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How to Add the Media Manager Menu to the Theme Preview Interface

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WordPress 3.4 added a great theme preview interface that allows us to easily customize theme options (colors, images, menus, and more), as well as quickly view those updates on a theme preview frame.

WordPress 3.5 added a new media manager interface that is fast, easy to use, and awesome to look at.

In this article, we consider how to bring those two interfaces together so that we can use images from our media library in the theme preview interface.

1. Create an Image Control

I start by creating an image control object. For more on how to create settings and controls for the theme preview interface, refer to the WordPress Theme Customization API.

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function my_add_image_control( $slug, $label ) {
    global $wp_customize;
    static $count = 0;
    $id = "my_theme_settings[{$slug}]";
    $wp_customize->add_setting( $id, array(
        'type'              => 'option',
        'transport'     => 'postMessage'     ) );
     
    $control =
    new WP_Customize_Image_Control( $wp_customize, $slug,
        array(
        'label'         => __( $label, 'my_theme' ),
        'section'       => 'my_image_section',
        'priority'      => $count,
        'settings'  => $id
        )
    );
    $wp_customize->add_control($control);
    $count++;
    return $control;
}

I call this function from the customize_register action hook to create one or more image control objects.

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// Add to customize_register action hook
global $my_image_controls;
$my_image_controls = array();
$my_image_controls['shiba_header_image'] =  my_add_image_control('shiba_header_image', 'Header Image');
...

2. Add Media Library Tab to Image Control

Image control with Media Library tab.
Image control with Media Library tab.

Once I finish creating all my image control objects, I add a Media Library tab to each of them.

The code below creates a Media Library tab for each image control object, with an Open Library button within it. An example image control with its Media Library tab is shown in the screenshot to the right.

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global $my_image_controls;
foreach ($my_image_controls as $id => $control) {
    $control->add_tab( 'library',   __( 'Media Library' ), 'my_library_tab' );
}
 
function my_library_tab() {
    global $my_image_controls;
    static $tab_num = 0; // Sync tab to each image control
     
    $control = array_slice($my_image_controls, $tab_num, 1);
    ?>
    <a class="choose-from-library-link button"
        data-controller = "<?php esc_attr_e( key($control) ); ?>">
        <?php _e( 'Open Library' ); ?>
    </a>
     
    <?php
    $tab_num++;
}  

3. Tie the Open Library Button to the Media Manager Menu

Now, we are ready to tie the Open Library button to the media manager interface. To do this, we need to create our media manager menu using javascript, and then tie its click event to our Open Library button.

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(function($) {
 
// Object for creating WordPress 3.5 media upload menu
// for selecting theme images.
wp.media.shibaMediaManager = {
     
    init: function() {
        // Create the media frame.
        this.frame = wp.media.frames.shibaMediaManager = wp.media({
            title: 'Choose Image',
            library: {
                type: 'image'           },
            button: {
                text: 'Insert into skin',
            }
        });
 
         
        $('.choose-from-library-link').click( function( event ) {
            wp.media.shibaMediaManager.$el = $(this);
            var controllerName = $(this).data('controller');
            event.preventDefault();
 
            wp.media.shibaMediaManager.frame.open();
        });
         
    } // end init
}; // end shibaMediaManager
 
wp.media.shibaMediaManager.init();
 
}(jQuery));

Lines 9 to 17 – Create our media manager menu. This article goes into greater detail on the various wp.media options.

Line 20 – Tie the click event for our media manager menu to our ‘Open Library’ button created in the previous step. Note that choose-from-library-link is the same class that was used to encapsulate the ‘Open Library’ button(s) in step 2.

Line 23 – Prevent other actions from being tied to our Open Library button.

Line 25 – Open the media manager menu.

To enable the media library menu, I need to add the script above as well as other media manager relevant scripts. I put the script above into a file, e.g. shiba-media-manager.js, and include it using the wp_enqueue_script function.

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add_action( 'customize_controls_enqueue_scripts', 'my_add_scripts' );      
 
function my_add_scripts() {
    wp_enqueue_media();
    wp_enqueue_script('shiba-media-manager', get_template_directory().'/js/shiba-media-manager.js', array( ), '1.0', true);
}

With great anticipation, I include all the code above, then click on my ‘Open Library’ button … Nothing Happens!!

After some digging, it turns out that the menu is actually showing, it is just coming up below our page preview frame. To have the media manager menu show properly, we need to move the z-index value of our media manager menu up, or the z-index value of our page preview frame down. In the code below, I do the latter.

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add_action( 'customize_controls_print_styles', 'my_customize_styles', 50);
function my_customize_styles() { ?>
    <style>
    .wp-full-overlay {
        z-index: 150000 !important;
    }
    </style>
<?php }

Now, when we click on the ‘Open Library’ button, the media manager menu appears!

WordPress theme previewer with media manager menu.
Now, when we click on the ‘Open Library’ button, the media manager menu appears!

Modify Image Control Based on Media Manager Selection

Fianlly, we need to connect our media manager image selection to our theme previewer image control. Since both objects are in javascript, all we need is a javascript function to modify the relevant objects (no AJAX calls are needed).

I add the code below into my shiba-media-manager.js file, right above the click event function.

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// When an image is selected, run a callback.
this.frame.on( 'select', function() {
    // Grab the selected attachment.
    var attachment = wp.media.shibaMediaManager.frame.state().get('selection').first(),
        controllerName = wp.media.shibaMediaManager.$el.data('controller');
     
    controller = wp.customize.control.instance(controllerName);
    controller.thumbnailSrc(attachment.attributes.url);
    controller.setting.set(attachment.attributes.url);
});

Line 4 – Get the image we selected in the media manager menu.
Line 5 – Get the image control name that triggered the selection (e.g. shiba_header_image).
Line 7 – Get the javascript image control object using the name retrieved in line 5.
Line 8 to 9 – Update the image control object with the image url we selected from the media manager menu.

This article has more on how to access javascript theme previewer controls and settings.

Success! Now when we select an image in the media manager menu, it updates the image control object and associated setting.

How to add the Media Manager Menu to the Theme Preview Interface
When we select an image in the media manager menu, it updates the image control object and associated setting
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