Add a minimum word count to Excerpt (and how to force Excerpt as a rule for WyPiekacz)

Question

How do I add a minimum word count to the Excerpt field before the post can be sent for pending review? I want to require content in the Excerpt field.

And also, how do I add the Excerpt field as a condition to the WyPiekacz plugin? WyPiekacz is a plugin that checks if posts that are submitted for review satisfies a set of rules.

Answer 1

Add minimum word count to Excerpt field

To enforce a minimum word count for the Excerpt field before the Post status can be changed to pending, we will slightly alter s_ha_dum's code.

It can be done by filtering wp_insert_post_data:

function wcexcerpt($data){
  if (!current_user_can('edit_others_posts')) {
    $num = 5; // minimum word count
    if (str_word_count($data['post_excerpt']) <  $num) {
      $data['post_status'] = 'draft';
    }
  }
  return $data;
}
add_action('wp_insert_post_data','wcexcerpt');

This will be active for all users beside the ones that can edit_others_posts.

Now, you will need to show an error message to the user if they fail the word count. You can do this by either:

Adding wp_die:

wp_die( __('Error: your excerpt is below the minimum word count.') );

Or via an Admin Notice:

function excerpt_error() {
    ?>
    <div class="error">
        <p><?php _e( 'Error: your excerpt is below the minimum word count.' ); ?></p>
    </div>
    <?php
}
add_action( 'admin_notices', 'excerpt_error' );

Add Excerpt as a rule to WyPiekacz

Now, this one is a bit more complicated. To enforce the Excerpt field as a condition for the WyPiekacz plugin, do the following steps.

Firstly, we will add the word count limit to the enforce_rules function.

Search for:

$add_dots = get_option( 'wypiekacz_enforce_add_dots' );

And add the following underneath that line:

// Enforce Excerpt for none-admins
if (!current_user_can('administrator')) {
  $num = 1; // minimum word count
   if (str_word_count($data['post_excerpt']) <  $num) {
      $this->errors[] = array( 'excerpt', __('Add an Excerpt to your post.', 'wypiekacz') );
   } 
}

By reading the code above, you will notice that we have added an error message to the errors array:

$this->errors[] = array( 'excerpt', __('Add an Excerpt to your post.', 'wypiekacz') );

Then let's add the option. Search for:

add_option( 'wypiekacz_post_thumbnail', 0 ); // Check post thumbnail

And add the following underneath that line:

add_option( 'wypiekacz_excerpt', 1 ); // Check excerpt

Finally, let us register setting. Search for:

register_setting( 'wypiekacz', 'wypiekacz_post_thumbnail', array( &$this, 'sanitize_01' ) );

And add the following underneath that line:

register_setting( 'wypiekacz', 'wypiekacz_excerpt', array( &$this, 'sanitize_nonnegative' ) );

That's it! Now you can force your authors to add an Excerpt to your post.

Want to add a maximum word count too? Sure, use Rarst's solution.