Prerequisites and Local Environment Set Up
This chapter discusses some of the prerequisites to undertake this course. We also look into the local environment set-up when converting shortcodes to blocks.
Tutorial: Local Environment Set Up
Prerequisites
This course assumes that you have some basic knowledge of the following.
Basic PHP and Object Oriented Programming.
You should have some background knowledge in PHP and Object Oriented Programming Principles.
Composer
You should know what Composer is to understand some concepts in this guide. Composer is a package manager for PHP, similar to NPM for JavaScript.
Guide: Building a Plugin for WordPress
Check out our guide on Building a plugin for WordPress to learn how to use Composer when building plugins.
React JS
React is a Javascript library we use to build WordPress blocks. Having some basic knowledge of React before you start would help you grasp a few concepts in WordPress block development.
WordPress – Plugins, Shortcodes and Blocks
Since we will convert shortcodes to blocks inside a plugin, you need an idea or two about plugins. You also need to know what Shortcodes and Blocks are in WordPress.
Local environment Set-Up
WP Local
Local enables you to set up a local WordPress development environment. With this tool, you can connect your website hosted via WP Engine to your local development environment.
You can download Local from their website.
VS Code – Code Editor
You will need a code editor to write and edit your code. In this guide, we will be using the VS Code. You can download VS Code from their website.
You can use any other code editor you are more comfortable/familiar with.
Node JS
To run Javascript, you must install Node JS via your terminal. You can download and install Node from their website.
Github
We will use GitHub for version control. You can find all the code for this guide via this Git repository: MRKWP/scbdemo.
With these tools, you will be in a position to learn how to convert shortcodes to blocks in WordPress.