How to use remove_actions in a plugin

Over the last day or two I followed a conversation about the pros and cons of including theme adjustments  in the functions.php of the theme or using a plugin to store the adjustments.

So far I have only use the functions.php; however, I can see that using a plugin can have its benefits.

One of my friends started to store his adjustments in a plugin. He progressed nicely but wondered why repositioning the primary navigation in the Genesis Sample Theme resulted in the primary navigation showing up twice: in its original and the new position.

Here is the code, straight from Studiopress. Please remember this is about using the code in a plugin.

<?php
//* Do NOT include the opening php tag

//* Reposition the primary navigation menu
remove_action( 'genesis_after_header', 'genesis_do_nav' );
add_action( 'genesis_before_header', 'genesis_do_nav' ); 

We were stumped and started looking for a solution.

I found a clue as to what might be going on in an old posting by Rarst. In short, he said that the remove_action has to be wrapped in a function.

So we tried the following code:

<?php
// Do NOT include the opening php tag

// This removes the primary navigation from its original place
add_action( 'get_header', 'ch_remove_primary_nav');
function ch_remove_primary_nav () {
remove_action( 'genesis_after_header', 'genesis_do_nav');
}

// This adds the primary navigation to a new place
add_action( 'genesis_before_header', 'genesis_do_nav');

Mystery solved.

To get a remove_action to work in a plugin, wrap it in a function.

I have to admit it seems a bit odd to have to use an add_action to remove something. Things like this can make your head hurt… But that´s just the way programming logic works sometimes.

I want to mention one more time, that all of this is not needed when writing the code straight into the functions.php.

Thanks to Glenn Dixon for inspiring this post.