Plugins

There is going to be a few changes in plugin development from v1.3.2. Information below only applies to v1.3.1. To learn more about the next version, read the migration guide.

From book.cakephp.org: CakePHP allows you to set up a combination of controllers, models, and views and release them as a packaged application plugin that others can use in their CakePHP applications.

You can find a list of plugins available for download here.

How to use plugins

Upload the zip file

• Log in to your admin panel
• Go to Extensions > Plugins page
• Notice the “Upload” link on top. It will take you to a new page where you can upload the zip file.

Activate / Deactivate your plugin

After uploading your plugin, you need to activate it.

• From your admin panel, go to Extensions > Hooks page
• Clicking on cross/tick icon will activate or deactivate your plugin

How to develop plugins

It is recommended that you know the basic principles of plugin development in cakephp. Read more about it here.

A plugin is identified by it’s unique alias. If you have your plugin under the directory app/plugins/my_plugin, then your plugin’s alias is my_plugin.

A plugin.yml file is also required. You can see a sample file here: plugin.yml.

Structure

• app/plugins/my_plugin/
  • controllers/
    • components/
      • my_plugin_hook.php
    • my_plugin_controller.php
  • models/
  • views/
    • my_plugin/
    • helpers/
      • my_plugin_hook.php
  • webroot/
    • plugin.yml
    • css/
    • img/
    • js/
  • my_plugin_app_controller.php
  • my_plugin_app_model.php

Hooks

Croogo supports extra callbacks for your plugins via hooks. They allow you to extend the application without having to modify the core files. A hook is either a Component or a Helper with suffix ‘Hook’.

Naming Conventions

For example, you have a plugin named MyPlugin, the hook files will be placed like this:

• MyPluginHookComponent: /app/plugins/my_plugin/controllers/components/my_plugin_hook.php
• MyPluginHookHelper: /app/plugins/my_plugin/views/helpers/my_plugin_hook.php

Any component or helper file ending with ‘_hook.php’ will be available for activating/disactivating in Extensions > Hooks page.

Component hook (callbacks)

Component hooks can be used when your plugin requires access to Controllers. See an example here.

• onActivate: Called after activating the hook from Extensions > Hooks page.
• onDeactivate: Called after deactivating the hook from Extensions > Hooks page.

The following callbacks will work once the hook has been activated:

• startup: Called after the Controller::beforeFilter() and before the controller action
• beforeRender: Called after the Controller::beforeRender(), after the view class is loaded, and before the Controller::render()
• shutdown: Called after Controller::render() and before the output is printed to the browser.

Helper hook (callbacks)

Helper hooks can be used when your plugin requires to change the layout or even the content of a node before it is rendered. See an example here.

• onActivate: Called after activating the hook from Extensions > Hooks page.
• onDeactivate: Called after deactivating the hook from Extensions > Hooks page.

The following callbacks will work once the hook has been activated:

• afterSetNode: Called after LayoutHelper::setNode(). A good place to modify node content.
• beforeNodeInfo: Called before LayoutHelper::nodeInfo().
• afterNodeInfo: Called after LayoutHelper::nodeInfo().
• beforeNodeBody: Called before LayoutHelper::nodeBody().
• afterNodeBody: Called after LayoutHelper::nodeBody().
• beforeNodeMoreInfo: Called before LayoutHelper::nodeMoreInfo().
• afterNodeMoreInfo: Called after LayoutHelper::nodeMoreInfo()

including the basic callbacks for a helper:

• beforeRender: Called before the view file is rendered.
• afterRender: Called after the view file is rendered but before the layout has been rendered.
• beforeLayout: Called before the layout is rendered.
• afterLayout: Called after the layout has rendered.

How to package

Create a zip archive of the plugin directory, in this case app/plugins/my_plugin. It can then later be uploaded from admin panel.

Example plugin

You can find an example plugin in the repository. All hook/callback methods are documented: http://github.com/croogo/croogo/tree/master/plugins/example/.