Inserting into WP DB

Question

I had initially asked a question based on my code (which has since been removed), I need some help/guidance in creating a plugin.

Scenario: I have created a custom post type (CPT), now I need to insert values into the CPT from a database table external to the wp environment. This routine needs to run once every hour, no of rows can range from 50 - 500.

What is my best course of action?

Side question: Do I separate my CPT code from the insert routine code?

Answer 1

Use wp_cron to run a job every hour. http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_cron Use $wpdb->get_results to fetch data from your external table. Example:

$q = "SELECT * FROM my_table";
$results = $wpdb->get_results($q, OBJECT);
foreach ( $results as $result) {
}

Insert new CPT-posts using wp_insert_post() http://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/wp_insert_post