Get List of Registered Meta Boxes and Removing Them

Question

Is there a function for getting a list of registered Meta Boxes and removing them? I see there is a method for adding, and removing.

http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/remove_meta_box

http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_meta_box

Answer 1

Not really, but you can define your own. All meta boxes are stored in the global variable $wp_meta_boxes which is a multi-dimensional array.

function get_meta_boxes( $screen = null, $context = 'advanced' ) {
    global $wp_meta_boxes;

    if ( empty( $screen ) )
        $screen = get_current_screen();
    elseif ( is_string( $screen ) )
        $screen = convert_to_screen( $screen );

    $page = $screen->id;

    return $wp_meta_boxes[$page][$context];          
}

This array will show all of the meta boxes registered for a specific screen and a specific context. You could also drill down even further because this array is also a multidimensional array that segregates meta boxes by priority and id.

---

So let's say you want to get an array that contains all of the meta boxes that are of "normal" priority on the admin Dashboard. You'd call the following:

$dashboard_boxes = get_meta_boxes( 'dashboard', 'normal' );

This is identical to the global array $wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal'] and it also a multi-dimensional array.

Removing core meta boxes

Let's say you want to remove a bunch of meta boxes. The function above can be tweaked slightly to avail that:

function remove_meta_boxes( $screen = null, $context = 'advanced', $priority = 'default', $id ) {
    global $wp_meta_boxes;

    if ( empty( $screen ) )
        $screen = get_current_screen();
    elseif ( is_string( $screen ) )
        $screen = convert_to_screen( $screen );

    $page = $screen->id;

    unset( $wp_meta_boxes[$page][$context][$priority][$id] );
}

If you wanted to remove, say, the incoming links widget from the Dashboard, you'd call:

remove_meta_boxes( 'dashboard', 'normal', 'core', 'dashboard_incoming_links' );

Answer 2

On the WordPress Dashboard, there are meta boxes displayed. There is a normal column, and a side column.

I am able to obtain a list of registered meta boxes and remove them from the dashboard by using the following code:

// Remove some non-sense meta boxes
function remove_dashboard_meta_boxes(){
    global $wp_meta_boxes;
    // Dashboard core widgets :: Left Column
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_incoming_links']);
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_recent_comments']);
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_plugins']);
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['normal']['core']['dashboard_right_now']);
    // Additional dashboard core widgets :: Right Column
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_recent_drafts']);
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_quick_press']);
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_primary']);
    unset($wp_meta_boxes['dashboard']['side']['core']['dashboard_secondary']);
    // Remove the welcome panel
    update_user_meta(get_current_user_id(), 'show_welcome_panel', false);
}
add_action('wp_dashboard_setup', 'remove_dashboard_meta_boxes');

Just use print_r($wp_meta_boxes); to see a list of registered meta boxes.