Executing code at extension activation

marikka · July 2007

Hey. Where should I place some code I want to execute when my extension is activated/installed? I've written some code to check if a role and a user exists and to create those if they don't exist yet. At the moment I have the code in my default.php and it executes every time, which is a bit stupid :P Thanks in advance :)

Minisweeper · July 2007

You mean you want to make a kinda installation routine for a script? What most people do is add a configuration key (such as EXTENSIONNAME_INSTALLED) when the extension first runs (and does the user creation or whatever), then every time the script runs just use if ($Configuration['EXTENSIONNAME_INSTALLED'] != 1) { do the install routine } There are a couple of extensions out there using that general theory..I'm pretty sure attachments is one of them if you want to check it in more detail.

ithcy · July 2007

one way to do it, like mini said:

if (!array_key_exists('YOUR_SPECIAL_EXTENSION_VARIABLE', $Configuration))
{

	//do your installation stuff here
	//and when it's all successfully completed, do the next step:

	AddConfigurationSetting($Context, 'YOUR_SPECIAL_EXTENSION_VARIABLE', 'SOME_VALUE');
}

marikka · July 2007

Thanks to both of you! That was just what I needed.

marikka · July 2007

It just occured to me that if I needed to do some cleaning up when uninstalling an extension I can't really use code from my extension.. or can I? Is there some hook to run code just before deactivating the extension?

Minisweeper · July 2007

There used to be but I think it got taken out cause some extensions are causing problems, so no, I dont think you can do cleanup. I guess the only thing you could do is release a seperate cleanup script for users to run if they wanted.

ithcy · July 2007

or you could add a custom uninstall feature to your extension which cleans up and then runs the "standard" uninstall code.

i hope mark has more time for vanilla soon. i think extension developers need a few more tools in the vanilla core. cleanup, a global "extension settings" standard (Attachments and JQThickbox handle this perfectly), etc.

Minisweeper · July 2007

Ahh that's a good idea ithcy.

Executing code at extension activation

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