Need help with PHP functions

Question

apologies for the noob post. I'm fairly new to working with wordpress and I want to do my own php functions - here I just want to show the logged in user's firstname on the page. Below is what I added to my theme's functions.php:

add_shortcode('show_name', 'generate_content');
function show_name() {
$current_user = wp_get_current_user();
$first_name = $current_user->user_firstname;
return $first_name;
}

and then I added this to the html editor of the page I want yet it doesn't display anything:

<span style="font-family: 'Josefin Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 20px;">Hi <strong><?php echo do_shortcode("[show_name]"); ?></strong>,</span>

I guess my main questions would be if I wrote the function correctly and/or where should I place the shortcode call. I hope someone could help as I plan to do some more advanced functions (such as updating database values by clicking a button).

start by reading codex.wordpress.org/Shortcode_API

Michael
– Michael

2016-12-05 16:39:07 +00:00
Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 16:39 — Michael
– Michael, Commented Dec 5, 2016 at 16:39

DarrenK · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-05 16:51:46Z

add_shortcode('show_name', 'generate_content');

When WordPress finds a [show_name] shortcode tag in content, it runs the function that matches the second parameter, which in this case is generate_content. Try renaming your show_name() function to be the same, like this:

add_shortcode('show_name', 'my_show_name_func');
function my_show_name_func() {
    $current_user = wp_get_current_user();
    $first_name = $current_user->user_firstname;
    return $first_name;
}

Everything else looks like it will work though I didn't test this. For more information on adding a shortcode see the WordPress documentation here: https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_shortcode

Also, since you are using it within a php block in a template, you can simply use the php function by calling it directly. For the above example doing this in your template would also work:

... Hi <strong><?php echo my_show_name_func(); ?></strong> ...

Will have the same effect.

Since php functions can be accessed like this, it's best to 'name space' your functions so they - being uniquely named - don't conflict with another function one that uses the same name in another theme or plugin.

Happy coding!

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