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[How to] Write Plug-ins/Hooks
Brad
Join Date: Nov 2001
Posts: 4,765
06-06-2005, 10:00 PM
This is your basic guide to making plug-ins and hooks, as we are all coming over from the 'hack the files' mentality I am posting this thread more for people that are used to hacking the 3.0.x source code and looking to port modifications. Although a newbie should be able to come away with a good understanding of how to do this to  .[high]Things to consider[/high] Ok before we get started here are a few things to keep in mind. First and foremost plug-ins are stored in the database, serlized, unserlized and evaled on page generation. If you code preforms badly with such a wrapper forget making a plug-in and just hack it, trust me you'll thank yourself for it when your forum gets large. Second thing, hooks will not get you into every corner of the code. Some things will always be done best with a hack. For example if you are looking to add something but need to query the db for some extra data and want to avoid and extra query (in other words you are going to modify an existing one with a join or such) forget it and hack it in, there are no hooks that let you modify existing queries. Last but not least hooks are not magic, don't add a million of them and expect your forum to run as fast as it did when you first installed it. Only plug-in/hack-in what you really need! Ok enough with the boring stuff, lets add our first plug-in! [high]Basics:[/high] First thing you need to do is make sure plug-ins are enabled, you can find this option in the admin cp by browsing to vBoptions -> Select Plugin/Hook System from menu -> Set Enable Plugin/Hook System to yes. Now head to the add plug-in page located at http://www.yoururl.com/forum/admincp/plugin.php?do=add Lets go over what all these options mean: Hook Location: This is where the php code will be executed at, hook locations at defined all across vBulletin. You can find them by opening and php file and searching for the var $hook. When you find a bit of php code like this you have found a hook: PHP Code:
Title: This is the title of your plug-in, use a good name because this is the only thing you have to identify the plug-in in the plug-in manager. Plugin PHP Code: Can you guess? This is where you put your custom php code, on page generation it is executed at the hook location in the .php files. Note that you do not need <?php ?> tags here, in other words: wrong: PHP Code:
PHP Code:
Edit - Thanks to Revan for this addition: Quote:
At first approach coding the plug-in like a hack. Open the php file you would normally edit and get your mind around the new code. Once you have a good understanding of the new code you should start looking for where you need to add your custom php. Once you find the right location in the code start looking for a nearby hook, if you don't see one you can work with you are out of luck!  Edit- Thanks to KirbyDE for his addition: Quote:
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#4
06-09-2005, 05:55 PM
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I'm glad somebody does
 The first hack I looked at porting doesn't look like it will be able to use the hook system, unfortunately. I really wish jelsoft had come up with a more extensible way to format queries. If the queries have to be changed, we run into the same problems we had before. I would love it if the arguments to a query were set up in an array format that could be easily added to. That way, if we are forced to add into an existing query, the user could modify the arguments to the query rather than the query itself. It would be so much easier to prevent hack conflicts and installation errors that way. Amy
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#6
06-09-2005, 06:02 PM
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Brad i have a question, I ported my icons hack. But i have to hack the admincp/forum.php for the option to show up in the admincp. Does the Hooks system work in the admincp/ dir? From what i read in the code it doesn't.
Maybe you have another solution to this. Its just this: PHP Code:
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#8
06-09-2005, 06:07 PM
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Quote:
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#9
06-09-2005, 06:09 PM
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Quote:
Like I said, you see a useful place for a hook request one at vBulletin.com!
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#10
06-09-2005, 06:09 PM
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I am not sure a hook would help my problem. For example, if you look at index.php, you see a query to get the logged in users.
Code:
$forumusers = $db->query_read("
SELECT
user.username, (user.options & " . $vbulletin->bf_misc_useroptions['invisible'] . ") AS invisible, user.usergroupid,
session.userid, session.inforum, session.lastactivity,
IF(displaygroupid=0, user.usergroupid, displaygroupid) AS displaygroupid
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "session AS session
LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user AS user ON(user.userid = session.userid)
WHERE session.lastactivity > $datecut
" . iif($vbulletin->options['displayloggedin'] == 1, "ORDER BY username ASC") . "
");
Code:
$forumusers = $db->query_read("
SELECT
user.username, (user.options & " . $vbulletin->bf_misc_useroptions['invisible'] . ") AS invisible, user.usergroupid,
session.userid, session.inforum, session.lastactivity,session.useragent,
IF(displaygroupid=0, user.usergroupid, displaygroupid) AS displaygroupid
FROM " . TABLE_PREFIX . "session AS session
LEFT JOIN " . TABLE_PREFIX . "user AS user ON(user.userid = session.userid)
WHERE session.lastactivity > $datecut
" . iif($vbulletin->options['displayloggedin'] == 1, "ORDER BY username ASC") . "
");
Amy
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