I suggest you just don’t use the standard post editing UI. When you register your post type, there’s an arg for showing the admin UI.
<?php
register_post_type(
'some_type',
array(
// stuff here
'show_ui' => false
)
);
Then just create your own admin page and do whatever you need to do with the interface. Here’s a skeleton example.
<?php
add_action( 'admin_init', 'wpse33382_add_page' );
function wpse33382_add_page()
{
$page = add_menu_page(
__( 'Some Title' ),
__( 'Menu Title' ),
'edit_others_posts',
'some-slug',
'wpse33382_page_cb',
);
add_action( 'admin_print_scripts-' . $page, 'wpse33382_scripts' );
add_action( 'admin_print_styles-' . $page, 'wpse33382_styles' );
}
function wpse33382_page_cb()
{
// code for the page itself here
?>
<form method="post" action="">
<input type="hidden" name="action" value="do_stuff" />
<?php wp_nonce_field( 'wpse33382_nonce', '_nonce' ); ?>
</form>
<?php
// catch POST submissions here, then call wp_insert_post
if( isset( $_POST['action'] ) && 'do_stuff' == $_POST['action'] )
{
// verify nonces/referrers here, then save stuff
}
}
function wpse33382_scripts()
{
// wp_enqueue_script here
}
function wpse33382_styles()
{
// wp_enqueue_style here
}
The other option would be adding whatever custom meta boxes you need to your standard editing screen.