[wp-hackers] Modifying admin forms via plugins

[Stephen O'Connor]

Thanks for the compliments and the endorsements! Four things I picked up
from the discussion so far:

First, you are not required to include anything you don't want. You do not
HAVE TO specify a gui, or an install, or an uninstall. The framework is
clever enough to figure out what you specified and plan the user's
experience around that.

Second, I like the idea of a framework-controlled option/setting feature.
This could really simplify code on the plugin end and help keep the database
tidy. I'll be sure to include this point in v1.0.

Third, these plugins can be backwards compatible. The reason I specified a
class is that no un-needed functions clutter WP's tighter-by-the-day
namespace. Regular hooks, filters, and actions will work just fine. This
framework is aimed at enhancing existing plugins and making seemingly
impossible plugins possible. :)

And lastly, you are free to do whatever you like to this code. It has a good
bit of gpl'd WP code already in it, so I doubt I can be too selfish about
it. ;) One recommendation though: I think it's a bad idea to include the
framework with the plugin as that can confuse end-users and potentially
overwrite a newer version. A better plan would be to include a message in
the plugin-description with something along the lines of "This plugin
requires the Plugin Framework" and link to
http://stevarino.com/wp/framework/

Thanks again!

- Stephen

-----Original Message-----
From: hackers-bounces at wordpress.org
[mailto:hackers-bounces at wordpress.org]On Behalf Of Ryan Boren
Sent: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 1:34 AM
To: hackers at wordpress.org
Subject: Re: [wp-hackers] Modifying admin forms via plugins


On Wed, 2004-06-23 at 00:09, Dr Tarique Sani wrote:
> Ryan Boren wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 2004-06-22 at 22:00, Stephen O'Connor wrote:
> >
> >
> >>And the plugin extensiblility/configuration/gui thing? Didn't I already
do
> >>that?
> >>
> >>Somebody even mentioned "framework" in this discussion, which is
> >>perfect cause guess what I called it!
> >>
> >>http://stevarino.com/wp/framework/
> >>
> >>
> >
> >Looks good.  However, there are several proposed frameworks out there.
> >
> >
> I also like what Stephen has made, you mention several proposed
> frameworks - any references to them?

Some haven't been discussed publicly yet.  Remember, this list is young.

I had something very similar to Stephen, except that classes weren't
required.  I just stuck some extra fields in the plugin header.  For
example:

Activation-Hook: activate_function_name
Deactivation-Hook: deactivate_function_name

Stephen, on the the other hand, adds a "Load:" header that specifies a
class to load.  The class is expected to have certain methods defined,
such as install and uninstall.

Both frameworks basically do the same thing, but mine doesn't require a
class.  Some may think that an advantage, some may not.  The approaches
are largely the same, however.

Anyway, I wrote it a couple months ago and haven't bothered with it
lately.  Stephen's implementation is more complete and could be adapted
to service either style.

Ryan


_______________________________________________
hackers mailing list
hackers at wordpress.org
http://wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/hackers_wordpress.org