Dropdown Content Plugin

Use a shortcode to define a drop-down form field, and shortcodes to define blocks of content that will be displayed when a specific entry is selected.

Usage

To add a content dropdown to a post, you can either select the Content Dropdown icon from the TinyMCE editor, or enter the shortcodes manually.

[dropdown name="controlName" class="customClassName"] - both `name` and `class` are optional; `name` will default to `dropdown-content` 

• the name is used to identify which content sections are targetted by this dropdown; if there is only one dropdown on a page, it is optional; if there are multiple dropdowns on a page, each will need a unique name
• class can be a space-separated list of class names, or just a single class name

• only [dropdown-option] shortcodes may be inside this shortcode

  [dropdown-option value=”someValue”] – the value field is technically optional, but is required if this option is meant to make a content block visible

• must be inside a [dropdown] shortcode

  [dropdown-content name=”controlName” value=”someValue”] – if the name matches a dropdown name, and the value matches the value of an option within that dropdown, then this content will be displayed when that specific option is selected.

• again, name is technically optional, but must match a [dropdown] name (also defaults to dropdown-content)

• value is required, and must match a value for a [dropdown-option]
• can be anywhere on the page

Example

Copy and paste the following content to see the plugin in action

[dropdown]
[dropdown-option]Select one…[/dropdown-option]
[dropdown-option value=”option1″]First option[/dropdown-option]
[dropdown-option value=”option2″]Second Option[/dropdown-option]
[/dropdown]

[dropdown-content value=”option1″]Content for the first option.[/dropdown-content]

[dropdown-content value=”option2″]Content for the second option.[/dropdown-content]

Those were all using the default values from the plugin. Let’s change it up a bit.

[dropdown]
[dropdown-option value=”option1″]The First[/dropdown-option]
[dropdown-option value=”option2″ default=true]The Second[/dropdown-option]
[dropdown-option value=”option3″]The Third[/dropdown-option]
[/dropdown]

You’ll notice below that the second option will be displayed by default for you.

[dropdown-content value=”option1″]Some different content for the second first option.[/dropdown-content]

[dropdown-content value=”option2″]Some different content for the second second option.[/dropdown-content]

[dropdown-content value=”option3″]Some different content for the second third option.[/dropdown-content]

The plugin is simple to install:

1. Download the plugin, it will arrive as a zip file
2. Unzip it
3. Upload dropdown-content.zip directory to your WordPress Plugin directory
4. Go to the plugin management page and enable the plugin

1. 

   The Test 3 option is currently selected

2. 

   Now the Test 2 option has been selected and the content below the dropdown has changed

What is actually happening?

There is a tiny bit of Javascript that watches these generated dropdowns for the change event, and simply adds the class dropdowncontent-content-selected to the content block that has the same value as the selected option.

How do I override your CSS?

Only three classes are used: dropdowncontent-dropdown for the dropdown control itself and has no default styling, dropdowncontent-content which has a single rule (display:none;) for content blocks, and the dropdowncontent-content-selected class which has a single rule (display:inherit;) for selected content blocks. Feel free to override those styles however you like in your own stylesheets.

Can I style the dropdown box itself?

Absolutely! It is a normal SELECT box and can be modified by any CSS or Javascript you like. You can target the default dropdowncontent-dropdown class, any custom class you add to the shortcode, or the field name (which defaults to dropdown-content but can be modified by the shortcode).

What kind of content can be in the content blocks?

Anything! By default, though, since the blocks are given display:none; as their default rule, things like maps or other Javascript targets that require a visible container may not work quite as expected. To account for that, there are two custom jQuery events attached to elements with the dropdowncontent-content class and will fire in this order:

1. dropdown-content:unselect will fire when a dropdown option is unselected and $(this) will refer to the previously selected content block; the previous value and name fields can be found with $(this).attr('data-dropdowncontent-value') and $(this).attr('data-dropdowncontent-name')
2. dropdown-content:select will fire when a dropdown option is selected, and $(this) will refer to the newly selected content block; the current value and name fields can be found with $(this).attr('data-dropdowncontent-value') and $(this).attr('data-dropdowncontent-name')

v1.0.2 2016/09/23

• fixed content block custom event delegation

v1.0.1 2016/09/23

• updated documentation
• added screenshots
• added FAQ entries
• added custom jQuery events to Javascript
• now uses delegated listener in case dropdowns are hidden on page load or loaded via AJAX
• removed references to “visible” in code and documentation, replaced with “select” instead

v1.0.0 2016/09/22

• First public release