wp_localize_script $handle

Question

Can anyone tell me what the "$handle" ( first parameter ) of wp_localize_script is normally used for. Thanks.

P.s.: I have no idea why but stackexchange is telling me this question dosen't meet quality standards.

Edit: When i put in my ps it accepted it so i suppose it's the length of the quesion.... if you feel like this is an unacceptable question then apologies

Answer 1

It's basically a unique id of the script you registered or enqueued before.

Let's say we enqueued a two scripts with wp_enqueue_script():

wp_enqueue_script( 'my_script_1','/js/some_script.js' );

wp_enqueue_script( 'my_script_2','/js/some_other_script.js' );

Now you want to pass your $data to the script #2 with wp_localize_script():

wp_localize_script( 'my_script_2', 'my_script_2_local', $data );

After this - when WordPress prints out your my_script_2 it will print out your $data variables along with it so you can use them in your script.

As you can see my_script_2 is our handle here - it makes the link between our script functions.

Answer 2

The handle is arbitrary (as in not technically meaningful) name of script that is used for human convenience when declaring it with wp_register_script()/wp_enqueue_script().

So first you declare script (or look up handle of already declared one) and then you can use handle to assign localization object to it with wp_localize_script()

Answer 3

$handle is for all the script and style functions the given name.

// @example: 
wp_register_style( 'my-example-script', '/path/to/scripts/script.js', 'etc.' );

Then you can use it like this:

wp_enqueue_style( 'my-example-script' );
// or
wp_localize_script( 'my-example-script' );