This guide will teach you how to add your own hook locations to your scripts/default vBulletin source code. Note that I assume that you are working within the vBulletin.php files or you have included vBulletin's global.php.
Adding custom hook locations -
Method one:
See paul's thread here for the best method, if you are going to release your modification to the public this is the way you should go:
<hooks> - anything between this tag and </hooks> will be included in the drop down
<hooktype type="name"> - The name of your hook group, you should group all common hooks under a group so you can find them quickly. Make sure you don't use a name already used by a default hooktype.
<hook> - The name of your hook, this must be the same as the hook's name in the php code
Here is an example of my .xml file, I added three custom hooks under a new hooktype:
Adding a hook location to the php code is easy, just make sure you use the correct hook name! Use this bit of php anywhere after your call to global.php to call your custom hook. Also note that you must use the $hook var!
As you can see I added them right under a current hook, which mostly defeats the purpose of making custom hooks. But for this post they serve their purpose
Now all you need to do is browse to your admincp's add new plug-in page and test your new hook location! I use this just to make sure it is working correctly:
PHP Code:
echo('Testing hook_name hook');
If that outputs its text above the vBulletin header then you are good to go!.
If I might offer a suggestion... if were to add custom hooks in my code and upgrade my forums later, I would want to be able to find my hooks I entered easily so I can re-enter them if needed.
Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong the other way, but this way I can search for $customhook and know exactly what was added instead of searching through all of the $hook lines.
Only a thought I would share. Noone has to use it! :nervous:
Hooks are used to execute raw php code in the files.
Basicly that bit of code does this:
Checks if hooks are on in vboptions, checks if any hooks exist for that hook location.
If any hooks are found and enabled your custom php code is set to the $hook var
If there is php code set to $hook it is sent to eval for the php code to be executed, if not nothing is done and php moves on to the rest of the code in the file.
If I might offer a suggestion... if were to add custom hooks in my code and upgrade my forums later, I would want to be able to find my hooks I entered easily so I can re-enter them if needed.
You could also just use "My_" (or any tag) in front of all your custom hook names. Then just search for your tag.