Custom ajax handler for Wordpress. Using admin-ajax.php, as is usually recommended, is very slow and does not allow the use of plugin shortcodes. Using a custom ajax handler like this bypasses that. http://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/170808/the-content-shows-shortcode-instead-of-parsing-it

ajax-handler-wp.php

<?php
/*
 WORDPRESS SPECIFIC AJAX HANDLER (because admin-ajax.php does not render plugin shortcodes).
 by alexandre@pixeline.be
 credits: Raz Ohad https://coderwall.com/p/of7y2q/faster-ajax-for-wordpress
*/
//mimic the actual admin-ajax
define('DOING_AJAX', true);

if (!isset( $_REQUEST['action']))
	die('-1');

//make sure you update this line to the relative location of the wp-load.php
require_once('../../../wp-load.php');

//Typical headers
header('Content-Type: text/html');
send_nosniff_header();

//Disable caching
header('Cache-Control: no-cache');
header('Pragma: no-cache');

$action = esc_attr(trim($_REQUEST['action']));

// Declare all actions that you will use this ajax handler for, as an added security measure.
$allowed_actions = array(
	'dothis_dothat'
);

// Change DUMMY_ to something unique to your project.
if(in_array($action, $allowed_actions)) {
	if(is_user_logged_in())
		do_action('DUMMY_'.$action);
	else
		do_action('DUMMY_nopriv_'.$action);
} else {
	die('-1');
}

functions.php

<?php
/*
Inside your Theme's functions.php, you can now use it, via the allowed actions you specified.
*/

add_action("DUMMY_dothis_dothat", "a_function_name");
add_action("DUMMY_nopriv_dothis_dothat", "a_function_name_for_loggedin_users_only");

function a_function_name(){
  echo "hello World";
  exit();
}

function a_function_name_for_loggedin_users_only(){
  echo "hello User";
  exit();
}

page.php

<?php

/*
  In any template, address that url for ajax requests like this:
*/

$link = get_bloginfo('template_directory').'/ajax-handler-wp.php?action=dothis_dothat&post_id='.get_the_ID();
?>
<a class="js-ajax-link" href="<?php the_permalink();?>" data-href="<?php echo $link ?>">hello who?</a>

Hi,

I am getting an 403 error while trying to access "ajax-handler-wp.php", even I am trying to access it directly through the web browser, it should show -1 instead of 403 Nginx error, by the way that happened after I upgraded the php version to 7

Hi,

I am getting an 403 error while trying to access "ajax-handler-wp.php", even I am trying to access it directly through the web browser, it should show -1 instead of 403 Nginx error, by the way that happened after I upgraded the php version to 7
@efoula do you fix this error ?