Add updatable promotional banner to notifications

[tonyzeoli]

Is your developer task related to a problem or a requirement? Please describe.
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I'm seeing a promotional banner with coupon code added to the WordPress notifications for other plugins. I'd like to be able to have this option for our promotions.

Describe the solution you'd like
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See the Google Doc shared to your personal and netmix emails:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1G4g7UdbUqhB9IHXiGV1dlhcg-g5_aLHqmPsDroELvxw/edit?usp=sharing

Describe alternatives you've considered
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Additional context
Add any other context or screenshots about the feature request here.

Heres a screenshot of what I've seen for other plugins.

[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 I also added a date/time start/expiry function to the document, as well.

[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 I reworked a possible solution with a modified AI prompt, and this is what was returned.

Let me know if this helps with a solution to the problem.

Using WordPress Transients to Fetch and Cache Assets Securely

The most professional and secure method used by major plugin developers (like Automattic or Yoast) is to fetch the promotional data and image URLs from their own server periodically and store that information temporarily in the local WordPress database using Transients.

This approach offers two key benefits:

1. It bypasses the security issue because the content is displayed from the local database, not directly from the external source.
2. It significantly improves performance by only fetching the data from the external server once every 12-24 hours, instead of on every page load.

How it works:

1. Define a Remote API Endpoint: You host a simple JSON feed on your own website (e.g., api.myplugin.com) that contains the image URL, link URL, and message text.
2. Fetch the Data (Periodically): In your WordPress plugin code, you use wp_remote_get() to fetch this JSON data. You save the response in a WordPress Transient using set_transient().
3. Display the Cached Data: When displaying the banner in the admin area (using the admin_notices hook described previously), you retrieve the data using get_transient(). The image source (src) in your HTML points to the URL you securely stored in the transient.

function get_cached_promotion_data() {
    $promo_data = get_transient( 'my_plugin_current_promotion' );

    // If the transient is not found or expired, fetch new data
    if ( false === $promo_data ) {
        $response = wp_remote_get( 'api.yourwebsite.com' );

        if ( ! is_wp_error( $response ) && wp_remote_code( $response ) === 200 ) {
            $body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $response );
            $data = json_decode( $body );

            if ( $data && isset( $data->image_url ) ) {
                $promo_data = $data;
                // Cache the results for 1 day (86400 seconds)
                set_transient( 'my_plugin_current_promotion', $promo_data, DAY_IN_SECONDS );
            }
        }
    }
    return $promo_data;
}

// ... later in your admin_notices function ...

function my_plugin_display_promo_banner() {
    $promo = get_cached_promotion_data();
    if ( $promo && ! empty( $promo->image_url ) ) {
        printf(
            '<div class="notice my-promo-notice"><a href="%s"><img src="%s" alt="Promotion" /></a></div>',
            esc_url( $promo->link_url ),
            esc_url( $promo->image_url )
        );
    }
}
add_action( 'admin_notices', 'my_plugin_display_promo_banner' );

[majick777]

Yeah we could certainly cache the feed with image data using transients, that is better practice so the feed isn't retrieved all the time in admin when once a day is probably fine to check for changes.

[tonyzeoli]

@majick777 Great. Glad I found that solution on the web. Hope that works. Let me know when you'll have time to implement it. I really want to use it for the Christmas and New Year promotion, please.

We'll need a method to add/remove/update banners and target a URL.

We should be able to have an admin tool in Radio Station PRO (maybe as a plugin?) that gives the ability to upload a banner for each product: Radio Station, Radio Station PRO, Stream Player, and Stream Player PRO.

Should we use the ad banner plugin for the management of ads to the notification area? Is that possible?

Use cases:

Radio Station: Display banner(s) for upgrade to Radio Station PRO and/or Stream Player PRO.
Radio Station PLUS: Display banner(s) for Radio Station PRO and/or Stream Player PRO.
Radio Station PRO: Display a banner for discounts (e.g., Black Friday, Cyber Monday).
Stream Player: Display banner(s) for Stream Player PRO upgrade and Radio Station PRO upgrade