SlideShare a Scribd company logo

Parsing strange v2

•
•
Hal Stern
Hal Stern

This document discusses how WordPress parses URLs and generates SQL queries to retrieve content. It explains that a URL request is first manipulated by the web server and rewrite rules before WordPress interprets it. WordPress then extracts query variables from the URL and uses these to generate an SQL query to retrieve the appropriate content. It also discusses how taxonomies like categories and tags involve JOIN operations in the SQL. Finally, it notes how template files are selected based on query parsing and how content is generated from the retrieved SQL data and processed for display.

Related slideshows

Using Apache Solr
Using Apache SolrUsing Apache Solr
Using Apache Solr
 
Solr Recipes Workshop
Solr Recipes WorkshopSolr Recipes Workshop
Solr Recipes Workshop
 
Apache Solr Workshop
Apache Solr WorkshopApache Solr Workshop
Apache Solr Workshop
 
1 of 24
Download to read offline
Parsing Strange: URL to SQL to HTML Hal Stern snowmanonfire.com headshot by Richard Stevens http://dieselsweeties.com slideshare.net/freeholdhal © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved
Why Do You Care? •  Database performance = user experience •  A little database expertise goes a long way •  Taxonomies for more than sidebar lists •  Custom post types (!!) •  WordPress is a powerful CMS > Change default behaviors > Defy the common wisdom > Integrate other content sources/filters © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 2
Flow of Control •  Web server URL manipulation > Real file or permalink URL? •  URL to query variables > What to display? Tag? Post? Category? •  Query variables to SQL generation > How exactly to get that content? •  Template file selection > How will content be displayed? •  Content manipulation © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 3
Whose File Is This? •  User URL request passed to web server •  Web server checks .htaccess file <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /whereyouputWordPress/ > WP install root RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d > Other .htaccess RewriteRule </IfModule> . /index.php [L] files may interfere •  Basic rewriting rules: If file or directory URL doesn’t exist, start WordPress via index.php © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 4
Example Meta Fail: 404 Not Found myblog/ myblog/wp-content (etc) myblog/images •  Access broken image URLs for unintended results: no 404 pages! myblog/images/not-a-pic.jpg! •  Web server can’t find file, assumes it’s a permalink, hands to WP •  WP can’t interpret it, so defaults to home © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 5
What Happens Before The Loop •  Parse URL into a query •  Set conditionals & select templates •  Execute the query & cache results •  Run the Loop: <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); //loop content endwhile; endif; ?> © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 6
Examining the Query String <?php global $wp_query; echo ”SQL for this page "; echo $wp_query->request; echo "<br>"; ?> •  SQL passed to MySQL in WP_Query object’s request element •  Brute force: edit theme footer.php  to see main loop’s query for displayed page © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 7
“Home Page” Query Deconstruction SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post’ AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_posts.post_status = 'private’) ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 10 Get all fields from posts table, but limit number of returned rows Only get posts, and those that are published or private to the user Sort the results by date in descending order Start results starting with record 0 and up to 10 more results © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 8
Query Parsing •  parse_request() method of WP_Query extracts query variables from URL •  Execute rewrite rules > Pick off ?p=67 style http GET variables > Match permalink structure > Match keywords like “author” and “tag” > Match custom post type slugs © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 9
Query Variables to SQL •  Query type: post by title, posts by category or tag, posts by date •  Variables for the query > Slug values for category/tags > Month/day numbers > Explicit variable values ?p=67 for post_id •  post_type variable has been around for a while; CPT fill in new values © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 10
Simple Title Slug Parsing /2010/premio-sausage SELECT wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND YEAR (wp_posts.post_date)='2010' AND wp_posts.post_name = 'premio- sausage' AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC •  Rewrite matches root of permalink, extracts tail of URL as a title slug © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 11
Graphs and JOIN Operations •  WordPress treats tags and categories as “terms”, mapped 1:N to posts •  Relational databases aren’t ideal for this > INNER JOIN builds intermediate tables on common key values •  Following link in a social graph is equivalent to an INNER JOIN on tables of linked items © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 12
WordPress Taxonomy Tables wp_posts wp_term_relationships wp_term_taxonomy post_id object_id term_taxonomy_id …. term_taxonomy_id term_id post_date taxonomy … description post_content •  Term relationships table maps N:1 terms to each post wp_terms term_id •  Term taxonomy maps slugs name 1:N to taxonomies slug •  Term table has slugs for URL mapping © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 13
Taxonomy Lookup /tag/premio SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy ON (wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id = wp_term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id) INNER JOIN wp_terms ON (wp_term_taxonomy.term_id = wp_terms.term_id) WHERE 1=1 AND wp_term_taxonomy.taxonomy = 'post_tag' AND wp_terms.slug IN ('premio') AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_posts.post_status = 'private') GROUP BY wp_posts.ID ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 10 © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 14
More on Canonical URLs •  Canonical URLs improve SEO •  WordPress is really good about generating 301 Redirects for non-standard URLs •  Example: URL doesn’t appear to match a permalink, WordPress does prediction > Use “LIKE title%” in WHERE clause > Matches “title” as initial substring with % wildcard © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 15
Modifying the Query •  Brute force isn’t necessarily good > Using query_posts() ignores all previous parsing, runs a new SQL query •  Filter query_vars > Change default parsing (convert any day to a week’s worth of posts, for example) •  Actions parse_query & parse_request > Access WP_Query object before execution > is_xx() conditionals are already set © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 16
SQL Generation Filters •  posts_where > More explicit control over query variable to SQL grammar mapping •  posts_join > Add or modify JOINS for other graph like relationships •  Many other filters > Change grouping of results > Change ordering of results © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 17
Custom Post Types •  Change SQL WHERE clause on post type > wp_posts.post_type=‘ebay’ •  Add new rewrite rules for URL parsing similar to category & tag > Set slug in CPT registration array 'rewrite' => array ("slug" => “ebay”), •  Watch out for competing, overwritten or unflushed rewrite entries <?php echo "<pre>”; print_r(get_option('rewrite_rules')); echo "</pre>”; ?> © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 18
Applications •  Stylized listings > Category sorted alphabetically > Use posts as listings of resources (jobs, clients, events) – good CPT application •  Custom URL slugs > Add rewrite rules to match slug and set query variables •  Joining other social graphs > Suggested/related content © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 19
Template File Selection •  is_x() conditionals set in query parsing •  Used to drive template selection > is_tag() looks for tag-slug, tag-id, then tag > Full search hierarchy in Codex •  template_redirect action > Called in the template loader > Add actions to override defaults © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 20
HTML Generation •  Done in the_post() method •  Raw content retrieved from MySQL > Short codes interpreted > CSS applied •  Some caching plugins generate and store HTML, so YMMV © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 21
Why Do You Care? •  User experience improvement > JOINS are expensive > Large table, repetitive SELECTs = slow > Running query once keeps cache warm > Category, permalink, title slug choices matter •  More CMS, less “blog” > Alphabetical sort > Adding taxonomy/social graph elements © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 22
Resources •  Core files where SQL stuff happens > query.php > post.php > canonical.php > rewrite.php •  Template  loader  search  path   >  http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 23
Contact Hal Stern freeholdhal@gmail.com @freeholdhal snowmanonfire.com facebook.com/hal.stern slideshare.net/freeholdhal © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 24

More Related Content

Parsing strange v2

  • 1. Parsing Strange: URL to SQL to HTML Hal Stern snowmanonfire.com headshot by Richard Stevens http://dieselsweeties.com slideshare.net/freeholdhal © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved
  • 2. Why Do You Care? •  Database performance = user experience •  A little database expertise goes a long way •  Taxonomies for more than sidebar lists •  Custom post types (!!) •  WordPress is a powerful CMS > Change default behaviors > Defy the common wisdom > Integrate other content sources/filters © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 2
  • 3. Flow of Control •  Web server URL manipulation > Real file or permalink URL? •  URL to query variables > What to display? Tag? Post? Category? •  Query variables to SQL generation > How exactly to get that content? •  Template file selection > How will content be displayed? •  Content manipulation © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 3
  • 4. Whose File Is This? •  User URL request passed to web server •  Web server checks .htaccess file <IfModule mod_rewrite.c> RewriteEngine On RewriteBase /whereyouputWordPress/ > WP install root RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d > Other .htaccess RewriteRule </IfModule> . /index.php [L] files may interfere •  Basic rewriting rules: If file or directory URL doesn’t exist, start WordPress via index.php © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 4
  • 5. Example Meta Fail: 404 Not Found myblog/ myblog/wp-content (etc) myblog/images •  Access broken image URLs for unintended results: no 404 pages! myblog/images/not-a-pic.jpg! •  Web server can’t find file, assumes it’s a permalink, hands to WP •  WP can’t interpret it, so defaults to home © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 5
  • 6. What Happens Before The Loop •  Parse URL into a query •  Set conditionals & select templates •  Execute the query & cache results •  Run the Loop: <?php if (have_posts()) : while (have_posts()) : the_post(); //loop content endwhile; endif; ?> © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 6
  • 7. Examining the Query String <?php global $wp_query; echo ”SQL for this page "; echo $wp_query->request; echo "<br>"; ?> •  SQL passed to MySQL in WP_Query object’s request element •  Brute force: edit theme footer.php  to see main loop’s query for displayed page © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 7
  • 8. “Home Page” Query Deconstruction SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post’ AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_posts.post_status = 'private’) ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 10 Get all fields from posts table, but limit number of returned rows Only get posts, and those that are published or private to the user Sort the results by date in descending order Start results starting with record 0 and up to 10 more results © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 8
  • 9. Query Parsing •  parse_request() method of WP_Query extracts query variables from URL •  Execute rewrite rules > Pick off ?p=67 style http GET variables > Match permalink structure > Match keywords like “author” and “tag” > Match custom post type slugs © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 9
  • 10. Query Variables to SQL •  Query type: post by title, posts by category or tag, posts by date •  Variables for the query > Slug values for category/tags > Month/day numbers > Explicit variable values ?p=67 for post_id •  post_type variable has been around for a while; CPT fill in new values © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 10
  • 11. Simple Title Slug Parsing /2010/premio-sausage SELECT wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts WHERE 1=1 AND YEAR (wp_posts.post_date)='2010' AND wp_posts.post_name = 'premio- sausage' AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC •  Rewrite matches root of permalink, extracts tail of URL as a title slug © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 11
  • 12. Graphs and JOIN Operations •  WordPress treats tags and categories as “terms”, mapped 1:N to posts •  Relational databases aren’t ideal for this > INNER JOIN builds intermediate tables on common key values •  Following link in a social graph is equivalent to an INNER JOIN on tables of linked items © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 12
  • 13. WordPress Taxonomy Tables wp_posts wp_term_relationships wp_term_taxonomy post_id object_id term_taxonomy_id …. term_taxonomy_id term_id post_date taxonomy … description post_content •  Term relationships table maps N:1 terms to each post wp_terms term_id •  Term taxonomy maps slugs name 1:N to taxonomies slug •  Term table has slugs for URL mapping © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 13
  • 14. Taxonomy Lookup /tag/premio SELECT SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS wp_posts.* FROM wp_posts INNER JOIN wp_term_relationships ON (wp_posts.ID = wp_term_relationships.object_id) INNER JOIN wp_term_taxonomy ON (wp_term_relationships.term_taxonomy_id = wp_term_taxonomy.term_taxonomy_id) INNER JOIN wp_terms ON (wp_term_taxonomy.term_id = wp_terms.term_id) WHERE 1=1 AND wp_term_taxonomy.taxonomy = 'post_tag' AND wp_terms.slug IN ('premio') AND wp_posts.post_type = 'post' AND (wp_posts.post_status = 'publish' OR wp_posts.post_status = 'private') GROUP BY wp_posts.ID ORDER BY wp_posts.post_date DESC LIMIT 0, 10 © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 14
  • 15. More on Canonical URLs •  Canonical URLs improve SEO •  WordPress is really good about generating 301 Redirects for non-standard URLs •  Example: URL doesn’t appear to match a permalink, WordPress does prediction > Use “LIKE title%” in WHERE clause > Matches “title” as initial substring with % wildcard © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 15
  • 16. Modifying the Query •  Brute force isn’t necessarily good > Using query_posts() ignores all previous parsing, runs a new SQL query •  Filter query_vars > Change default parsing (convert any day to a week’s worth of posts, for example) •  Actions parse_query & parse_request > Access WP_Query object before execution > is_xx() conditionals are already set © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 16
  • 17. SQL Generation Filters •  posts_where > More explicit control over query variable to SQL grammar mapping •  posts_join > Add or modify JOINS for other graph like relationships •  Many other filters > Change grouping of results > Change ordering of results © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 17
  • 18. Custom Post Types •  Change SQL WHERE clause on post type > wp_posts.post_type=‘ebay’ •  Add new rewrite rules for URL parsing similar to category & tag > Set slug in CPT registration array 'rewrite' => array ("slug" => “ebay”), •  Watch out for competing, overwritten or unflushed rewrite entries <?php echo "<pre>”; print_r(get_option('rewrite_rules')); echo "</pre>”; ?> © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 18
  • 19. Applications •  Stylized listings > Category sorted alphabetically > Use posts as listings of resources (jobs, clients, events) – good CPT application •  Custom URL slugs > Add rewrite rules to match slug and set query variables •  Joining other social graphs > Suggested/related content © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 19
  • 20. Template File Selection •  is_x() conditionals set in query parsing •  Used to drive template selection > is_tag() looks for tag-slug, tag-id, then tag > Full search hierarchy in Codex •  template_redirect action > Called in the template loader > Add actions to override defaults © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 20
  • 21. HTML Generation •  Done in the_post() method •  Raw content retrieved from MySQL > Short codes interpreted > CSS applied •  Some caching plugins generate and store HTML, so YMMV © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 21
  • 22. Why Do You Care? •  User experience improvement > JOINS are expensive > Large table, repetitive SELECTs = slow > Running query once keeps cache warm > Category, permalink, title slug choices matter •  More CMS, less “blog” > Alphabetical sort > Adding taxonomy/social graph elements © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 22
  • 23. Resources •  Core files where SQL stuff happens > query.php > post.php > canonical.php > rewrite.php •  Template  loader  search  path   >  http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Hierarchy © 2010 Hal Stern Some Rights Reserved WordCamp Boulder 23