Build WordPress option panels by dragging, or by writing five lines of PHP.

01Overview

Both paths produce the same kind of panel: sections (tabs) containing fields, saved as one serialized array under a single option_name, sanitized per field type automatically, with an optional bridge into the WordPress Customizer.

02Installation

• Upload the sifency-admin-option-builder folder to /wp-content/plugins/, or install it via the Plugins screen.
• Activate it from the Plugins screen.
• Open Option Builder in the WP Admin menu to create your first panel.

03Using the visual builder

Panels

• Create any number of panels, each with its own title and an option-name prefix — the option_name its values are saved under.
• The panel-settings block (title, prefix, “Show On”, menu placement) collapses once a panel is set up, keeping it out of the way of the section/field builder below.
• Per panel, choose where it appears: its own admin page, the Customizer, or both.

Sections and fields

• Add sections (tabs) to a panel; nest a section under another as a sub-tab via “Nest as tab under.”
• Drag fields into a section from a type palette. Reorder sections and fields by drag-and-drop.
• For each field, set its ID, label, CSS class, default value, and description directly in the UI.

The visual builder currently exposes this subset of field types:

Save, deactivate, uninstall

• Deactivating the plugin keeps all saved data intact.
• Deleting it via the Plugins screen removes every builder-created panel’s values and the builder layout itself.
• This cleanup only touches builder-created panels — panels registered by a theme or plugin through the PHP API (§4) are left untouched, since that data belongs to whichever product created it.

04Developer API

For anything the visual builder doesn’t cover, register a panel directly in PHP — a separate registration path from builder-created panels.

createOptions( $prefix, $args )

Registers a new options page/panel. $prefix is the unique option_name every field in the panel is stored under, as one serialized array.

Sifency_Admin_Options_Framework::createOptions( 'my_plugin_options', array(
    'menu_title'         => 'My Plugin',
    'framework_title'    => 'My Plugin Settings',
    'menu_icon'          => 'dashicons-admin-generic',
    'menu_position'      => null,
    'menu_parent'        => null,        // e.g. 'themes.php' to nest under Appearance
    'capability'         => 'manage_options',
    'theme'              => 'light',
    'footer_text'        => '',
    'show_in_customizer' => false,       // true to also bridge into the Customizer
    'hide_admin_menu'    => false,       // true for a Customizer-only panel
) );

createSection( $prefix, $args )

Registers a section (top-level tab), or a nested sub-section when parent is supplied.

Sifency_Admin_Options_Framework::createSection( 'my_plugin_options', array(
    'id'       => 'general',
    'title'    => 'General',
    'subtitle' => '',
    'icon'     => 'dashicons-admin-generic',
    'fields'   => array(
        array( 'id' => 'my_field', 'type' => 'text', 'title' => 'My Field' ),
    ),
) );

Pass 'parent' => 'general' on a second call to nest it as a sub-tab inside general instead of creating a new top-level tab.

createField( $prefix, $section_id, $field )

Extension point: appends a field to an already-registered top-level section without editing the file that created it.

Sifency_Admin_Options_Framework::createField( 'my_plugin_options', 'general', array(
    'id'    => 'extra_field',
    'type'  => 'text',
    'title' => 'Extra Field',
) );

Reading saved values

// Static framework call — needs the exact prefix.
$value = Sifency_Admin_Options_Framework::getOption( 'my_plugin_options', 'my_field', 'default' );

// Global helper — reads from the theme's own panel without hardcoding a prefix.
$value = sifency_option( 'my_field', 'default' );   // alias of sifency_options()
$all    = sifency_options();                        // every saved value for the resolved prefix

sifency_option() / sifency_options() resolve their prefix as {theme_slug}_options by default (or the parent theme’s slug on a child theme). Point them at a custom prefix with a filter instead of forking the functions:

add_filter( 'sifency_option_prefix', function () {
    return 'my_custom_options';
} );

05Field types

The full engine supports more types than the visual builder currently exposes — composite types are PHP-API only for now.

Every field type has its own server-side sanitizer that runs automatically on save — this isn’t something the implementer has to wire up.

Overriding or adding a field type

add_filter( 'sifency_fw_render_field_mytype', function ( $html, $field, $value, $name ) {
    // return your own markup
    return $html;
}, 10, 4 );

Sanitization is filterable the same way, via sifency_fw_sanitize_field_{type}.

06Customizer bridge

Set 'show_in_customizer' => true on a panel (or choose Customizer / Both in the visual builder) to have its compatible fields appear live in Appearance → Customize, alongside — or instead of, with hide_admin_menu — the dedicated settings page.

Only these field types currently bridge into the Customizer:

07Tabs & groups

• fieldset — a pure UI wrapper: groups child fields visually without storing a value of its own.
• tabbed — lets a single section fan out into nested tabs, each with its own fields array, without a separate createSection() call per tab.
• group — a repeatable row of sub-fields, stored as one array under the group’s own field id. Unlike fieldset/tabbed, a group is treated as a single leaf value, not flattened.

08FAQ

Do I need a specific theme?

No — the Option Builder screen works with any theme, out of the box.

Who can access the builder or edit values?

Users with the manage_options capability.

Does the plugin send data externally?

No. All settings are stored locally in the WordPress database; no external requests are made.

Can I add my own panel as a developer?

Yes, via createOptions() / createSection() (§4) — entirely separate from panels made with the visual builder.

Will a built panel show up in the Customizer?

Only if “Customizer” or “Both” is chosen for that panel, and only for the field types listed in §6.

What happens on deactivate vs. uninstall?

Deactivating preserves all data. Uninstalling removes every builder-created panel’s values and the builder layout itself — not panels registered via the PHP API by another theme/plugin.

09Changelog