options creation for plugins

Question

I am new to wordpress and learning to create plugins. I want to know how wordpress itself create options in 'wp_options' table for plugin during plugin installation or activation? How wordpress decide about these option values, which is sometimes serialized data?

Answer 1

There are some functions associated with manipulating the variables found in the wp_options table.

add_option(): Create a new value in the table. Example add_option('var_name', 'value') will store option_name = 'var_name' and option_value = 'value'. add_option() is used only when saving a value for the first time. Has an autoload parameter.

get_option(): Retrieve that value. Example: get_option('var_name') will return the string value.

update_option(). Will update the value of an option. Can also be used instead of add_option(), but it lacks the autoload parameter.

As for serializing data, Wordpress will do it automatically if you use the above options with an array.

Answer 2

WordPress includes a Settings API, that handles all aspects of registering and updating options. I would strongly recommend using the Settings API rather than using add_option()/update_option() directly.

I've written a tutorial on implementing the Settings API in Themes; Plugins would be almost identical, except they would use add_options_page() instead of add_appearance_page().

More specific answers would require a more specific question.