Page History

Plugins can do just about anything. Create custom cron jobstasks, listen for events, create pages, create widgets, extend the API, etc., etc. If it's not a Module or a Payment Gateway, it's a plugin. So let's dig in.

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<?php
class MyPluginPlugin extends Plugin {

    ...

    public function getLogo() {
		return "views" . DS . "default" . DS . "images" . DS . "some_other_logo.png";
    }
}
?>

Managing a Plugin

If your plugin requires certain configurable options, you can create a management link viewable to staff members that have access to installed plugins. To do so, all you need to do is create an AdminManagePlugin controller. This is a special controller that is initialized by Blesta internally, so all views must be returned (as strings) from the requested action methods.

<?php
class AdminManagePlugin extends AppController {

    public function index() {

		$var1 = "hello";
		$var2 = "world";
		return $this->partial("admin_manage_plugin", compact("var1", "var2"));
    }

	public function foo() {
		return $this->partial("admin_manage_plugin_foo");
	}
}
?>

By default the index() method is called. You can link to other controller and actions from your views using the following URL format:

<a href="<?php echo $this->Html->safe($this->base_uri . "settings/company/plugins/manage/" . $this->Html->_($plugin_id, true) . "/?controller=admin_manage_plugin&action=foo");?>">Link to other action</a>

The above link would render the AdminManagePlugin::foo() method.

Interactive Plugins

So far all we've see is how to build a plugin that can be installed, uninstalled, upgraded, and managed, but that's the just tip of the iceberg. As we discussed earlier, plugins can do so much more.

Actions

By register actions, a plugin makes itself available in the interface in certain areas. See Plugin Actions for how to register actions.

Events

Some plugins need to be executed when certain events occur outside of the plugin's control. This is accomplished by registering events. See Plugin Events for how to register events.

Cron Jobs

Plugins that need to perform certain tasks automatically at either set intervals are certain times of the day can register cron tasks. See Plugin Cron Tasks for how to register cron tasks.