Programmatically changing role information; editing role name and deleting

3 comments

1. There’s a whole host of functions specifically for this purpose;

   http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference#User_and_Author_Functions

   Of particular interest (but not limited to) are,

   add_cap
   add_role
   get_role
   map_meta_cap
   remove_cap
   remove_role
   

   As well as numerous other user related functions that will allow you to verify/validate their authority based upon your use-case scenario and so on.

   Looking in wp-includes/capabilities.php you we can see that the role_names are held in an array, therefore something to the effect of,

   add_action('init', 'update_role_name');
   function update_role_name(){
       global $wp_roles;
       $wp_roles->roles['subscriber']['name'] = 'member'; 
       $wp_roles->role_names['subscriber'] = 'member'; 
   }
   

   Might need a little tweaking as that’s untested.

   Edit:

   I just found this: is-there-way-to-rename-user-role-name-without-plugin – check it out. Virtually identical to what I am suggesting but with the exception of instantiating the class and checking that the variable $wp_roles is actually defined/set. I’ll assume that it works on the basis that its marked correctly but naturally please test this to confirm.

   But in a similar fashion looking at the following which is taken directly from core installation file wp-includes/capabilities.php line 133,

   /**
    * Add role name with capabilities to list.
    *
    * Updates the list of roles, if the role doesn't already exist.
    *
    * The capabilities are defined in the following format `array( 'read' => true );`
    * To explicitly deny a role a capability you set the value for that capability to false.
    *
    * @since 2.0.0
    * @access public
    *
    * @param string $role Role name.
    * @param string $display_name Role display name.
    * @param array $capabilities List of role capabilities in the above format.
    * @return null|WP_Role WP_Role object if role is added, null if already exists.
    */
   function add_role( $role, $display_name, $capabilities = array() ) {
       if ( isset( $this->roles[$role] ) )
           return;
   
       $this->roles[$role] = array(
           'name' => $display_name,
           'capabilities' => $capabilities
           );
       if ( $this->use_db )
           update_option( $this->role_key, $this->roles );
       $this->role_objects[$role] = new WP_Role( $role, $capabilities );
       $this->role_names[$role] = $display_name;
       return $this->role_objects[$role];
   }
   

   …we can see,

   Updates the list of roles, if the role doesn’t already exist.

   add_role( $role, $display_name, $capabilities = array() ) 
   

   …therefore updating the $display_name argument of an existing role will have the same desired effect without actually modifying the role itself so as to preserve its users associated with the role.

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2. Don’t work with that mess

   Open the file “wp-includes/capabilities.php”

   Inside there are 3 classes “WP_Roles”, “WP_Role” & “WP_User”

   These 3 classes are capable of easily handling every functionality related to user roles & capabilities

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3. If you’re looking for a plugin, you should try out the Members plugin by Justin Tadlock. It contains an easy and clean role manager.

   I highly recommend to have a look at the code too. Justin’s code really is top-notch, a true delight in contrast with many other WP plugins.

   
   

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