Just recently I introduced WP-Table Reloaded Extensions, small code snippets that add further functions to the plugin by using the provided “Plugin Actions” and “Plugin Filters”.

The first such Extension that I’m going to present here, is an Automatic Converter for URLs to Links.

In general, you’ll need to manually enter the HTML for a link (something like <a href="http://www.example.com">My Link</a>) into a cell or use the included Wizard that will ask you for the URL and the link text and then generates the HTML for you. This is my recommended way and for most needs it works fine. It also allows for the most flexibility, because you have all freedom to alter or extend that HTML code as you like, e.g. by adding further attributes or a different link text.
Unfortunately it an be a real hassle and a lot of work, if all you want to achieve is, to make URLs you enter “clickable”, i.e. to make them valid HTML links. That can for example be the case when you import a table from a file, because in most cases URLs are not exported as HTML links by a program but simply as the plain URL in text form.

And this is were this Extension kicks in. When a table is shown in a post or page (by using the corresponding Shortcode in it), the extension will basically loop through all cells of that table and check if there’s an URL (for www, ftp or an email address) somewhere. And if it finds one, it will replace the URL with a complete HTML link to that URL that can be clicked by the visitor. The good thing: If there already was a complete HTML link it will be left intact.

Example:
A cell with the content “http://www.example.com” will automatically be converted to a clickable link: “http://www.example.com“.

And here is the code:

/**
 * Converts URLs (www, ftp, and email) in table cells to full HTML links
 * @author Tobias Baethge
 * @see http://tobias.baethge.com/2009/12/extension-1-url-to-link-conversion/
 */
function wp_table_reloaded_url_link_converter( $cell_content ) {
    return make_clickable( $cell_content );
}
add_filter( 'wp_table_reloaded_cell_content', 'wp_table_reloaded_url_link_converter' );

This code just needs to be copied into the file “wp-table-reloaded-extensions.php”, which needs to be created according to these instructions (after the Plugin Header comment, but before the closing PHP bracket ?>). That’s it! :-)

If you like this series of Extensions, I’m happy about any feedback, and especially about further suggestions!