Plugins documentation

[francisco1844]

Looking at the technical documentation link at http://www.s9y.org/40.html, I am not seeing any obvious link about plugins.

I am looking to learn how to fix/edit a plugin.
Also where is the author of a plugin listed?
Or are all plugins submited to s9y and then there is a group of people who manage plugins for the project?

So far I have found:

• Feedburner plugin no longer works because it is looking for an ID, but feedburner no longer uses an ID
• The syndicate plugin insists in having a title. I remove the title and save. The blog, properly, does not show a title. However, the "Syndicate This Blog" appears again on the form.

[yellowled]

Looking at the technical documentation link at http://www.s9y.org/40.html, I am not seeing any obvious link about plugins.

As it is the case with most open source projects, we're a little behind on writing documentation. Frankly, we simply don't have the manpower to handle proper documentation. Some plugins, however, have documentation within the plugin folder.

Also where is the author of a plugin listed?

You should see that information in the plugin list.

Or are all plugins submited to s9y and then there is a group of people who manage plugins for the project?

Kind of. We have a central plugin repository at http://spartacus.s9y.org, also accessible via the spartacus event plugin for simple plugin/theme installation from within the backend. As far as I know, some people also have seperate places to store the plugins they develop, but most of them end up in spartacus sooner or later if they're useful for the community.

YL

[garvinhicking]

Hi!

[*]Feedburner plugin no longer works because it is looking for an ID, but feedburner no longer uses an ID

You mean the internal plugin that comes with s9y, I assume? To display a Feedburner feed in the syndication options at the sidebar? Because that one, at least in s9y 1.5.4 and onwards, should also acceppt a full feedburner URL.

[*]The syndicate plugin insists in having a title. I remove the title and save. The blog, properly, does not show a title. However, the "Syndicate This Blog" appears again on the form.[/list]

[/quote]

When a title string is empty, the default methods of plugins always fall back to the "Default" setting. Currently there is no easy way to really enforce "empty = NOTHING", also due to usability aspects so that people don't wonder where their options went. This is not only for strings, but a central fallback option of all plugin and internal configuration options. Changing this affects a bunch of places and can cause considerable damage.

Depending on your template it might suffice to set the title to " " (space) or " " to have an empty title.

HTH,
Garvin

[francisco1844]

Frankly, we simply don't have the manpower to handle proper documentation.

How may I help? And I don't mean.. what to write on.. I already see several things I can write/edit/improve.. I literally mean "What is the process to edit existing documentation and to submit new?".

You should see that information in the plugin list.

In Spartacus? No way to see it once installed?
Just saw the name in Spartacus.. No email. Perhaps we should list name and contact? Otherwise how does one contact a plugin author?

Any links/posts to point me in the right direction to learn more about plugins other than go through the directory structure and look at what is there?

[francisco1844]

You mean the internal plugin that comes with s9y, I assume?

Not sure if it is "internal". When I wrote Feedburner plugin I am referring to the one by Aaron Axelsen, listed in Spartacus as "Feedburner Sidebar"

To display a Feedburner feed in the syndication options at the sidebar?

That is the "Syndicate This Blog" plugin. I got that one to work. The error I posted on the Bug section is from that plugin.

Because that one, at least in s9y 1.5.4 and onwards, should also acceppt a full feedburner URL.

Yes. It does. That is what I am using and got it to work with feedburner.

back to the "Default" setting. Currently there is no easy way to really enforce "empty = NOTHING", also due to usability aspects so that people don't wonder where their options went.

There is an ugly hack that may work. Use a phrase/word to indicate empty. Something like "Intentionally Blank" or "NA".. anything agreed upon. The plugin could list what word/phrase it accepts as an empty string. Then at display time an if checks the value and leaves blank if it is the proper string.

Ideally all plugins should use the same word or phrase.

[yellowled]

How may I help? And I don't mean.. what to write on.. I already see several things I can write/edit/improve.. I literally mean "What is the process to edit existing documentation and to submit new?".

Getting a wiki account from Garvin and start writing, I guess.

In Spartacus? No way to see it once installed?
Just saw the name in Spartacus.. No email. Perhaps we should list name and contact? Otherwise how does one contact a plugin author?

I was wrong, there is no author credit in the plugin list in the backend (which I meant). However, the plugin authors are usually listed in a plugin's .php file, but not always with an email address, as far as I remember. (Haven't really looked in quite a while myself. )

There are actually quite a lot of plugin authors which are no longer with the project as far as I know. They might not want their email adresses included. However, as you keep reading the forum, you'll quickly notice who is who and how to contact them -- your best bet in most cases is to check the respective forum profiles for an email address or an IM account. We don't have that many (active) plugin authors anyway.

And, as always with S9y: when in doubt, just ask Garvin.

YL