Plugin files organization

ROOT :

• _define.php : file that describes the plugin (name, author, version number, …).
• _install.php : called when users visit the dashboard via the administration panel.
• _prepend.php : is read after creating objects, but before display, in both public pages and administration pages.
• _admin.php : is only read in administration panel.
• _public.php : is only read on public pages.
• _widgets.php : used by _admin.php and _public.php when widget is available outside of the sidebar via the <tpl:Widget> tag.
• _xmlrpc.php : xmlrpc interface of the plugin.
• _services.php : contains all Ajax services used by the plugin.
• index.php : contains the plugin's administration page.
• style.css : contains CSS rules for the plugin if needed.
• icon.png : the plugin's icon.
• inc : directory containing all necessary files for the plugin.
• locales : directory containing all translation subdirectory.
  • fr : directory containing *.po files for French translation.
  • en : directory containing *.po files for English translation (optional since plugins are already in English).
  • …
• js : directory containing javascript files used by the plugin.
• default-templates : directory containing all *.html file for new templates.

When you create a class, make sure its name is well chosen. For example, a plugin whose name is « foo » uses its own class. The file name should then be:

• class.foo.php

If your class extends a Dotclear class, it should be called as a librairy. For example, if you need to create lists in the plugin's administration panel, the classe name will be « fooList » et le nom du fichier sera alors :

• lib.foo.list.php

To load thoses classes, you can use PHP classes autoload, and put this code in the _prepend.php file :

$__autoload['foo'] = dirname(__FILE__).'/inc/class.foo.php';

You can also include files:

require_once(dirname(__FILE__).'/inc/class.foo.php');

In order to avoid PHP files to be executed outside of Dotclear, we can add a piece of code at the beginning of the files.

For files that are read only in the back-end:

• _admin.php
• index.php
• _install.php
• _services.php
• files containing classes used in the back-end

We add this code :

if (!defined('DC_CONTEXT_ADMIN')) {return;}

For other files:

• _define.php
• _prepend.php
• _public.php
• _xmlrpc.php
• other class files

We add:

if (!defined('DC_RC_PATH')) {return;}