4
Feb

Quick Tip #9 - Change the default capabilities of WordPress users with ease

In my latest WordPress project, the client wanted a user with the capabilities of a Contributor but they also wanted them to be able to upload files. This is where the problem arose, a Contributor can’t upload files! I could upgrade them to an Author, which would allow them to upload files but in turn would allow them to publish posts too.

I’d used role manager plugins before (such as Role Scoper) and they seemed way to clunky and heavy for what I wanted, besides I only wanted to modify the property of one role ever so slightly.

So I did some digging and found this handy bit of code. In your plugins folder, create a file called edit_roles.php and add in the following code.

<?php
 
	/*
	Plugin Name: Role Edit
	Plugin URI: http://www.nouveller.com/
	Description: Edits the default WordPress roles
	Author: Nouveller
	Author URI: http://www.nouveller.com/
	*/
 
 
	// store the 'Contributor' role
 
	$edit_contributor = get_role('contributor');
 
	// add a capability of 'upload_files'
 
	$edit_contributor->add_cap('upload_files');
 
 
?>

Activate the plugin through the Dashboard and voila, a Contributor will now be able to upload files.

Add more capabilities

Adding other capabilities is simple too, copy line 19 and change the argument in add_cap('argument') to one of the roles from this table.

$edit_contributor->add_cap('publish_pages');
 
$edit_contributor->add_cap('switch_themes');
 
// and so on

Removing capabilities

Simples!

$edit_contributor->remove_cap('delete_posts');

Author: Benjamin Reid

My name is Benjamin Reid, I live in the UK and keep the magic locked into this site.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 2:08 pm and is filed under Quick Tips & tagged with . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses | Make a comment

Callum Chapman wrote on February 11, 2010

This would allow them to write and upload files but sort of, uh, submit the article for review, instead of posting it? I guess they wouldn’t have access to any other admin stuff either?

Might have to do this on my Circlebox.

Reply
- Nouveller wrote on February 12, 2010
  
  Do it!
  
  Reply
shaun wrote on February 15, 2010

This is really handy and definitely something I will look at for a project i have on at the minute.

Is it possible to allow users to edit a page, but restrict it to just one page using that particular page’s ID?

Reply
- Nouveller wrote on February 15, 2010
  
  It might be possible to do something along the lines of:
  function page_block { if($post->ID == '5') { ...add/remove cap } } add_action('admin_head', 'page_block');
  I haven’t tested it though but let me know if it works.
  
  Reply
Niklas Olsson wrote on September 14, 2010

Thanks for this post, it was exactly what I was looking for. I found a couple of plugins for managing user roles but all of them was for a single blog in a multi site instance.

I used your example to add some user credidentials to the default editor role so I don’t need to assign the blog owner for each blog (in my multi site instance) the administrator role which has too much credidentials in this case.

Reply
Kevin Abbott wrote on October 28, 2010

Thanks I needed the contributor to do exactly what you needed it to do. Very useful and easy to do! Thanks again!

Reply