Custom WordPress page (using a plugin)

Question

I want to create a custom page that has tournament brackets instead of the usual content. I have read some of the WordPress documentation and found how plugins work and how I add admin pages to administer the page.

What is needed to create the page itself (and have it listed on the site)? Do I need to create a custom template that has the majority of the work in it? Do I need to have the plugin create the page or where do I start?

Also, how do template pages and plugins interoperate? Does WordPress provide me a reference variable to the plugin or do I have to load it "manually"?

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I think I'll reformulate my question. While the answers have been helpful, they aren't exactly what I've been looking for.

Basically, I want a page where I have some module / code / whatever that controls whatever goes on there. This means I can't just set up a page since then I can only fill in text. I need a page where I can decide what happens when I go to that page, what is written, submits, etc. I am fairly fluent in PHP, just not WordPress :)

The second part is the admin, where I need a page (or several) to control some of the administration stuff of said page.

Answer 1

So far answers I've seen are overtly complex. What you should do is simply this:

1. In WordPress, create a new page; title it "example" - note the slug it generates. It should be "example" as well, mimicking the title.

2. Create a file in your active theme called page-example.php - mirroring that slug.

3. Sandwich your custom PHP with bare-bones HTML code in page-example.php:

    <?php get_header(); ?>
   
    <!-- Your custom PHP code goes here -->
   
    <?php get_footer(); ?>
   

Depending on your page, you may need to recreate a few div elements, and possibly toss in a get_sidebar().