Fixing Protocol Errors in WordPress Plugins

I recently started a new job as a full-time WordPress developer managing several websites and the myriad of custom themes, child themes, and plugins. This is a lesson learned from an issue I had with one plugin in particular.

Using Chrome on OS X, I get security warnings that a script wouldn’t load on a particular page. When I looked into it, I found it was because in wp-admin, my site url is set to http, but that page (and several others) is served from https. Since there’s a mix of protocols, good browsers will block scripts from running across SSL/non-SSL.

The plugin was using get_options('siteurl') to create the path string used to load scripts through wp_register_scripts. Switching to site_url(), which returns a string with the protocol that the page is being rendered on, lets me now safely load the scripts on any page in the site.

Here’s how it ended up looking:

[sourcecode language=”php”]
$old_root_url = get_options( ‘siteurl’ );
$root_url = site_url();

$path_flash = "$root_url/wp-content/plugins/$pluginName/js/swfobject.js";
[/sourcecode]

Hope that helps someone!

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By Morgan

By day I try to solve problems with websites and other stuff using PHP, JavaScript, and shell scripts. By night I hang out with my family, watch TV, and read. I (mostly) embrace my ADHD and the diversity of interests it brings. Lately those include ham radio and taekwondo, but LEGO, Doctor Who, and Star Wars are always in the mix. Faith, family, function().