Create plugin

WIth a plugin you can extend ContentLion and customize it to your needs. We provide you serval places to intervene in our system. If you have any questions while creating your plugin, just contact us in the forum.

Keynote of our plugin system

We would like to beacon ContentLion, that plugins can extend other plugins. That's possible, when plugins are very small, but have some interfaces to extend. So every plugin doesn't need much time and you can provide it faster as a big plugin. Besides it's easier to work as a big team, where everybody makes small parts instead of more big plugins, that all do the same.

Because of this, we defined some types of plugins, where you can classify your plugin:

• Data plugin: Just define and store the data structure. So other plugins can use the same data pool
• Collection plugin: This kind of plugin collects the data. For example, the sources can be forms or interfaces to other system. This plugin fills in the data to the data plugin.
• Usage plugin: Plugin that uses the data. This can be an element on the interface or an export in other systems
• Class libaries: Those plugins provide special method, that other plugins can use. For example: FTP, ZIP, POP,...
• Container plugin: A plugin, that automaticly installs the other kind of plugins, to provide an easy installation for the user

A small example: You want to make a comment system. In this kind, you could have the following plugins:

1. Data plugin: The structure of the single comments, with storage, author, the comment and customizeable fields
2. Collection plugin: Form, where the user can write his comment
3. Usage plugin: Plugin, that displays the comments on the page
4. Collection plugin/ Usage plugin: Plugin, that manages the comments in the backend
5. Container plugin: Installs plugin 1-4.