VB Plugins - Good Coding practices

[Calash]

Is there any good resource for the best practices when writing plugins?

I have written a few for my personal site so far, however I would like to get into the practice of using the available VB functions when doing this.

For example, here is a snip of code

$content = "";

$query = "SELECT title, sid, summary, username, rid, unix_timestamp(updated) from fanfiction_stories as s,vb_user as a WHERE a.userid = s.uid AND s.validated > 0 AND s.uid = $userinfo[userid] ORDER BY updated DESC";
$results = mysql_query($query)  or die(_FATALERROR."Query: ".$query."<br />Error: (".mysql_errno( ).")");

while($story = mysql_fetch_array($results)) {
    $content .="$story[title] By $story[username]<br />";
} 

if ($content<>"")
{
$efic_mystory = $content;
} else {
$efic_mystory = "No Stories";
}

Now, I know there is probably a better way to do the DB call using vB functions.

Just small stuff like that....if there is a good reference around somewhere it would save me a lot of questions here

Thanks

1- ... it is $results = $db->query_read("writethequeryhere,not seperate!");

2- no need of the "$content<>""" is the $content is not an array... !empty($content) or simply $content would do in the if-condition...

also, for a good way to code vBulletin, simply read vBulletin core files and comprehend the rules of their protocol.. it is clear.

[EnIgMa1234]

Check out the articles section. Some of your code could be better.

Eg.

$query = "SELECT title, sid, summary, username, rid, unix_timestamp.......

Should be more like this

PHP Code:

$query = $vbulletin->db->query_read("SELECT................"); 


while($story = mysql_fetch_array($results)) {

More like
while ($story = $vbulletin->db->fetch_array($results)) {
Things like that

[Calash]

I had been browsing the article section for a bit, but I was looking in the wrong area. Found this one that explains using $vbulletin->db

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=119350

I can spend an hour looking...but as soon as I post the question I will stumble on the answer in 5 minutes

Do you mean reading the source files when you say "simply read vBulletin core files"? I would rather not be digging deep into the php files for what are probably simple questions and answers if possible.

Thanks for the feedback..now that I know where to look in the article section I will start reading up...need to learn how to add admin options and settings

[EnIgMa1234]

Turn on debug mode . Then you can add settings easily

sure i suggest to read the source files... they are all built the same way, so you learn quickly

[EnIgMa1234]

I agree with nexialys. Reading the source files is one of the best ways to learn. Many coders use that method

vBulletin has their Coding Standards available in the documentation:

http://www.vbulletin.com/docs/html/codestandards

This could help you out a bit.

damn, i hope you will crawl across your entire script before releasing 4.0, because a lot of these standards are not applied to the actual version.. lol (like it always had)

[Calash]

Thanks for the great feedback. My goal is to expand the eFiction bridge I threw together into a much tighter integration, and if I am going to do that I want to do it right

Working on setting up a test server for development on VMWare, that way I wont thrash my site while trying to do this