Chapter 17. PHP Libraries, Web Service Integrations, and Platform Migrations

At times you may need to integrate features, functionality, and data with WordPress that are not WordPress-specific features, functionality, or data.

In this chapter we review some popular PHP libraries, web services, and APIs that can easily be integrated with WordPress. We also cover a structured process that can be utilized to completely move content/data from just about any third-party software into WordPress, which is commonly referred to as a platform migration. Move all the things to WordPress!

PHP Libraries

Most programming languages, including PHP, have modularized collections of code, classes, and functions. These collections are usually referred to as a code library or extension.

Don’t re-create the wheel! There are PHP libraries that exist to perform very specific functionality that you can easily use to extend the applications you’re building.

Lots of WordPress is written in PHP, which means that as a WordPress developer, you can utilize any PHP libraries available to you or even build your own. Check out the PHP.net Function Reference for an organized list of some common PHP libraries.

The WordPress plugin repository has more than a few plugins that interact with various libraries and external services, so any time you are looking for custom WordPress functionality, you might want to begin at the WordPress plugin repository. Of course, if you don’t find exactly what you are looking ...

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