Do I need to call do_action in my plugin?

1 comment

1. Usually, you use existing action in your plugins. WordPress will call do_action() when needed.

   If your plugin is rather complex, like a shopping plugin, you may want to offer additional actions for other plugin developers or for the pro-version of your plugin. In these cases you add do_action() wherever you think it could be useful.

   An example: I have a library of PHP classes that I use for some projects. When I write a plugin that relies on my library I have to wait until the library is ready. So I write in my library:

   require 'class.T5_Custom_Post_Type_Helper.php';
   require 'class.T5_Custom_Taxonomy_Helper.php';
   // and so on…
   do_action( 't5_library_loaded' );
   

   In my other plugin I hook into this action to start all the work:

   add_action( 't5_library_loaded', array ( 'My_Plugin_Class', 'init' ) );
   

   Now I know all needed classes available, I don’t have to test class_exists() each time.

   add_action() and do_action() are not necessary tied together. So the answer to your question is: no. 🙂

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