How does activation hook work in WordPress plugin?

How does activation hook work in WordPress plugin?

To be notified of its activation, a plugin can register itself to that even, using the register_activation_hook () function. There are some background concept that must be clear before start to use that action. It is not always as natural as it seems.

What do activation and deactivation hooks do for plugins?

Activation and deactivation hooks provide ways to perform actions when plugins are activated or deactivated. On activation, plugins can run a routine to add rewrite rules, add custom database tables, or set default option values. On deactivation, plugins can run a routine to remove temporary data such as cache and temp files and directories.

Where do I find the activate sample plugin hook?

When the plugin consists of only one file and is (as by default) located at wp-content/plugins/sample.php the name of this hook will be ‘activate_sample.php’. (string) (Required) The filename of the plugin including the path. (callable) (Required) The function hooked to the ‘activate_PLUGIN’ action.

Is there a way to late register the activation hook in WP?

Looking the the WP code (version 5.3) there are not safe ways to late-register that hook under a condition (like a defined constant). A good solution would be to move to OOP even the plugins area of WP, providing a base class to declare a plugin with some predefined method (for example “activate”) to be called by WP only when needed.

Is it safe to register activation hook for plugin?

Register the activation hook for a plugin on every page load (public or administrative) is a waste of time and resources. And, as said, you cannot be sure the activation is ran every time the plugin is activated. Looking the the WP code (version 5.3) there are not safe ways to late-register that hook under a condition (like a defined constant).

Can You Call Register activation hook inside a function?

You can’t call register_activation_hook () inside a function hooked to the ‘plugins_loaded’ or ‘init’ hooks (or any other hook). These hooks are called before the plugin is loaded or activated. When a plugin is activated, all active plugins are loaded, then the plugin is activated.