How to put a form with php code into a variable or shortcode?

Question

I'm trying to put my frontend form into a variable or a shortcode so I can wrap another shortcode around it (specifically Bainternet Post Creation Limits).

My form has PHP code in it so I'm not exactly sure how to do this. I have tried creating other variables for each line of PHP code but it's not working as I thought it might.

I know how to create a shortcode; I don't know how to put a form with PHP into a shortcode though. I don't know how to put the form into a variable at all and I can't find information how to do this.

Here's the form:

<form id="new_post" name="new_post" method="post" action="" class="submit-form" enctype="multipart/form-data">
    <fieldset class="tax">
        <label for="class">Class Price:</label>
            <input type="text" value="" class="class" id="class" name="class" placeholder="20" /> &euro;
        <label for="accent">Accent:</label>
            <?php wp_dropdown_categories( 'tab_index=15&taxonomy=accent&hide_empty=0&name=accent&show_option_all=Select one' ); ?>
        <h2>Rates</h2>
        <div class="teachratebox">
        <label for="presencial">Face-to-face classes</label>
        <?php
            $clocations = get_terms('class-location', 'orderby=id&hide_empty=0');
            $counter = 0;
            foreach ($clocations as $clocation) {
                $counter++;
                $option = '<div class="slots"><input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" name="class-location[]" id="'.$clocation->slug.'" value="'.$clocation->slug.'" onclick="enable_text(this.checked)" />';
                $option .= '<span class="clocation" for="clocations">'.$clocation->name.'</span>';
                $option .= '<input type="text" class="rate" value="" id="'.$clocation->slug.'-rate" name="'.$clocation->slug.'-rate" disabled="disabled" /> &euro;</div>';
                echo $option;
            }
        ?>
        </div>

        <input type="submit" value="Add Teacher" tabindex="40" id="psubmit" name="submit" />
    </fieldset>

        <input type="hidden" name="action" value="new_post" />
        <?php wp_nonce_field( 'new-post' ); ?>

</form>

How do I put this form into a variable or a shortcode?

Answer 1

I would suggest that you remove the php from the form and instead write out the relevant HTML in your shortcode code.

• Loop through wp_dropdown_categories and create a dropdown

• Loop through clocations and build your collection of checkboxes

• Drop the wp_nonce_field and code up something simple yourself using a hidden field.

Essentially the code doesn't change much, it just outputs to a string instead. Once your shortcode puts out pure HTML, it can be wrapped inside another.

Answer 2

Beside the fact that your code could be better, here is a simple solution. Using output buffers will write everything to a variable.

<?php
ob_start();
?>
<form id="new_post" name="new_post" method="post" action="" class="submit-form" enctype="multipart/form-data">
<fieldset class="tax">
    <label for="class">Class Price:</label>
        <input type="text" value="" class="class" id="class" name="class" placeholder="20" /> &euro;
    <label for="accent">Accent:</label>
        <?php wp_dropdown_categories( 'tab_index=15&taxonomy=accent&hide_empty=0&name=accent&show_option_all=Select one' ); ?>
    <h2>Rates</h2>
    <div class="teachratebox">
    <label for="presencial">Face-to-face classes</label>
    <?php
        $clocations = get_terms('class-location', 'orderby=id&hide_empty=0');
        $counter = 0;
        foreach ($clocations as $clocation) {
            $counter++;
            $option = '<div class="slots"><input class="checkbox" type="checkbox" name="class-location[]" id="'.$clocation->slug.'" value="'.$clocation->slug.'" onclick="enable_text(this.checked)" />';
            $option .= '<span class="clocation" for="clocations">'.$clocation->name.'</span>';
            $option .= '<input type="text" class="rate" value="" id="'.$clocation->slug.'-rate" name="'.$clocation->slug.'-rate" disabled="disabled" /> &euro;</div>';
            echo $option;
        }
    ?>
    </div>

    <input type="submit" value="Add Teacher" tabindex="40" id="psubmit" name="submit" />
</fieldset>

    <input type="hidden" name="action" value="new_post" />
    <?php wp_nonce_field( 'new-post' ); ?>

</form>
<?php
$output = ob_get_contents();
ob_end_clean();