WordPress AJAX is_admin is true, causing issues.

Question

i'm trying to make a plugin for WordPress, which is has got an admin section for some basic settings, and also registers some shortcode to display some HTML, which is basically a form.

Here is my main plugin file, plugins/my-plugin/my-plugin.php:

    /**
     * Plugin Name: Pathway
     * Plugin URI: http://www.martynleeball.com/
     * Description: Pathway integration.
     * Version: 1.0
     * Author: Martyn Lee Ball
     * Author URI: https://www.martynleeball.com/
     **/

    define('PATHWAY_VERSION', '0.0.8');
    define('PATHWAY_AUTHOR', 'Martyn Lee Ball');
    define('PATHWAY__MINIMUM_WP_VERSION', '4.*');
    define('PATHWAY_CONTACT', '[email protected]');

    add_action(
        'plugins_loaded',
        array ( Pathway::get_instance(), 'plugin_setup' )
    );

    class Pathway
    {
        protected static $instance = NULL;

        public $plugin_url  = '';
        private $cpt = 'post'; # Adjust the CPT

        public function __construct() {}

        public static function get_instance()
        {
            NULL === self::$instance and self::$instance = new self;
            return self::$instance;
        }

        public function plugin_setup()
        {

            $this->plugin_url = '';
            add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', array( $this, 'enqueue' ) );

//          if (is_admin()) {
//
//              require_once( $this->plugin_url . 'admin/index.php' );
//
//              register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'install' );
//
//              return;
//          }

            add_shortcode( 'pathway', array($this, 'shortcode'));

            add_action( 'wp_ajax_ajax_login',        array( $this, 'ajax_login' ) );
            add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_ajax_login', array( $this, 'ajax_login' ) );

            add_action( 'wp_ajax_ajax_register',        array( $this, 'ajax_register' ) );
            add_action( 'wp_ajax_nopriv_ajax_register', array( $this, 'ajax_register' ) );
        }

        public function enqueue()
        {
            wp_enqueue_script( 'vuejs', 'https://cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/vue/2.5.16/vue.js' );
            wp_enqueue_script(
                'ajax-handle-form',
                "{$this->plugin_url}/wp-content/plugins/pathway/frontend/js/scripts.js"
            );
            wp_localize_script(
                'ajax-handle-form',
                'wp_ajax',
                array(
                    'ajaxurl'   => admin_url( 'admin-ajax.php' ),
                    'ajaxnonce' => wp_create_nonce( 'ajax_post_validation' )
                )
            );
        }
        public function ajax_login()
        {
            echo 'login';exit;
        }
        public function ajax_register()
        {
            echo 'register';exit;
        }

        public function shortcode()
        {
            if (!isset($_SESSION['pathway_login'])) {

                self::view('forms/login');

            }
        }

        public static function view( $name, array $args = array() ) {

            foreach ( $args AS $key => $val ) {
                $$key = $val;
            }

            // $file = $this->plugin_url . 'views/'. $name . '.php';
            $file = 'views/'. $name . '.php';

            include( $file );
        }

    }

Please correct me if i'm going wrong somewhere, there's so many mixed guides online showing different ways. Within this file i'm basically:

Adding my scripts and assigning the PHP values.
I would be then starting the admin section however has to comment this out for the AJAX call, this is my issue.
Registering my shortcode.
Adding the actions for the AJAX form submit.

Obviously my issue is that when I hit the is_admin from the AJAX call it is returning true, when it should be false as an public visitor can submit this form. The wp_ajax_nopriv action doesn't appear to work which would solve the issue, this is probably due to me being logged into WordPress.

I have tried logging out of WordPress but the is_admin still returns true!

Can someone advise?

Not sure I completely understand what you're trying to do and what the problem is, but the is_admin() tells you whether you're on an admin page or a frontend page and the wp_ajax_nopriv applies to non-logged in users, not non-admin users. Again, I'm not fully understanding, but you may want to put some conditionals in your methods i.e. if( current_user_can('administrator') ){...code...} — git-e-up

David David · Accepted Answer · 2018-11-13T01:21:29

is_admin will return true on all ajax calls.

It is not actually a useful function to check the user as it checks the uri rather than the user details, i.e. if on a admin page = true, if not false.

Now I was a little confused about your question here, it appears you want the is_admin to return false if its actually an ajax call?

 if ( is_admin() && ! wp_doing_ajax() ) {}

It will return false on ajax calls.

If you are checking there is an "admin" logged in, as in can edit posts, see the other capabilities here

  if ( current_user_can( 'edit_post' ) ) {}

The no_priv hook will not work when logged in, its not called.

WordPress AJAX is_admin is true, causing issues.

1 Answers