Plugin development: how to notify a user that a plugin needs to be configured?

ithcy

@Tim @Todd @Lincoln
While writing a plugin I needed a way to show the user that the plugin needed configuration. I figured a good place for this was in the list of all plugins on the dashboard, where update availability notifications appear for individual plugins.

I figured as a hack I could just dynamically change $PluginInfo['MyPlugin']['Description'] when the configuration item wasn't set, but it looks like that string is filtered before display, so I could not get my changes to show.

Is there a better or sanctioned way to do this? It seems like it must have been done before.

Tim

If I were you, I would hook one of the earlier events in the PluginController page and just add a < div > containing your configuration requirement message.

ithcy

yeah, good idea. any news on that developer plugin that was discussed earlier, that shows the available event hooks on the page?

Tim

I've completed it but it depends on 2.0.10a. You'd need to pull that.

Let me upload the dev plugin quickly.

Tim

http://www.vanillaforums.org/addon/620/eventi

ithcy

awesome. i like the name.

Tim

ithcy

OK, I've got something working thanks to eventi, but it still feels hackish. i guess I don't fully understand how to hook into certain events.

At a certain spot in the settings controller, the BeforeRenderAsset event is fired, with the AssetName 'Content'. This is just above 'Manage Plugins' on the dashboard. This is where I want to put my message.

I tried various naming schemes hoping to invoke a magic event there, but the only one that seems to work is SettingsController_Render_Before SettingsController_BeforeRenderAsset_Handler. Which sort of makes sense with the naming, except that event also fires in several other places on the page, so I'd get multiple messages.

So what I did was make the SettingsController_Render_BeforeSettingsController_BeforeRenderAsset_Handler function and test if the AssetName is 'Content' before I spit out my div. This feels gross. Is there a better way?

Tim

public function SettingsController_BeforeRenderAsset_Handler($Sender) { echo "shranp"; }

?

ithcy

That was one of the permutations I tried. No output. I'll give it another go tomorrow. Thanks!

ithcy

Sorry, I was mistaken. I was already using SettingsController_BeforeRenderAsset_Handler. That event fires all over the place, everywhere you see red in this screenshot.



The only way to tame it is to filter by AssetName. Am I asking for a custom event here? public function SettingsController_BeforeRenderAsset_Handler(&$Sender) {
// if plugin is enabled but Skysa ID has not been set, show a warning.
if (
$Sender->EventArguments['AssetName'] == 'Content' &&
Gdn::Config('EnabledPlugins.Skysa') != '' &&
Gdn::Config('Plugins.Skysa.SkysaID') == ''
) {
$WebRoot = Gdn::Request()->Domain() . '/' . Gdn::Request()->WebRoot();
echo '' . T('SkysaEmptyID') . ''; } }