Observing other plugins and products interacting with vbulletin is pretty much how everyone has learned the core code. Step through other similar plugins to get a feel for what you are doing. Many of the plugins out there will implement the type of code you are needing examples of. You can get a lot of help with your code here if you don't have any problems with posting it and asking "specific" questions.
Were not going anywhere ... So start looking at examples, get coding and ask questions as you go along.