔧 How It Works (Behind the Scenes)

• Creates a custom database table on plugin activation
• Uses WordPress hooks to register admin menus
• Handles form submission securely using nonces
• Performs CRUD operations using $wpdb
• Follows WordPress coding standards and best practices

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📷 Screenshots

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🎯 Learning Outcomes

• Understood the WordPress plugin lifecycle
• Learned how activation hooks work
• Practiced secure CRUD operations
• Built admin pages using WordPress APIs
• Gained hands-on experience with PHP in WordPress

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📎 Note

This plugin is intended for learning and practice purposes only and is not designed for production use.

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👤 Author

Manas Kumar GitHub: https://github.com/rookiecoder910

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⭐ Why This Project Exists

This repository demonstrates:

• Intentional learning of WordPress development
• Understanding of WordPress internals
• Clean, readable, and well-structured PHP code