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I am trying to use the http://www.tinymce.com/ plugin to add a tinymce to my textareas in my meta boxes I have created. I've googled other ways and either I cant get it to work or didnt grasp the concept. SO this is what Im trying now --

I tried creating plugin to add the script to my admin dashboard --

add_action('admin_init', 'admin_load_scripts'); 
function admin_load_scripts() { 
    $js_file = plugins_url( '/tinymce/jquery.tinymce.min.js', __FILE__ );  
    wp_enqueue_script('jquery.tinymce.min', $js_file, array('jquery')); 

Then I need to call it like so --


But im not sure how to do this, being that this is for the backend and not the front end. How can I achieve this?


This is my code for the meta boxes. http://pastebin.com/WcC51uA9

I tried the following methods (placing it in functions.php of course), and for the most part they either just didnt work or would show up on the top of the page or on the bottom of the page. They didnt show up on the textarea at all. ---





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Why not use the wp_editor() function? –  helgatheviking Oct 9 '13 at 14:01

2 Answers 2

up vote 4 down vote accepted

Here's a pastebin with your code included.

Get the old value of the tinyMCE

$meta_biography = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'meta_biography', true );

Call the TinyMCE Editor

wp_editor( $meta_biography, 'biography', array(
    'wpautop'       => true,
    'media_buttons' => false,
    'textarea_name' => 'meta_biography',
    'textarea_rows' => 10,
    'teeny'         => true
) );

Save The Editor Value or if nothing is there - delete old values.

if( isset( $_POST['meta_biography'] ) && $_POST['meta_biography'] != '' ) {
    update_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_biography', $_POST['meta_biography'] );
} else {
    delete_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_biography' );

If you want to add more options to the editor - You can view the Codex or Check out this nice WPTuts Article. You want to use the tinymce and pass it an array of settings. You might have to remove the teeny => true in the wp_editor() since the Codex says that it will only use minimal editor configuration.

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thanks. One last question I had was, I saw the wptuts article and the settings array, but I didnt see no mention about passing in a settings array for the "kitchen sink". Any ideas on that? I wanted to make an editor for another field that only allows changing the font color. –  mygm26 Oct 10 '13 at 16:14
@mygm26 - in the WPTuts Article, it is passing theme_advanced_buttons1 - if you want a second row you can also pass theme_advanced_buttons2 or howevery many rows you want. In the WPTuts article it also has wp_adv at the end of theme_advanced_buttons1 which you need in order to show your 2nd or 3rd row of buttons. If you're only trying to change the color - might I suggest looking into the Color Picker that's also built into Wordpress. –  Howdy_McGee Oct 10 '13 at 16:49
Ok I got it, thanks. Is there anyway to hide the kitchen sink on specific instances? I am using the wp editor code for multiple textareas but wanted to hide the kitchen sink on one of them @Howdy_McGee –  mygm26 Oct 12 '13 at 0:57
@mygm26 That I'm not 100% sure of and was trying to find the answer - you can refer to this question but if you ever figure it out, lemme know how: wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/117395/… –  Howdy_McGee Oct 14 '13 at 2:42
// for pages use 'edit_page_form' as the first parameter. And see my comment below.
add_action( 'edit_form_advanced', 'my_meta_editor' ); 

function my_meta_editor() {

    // set 'your_meta_key' to the actual key
    $content = get_post_meta($post->ID, 'your_meta_key', true);

    // only low case [a-z], no hyphens and underscores
    $editor = 'mymetaeditor';

    // See my comment below
    $editor_settings = array();

    wp_editor( $content, $editor, $editor_settings);


Search Administrative Actions for edit_form_after_title, edit_form_after_editor, edit_form_advanced if you want to change the location of the meta box.

Also see wp_editor for editor settings.

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thanks for the answer, Im not sure how to apply this to my situation. Im going to update my answer with the code I am using to create my metaboxes. –  mygm26 Oct 2 '13 at 17:07
Where ever you want the tinymce you can just say something like: pastebin.com/6N5adFip -- In my experience, this is best put in a large content area, such as below your main Post Editor or what have you. –  Howdy_McGee Oct 2 '13 at 18:56
@Howdy_McGee ok so if i put the code from the pastebin into my theme functions file, and replace the id, then it will render the editor for that textarea? –  mygm26 Oct 2 '13 at 19:49
Theoretically yes, all @MaxYudin have given you is ways to show wp_editor(); you should be able to get it working from there. it's pretty straight forward. Otherwise a quick search should yield many results. Let me know if you are able to get it working! –  Howdy_McGee Oct 2 '13 at 20:24
Paste it to the functions.php located in theme directory you use. –  Max Yudin Oct 7 '13 at 11:54

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