Displaying you WordPress.org favourite plugins

Updated 02 – 05 – 18: plugins object is now returned as an array.

On a whim this May bank holiday, tucked up on the sofa watching movies, I decided to create a plugin to display my favourited plugins on WordPress.org.

After a bit of digging I found you can use the plugins_api() function and pass it a username, e.g.:

plugins_api( 'query_plugins', array( 'user' => emirpprime, 'per_page' => '-1' ) );

This returns an object with some information about the results, then an array of plugins. A stripped down example of the structure is below:

stdClass Object
    (
    [info] => Array
        (
            [page] => 1
            [pages] => 0
            [results] => 57
        )
    [plugins] => Array
        (
            [0] => Array
                (
                    [name] => Autoptimize
                    [slug] => autoptimize
                    [version] => 2.1.0
                    [author] => <a href="http://blog.futtta.be/">Frank Goossens (futtta)</a>
                    [author_profile] => https://profiles.wordpress.org/optimizingmatters
                    [requires] => 4.0
                    [tested] => 4.7.5
                    [compatibility] => Array
                        (
                        )
                    [rating] => 94
                    [ratings] => Array
                        (
                            [5] => 419
                            [4] => 23
                            [3] => 12
                            [2] => 8
                            [1] => 22
                        )
                    [num_ratings] => 484
                    [support_threads] => 121
                    [support_threads_resolved] => 81
                    [downloaded] => 1349088
                    [last_updated] => 2016-12-14 5:45am GMT
                    [added] => 2009-07-09
                    [homepage] => http://blog.futtta.be/autoptimize
                    [sections] => Array
                        (
                            [description] => Autoptimize makes ...
                            [installation] => Just install from your WordPress...
                            [faq] => Installation Instructions...
                            [short_description] => Autoptimize speeds up your website and helps you save bandwidth by aggregating and minimizing JS, CSS and HTML.
                            [download_link] => https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/autoptimize.2.1.0.zip
                            [screenshots] => Array
                                (
                                )
                            [tags] => Array
                                (
                                    [css] => css
                                    [html] => html
                                    [javascript] => javascript
                                    [js] => JS
                                    [minify] => minify
                                )
                            [versions] => Array
                                (
                                    [0.1] => https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/autoptimize.0.1.zip
                                    ...
                                    [trunk] => https://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/autoptimize.zip
                                )
                            [donate_link] => http://blog.futtta.be/2013/10/21/do-not-donate-to-me/
                            [contributors] => Array
                                (
                                )
                        )
                )
        )
)

A simple loop over the plugins array will get all the details about a plugin you could want.

A short while later, and a rough and ready version is complete – a basic plugin that registers a shortcode and returns a list of a user’s plugins.

What does the plugin output?

Here are my favourites as an example – the markup is basic but easy to style, with a couple of classes for targetting. I’ve kept it simpler than the layout in wp-admin or the plugin repository, but hopefully with enough info to be useful:

Found: 64

What do you think? Is there any other info you think would be useful to include? Let me know in the comments.