How to create a custom button for the visual editor that adds 4 non-breaking spaces? (plugin or simple code)

Question

I already demonstrated how you can achieve such thing in this question but I can explain it here again with your request. I have tested this in WordPress 3.5 and it works elegantly. To avoid this answer being the length of a thesis, I have added comments in all codes to help you understand what each function does and I highly recommend that you read and thoroughly understand them.

Firstly, in your theme folder, add a folder named admin and inside it, create file class.new_tinymce_btn.php with code:

<?php
//wpex_37798_christine_cooper
//class start
class add_new_tinymce_btn {

public $btn_arr;
public $js_file;
/*
 * call the constructor and set class variables
 * From the constructor call the functions via wordpress action/filter
*/
function __construct($seperator, $btn_name,$javascrip_location){
  $this->btn_arr = array("Seperator"=>$seperator,"Name"=>$btn_name);
  $this->js_file = $javascrip_location;
  add_action('init', array(&$this,'add_tinymce_button'));
  add_filter( 'tiny_mce_version', array(&$this,'refresh_mce_version'));

}
/*
 * create the buttons only if the user has editing privs.
 * If so we create the button and add it to the tinymce button array
*/
function add_tinymce_button() {
   if ( ! current_user_can('edit_posts') && ! current_user_can('edit_pages') )
     return;
   if ( get_user_option('rich_editing') == 'true') {
     //the function that adds the javascript
     add_filter('mce_external_plugins', array(&$this,'add_new_tinymce_plugin'));
     //adds the button to the tinymce button array
     add_filter('mce_buttons', array(&$this,'register_new_button')); 
   }
}
/*
 * add the new button to the tinymce array
*/
function register_new_button($buttons) {
   array_push($buttons, $this->btn_arr["Seperator"],$this->btn_arr["Name"]);
   return $buttons;
}
/*
 * Call the javascript file that loads the 
 * instructions for the new button
*/
function add_new_tinymce_plugin($plugin_array) {
   $plugin_array[$this->btn_arr['Name']] = $this->js_file;
   return $plugin_array;
}
/*
 * This function tricks tinymce in thinking 
 * it needs to refresh the buttons
*/
function refresh_mce_version($ver) {
  $ver += 3;
  return $ver;
}

}//class end
?>

This code will add custom buttons to the visual editor.

Next, in your theme folder, create these folders adminjs/buttons and inside, create this JS file spacebutton.js with code:

(function() {
    tinymce.create('tinymce.plugins.nextpage', {
        init : function(ed, url) {
            ed.addButton('nextpage', {
                title : 'Space Button',
                image : url+'/images/btn_spacebutton.png',
                onclick : function() {                    
                    var prompt_text = "&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;";
                    var caret = "caret_pos_holder";
                    var insert = "<p>" + prompt_text + " &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <span id="+caret+"></span>";
                     ed.execCommand('mceInsertContent', false, insert);
                     ed.selection.select(ed.dom.select('span#caret_pos_holder')[0]); //select the span
                     ed.dom.remove(ed.dom.select('span#caret_pos_holder')[0]); //remove the span
                }
            });
        },
        createControl : function(n, cm) {
            return null;
        },
    });
    tinymce.PluginManager.add('nextpage', tinymce.plugins.nextpage);
})();

You will need to add an image for the button (/images/btn_spacebutton.png). The above code is a rather simple javascript function for what happens when the button is pressed.

Now you will need to load this button class by adding this to your functions file:

//load custom buttons class
require_once (TEMPLATEPATH . '/admin/class.new_tinymce_btn.php');
//create an instance of the class
$t = new add_new_tinymce_btn('|','nextpage',get_bloginfo('template_url').'/adminjs/buttons/spacebutton.js');

That is it. You should find your new custom button in the visual editor. Whenever you want to add more custom buttons, just add a new JS file with the button function and load the button class as demonstrated above.

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