using-entrypoints.md

Using entrypoints

If you get deeper into plugin development you will notice that some frontend coding is not needed for all pages. Some scenarios:

• Gutenberg block: Only load JS / CSS when the Gutenberg block is loaded
• Shortcode: Only load JS / CSS when the Gutenberg block is loaded
• Widget: A "big" widget should outsource coding to its own entrypoint
• WP Admin page: Each page should only load their JS / CSS

The boilerplate and example implementations use the simplest scenario and loads a single admin.js on wp-admin and widget.js on the website itself.

For this, you should consider conditional loading of JS / CSS files. Let's go with an example, which should only be loaded on wp-admin/edit.php. Now, how to create a new entrypoint? In our boilerplate context, an "entrypoint" is each file in plugins/your-plugin/src/public/ts/* (first level, no sub folders). Create a new file plugins/your-plugin/src/public/ts/edit.tsx:

console.log("I am only loaded in posts edit page!");

Afterwards run yarn docker:start and the new entrypoint edit.js is compiled to src/public/{dev,dist}. Open Assets#enqueue_scripts_and_styles and add this:

public function enqueue_scripts_and_styles($type) {
    if ($this->isScreenBase("edit")) {
        $this->enqueueScript(WPRJSS_SLUG . '-edit', 'edit.js');
    }
}

{% hint style="info" %} If you can not use Assets#enqueue_scripts_and_styles to enqueue your conditional files (e. g. Shortcode) you can always $this->getCore()->getAssets() to use the boilerplate enqueue methods. {% endhint %}