3 In addition to this document, please check out the SquirrelMail
4 development FAQ for more information. Also, help writing plugins
5 is easily obtained by posting to the squirrelmail-plugins mailing
6 list. (See details about mailing lists on the website)
8 FAQ -> http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/wiki.php?DeveloperFAQ
10 http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/wiki.php?DevelopingPlugins
13 A FEW NOTES ON THE PLUGIN ARCHITECTURE
14 ======================================
16 The plugin architecture of SquirrelMail is designed to make it possible
17 to add new features without having to patch SquirrelMail itself.
18 Functionality like password changing, displaying ads and calendars should
19 be possible to add as plugins.
25 The idea is to be able to run random code at given places in the
26 SquirrelMail code. This random code should then be able to do whatever
27 needed to enhance the functionality of SquirrelMail. The places where
28 code can be executed are called "hooks".
30 There are some limitations in what these hooks can do. It is difficult
31 to use them to change the layout and to change functionality that
32 already is in SquirrelMail.
34 Some way for the plugins to interact with the help subsystem and
35 translations will be provided.
41 The plugin jumping off point in the main SquirrelMail code is in the
42 file functions/plugin.php. In places where hooks are made available,
43 they are executed by calling the function do_hook('hookname'). The
44 do_hook function then traverses the array
45 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['hookname'] and executes all the functions
46 that are named in that array. Those functions are placed there when
47 plugins register themselves with SquirrelMail as discussed below. A
48 plugin may add its own internal functions to this array under any
49 hook name provided by the SquirrelMail developers.
51 A plugin must reside in a subdirectory in the plugins/ directory. The
52 name of the subdirectory is considered to be the name of the plugin.
53 (The plugin will not function correctly if this is not the case.)
55 To start using a plugin, its name must be added to the $plugins array
56 in config.php like this:
58 $plugins[0] = 'plugin_name';
60 When a plugin is registered, the file plugins/plugin_name/setup.php is
61 included and the function squirrelmail_plugin_init_plugin_name() is
62 called with no parameters. That function is where the plugin may
63 register itself against any hooks it wishes to take advantage of.
69 All plugins must contain a file called setup.php and must include a
70 function called squirrelmail_plugin_init_plugin_name() therein. Since
71 including numerous plugins can slow SquirrelMail performance
72 considerably, the setup.php file should contain little else. Any
73 functions that are registered against plugin hooks should do little
74 more than call another function in a different file.
76 Any other files used by the plugin should also be placed in the
77 plugin directory (or subdirectory thereof) and should contain the
78 bulk of the plugin logic.
80 The function squirrelmail_plugin_init_plugin_name() is called to
81 initalize a plugin. This function could look something like this (if
82 the plugin was named "demo" and resided in the directory plugins/demo/):
84 function squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo ()
86 global $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks;
88 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['generic_header']['demo'] = 'plugin_demo_header';
89 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['menuline']['demo'] = 'plugin_demo_menuline';
92 Please note that as of SquirrelMail 1.5.0, this function will no longer
93 be called at run time and will instead be called only once at configure-
94 time. Thus, the inclusion of any dynamic code (anything except hook
95 registration) here is strongly discouraged.
97 In this example, the "demo" plugin should also have two other functions
98 in its setup.php file called plugin_demo_header() and plugin_demo_menuline().
99 The first of these might look something like this:
101 function plugin_demo_header()
103 include_once(SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/functions.php');
104 plugin_demo_header_do();
107 The function called plugin_demo_header_do() would be in the file called
108 functions.php in the demo plugin directory and would contain the plugin's
109 core logic for the "generic_header" hook.
112 Including Other Files
113 ---------------------
115 A plugin may need to reference functionality provided in other
116 files, and therefore need to include those files. Most of the
117 core SquirrelMail functions are already available to your plugin
118 unless it has any files that are requested directly by the client
119 browser (custom options page, etc.). In this case, you'll need
120 to make sure you include the files you need (see below).
122 Note that as of SquirrelMail 1.4.0, all files are accessed using a
123 constant called SM_PATH that always contains the relative path to
124 the main SquirrelMail directory. This constant is always available
125 for you to use when including other files from the SquirrelMail core,
126 your own plugin, or other plugins, should the need arise. If any of
127 your plugin files are requested directly from the client browser,
128 you will need to define this constant before you do anything else:
130 define('SM_PATH', '../../');
132 Files are included like this:
134 include_once(SM_PATH . 'include/validate.php');
136 When including files, please make sure to use the include_once() function
137 and NOT include(), require(), or require_once(), since these all are much
138 less efficient than include_once() and can have a cumulative effect on
139 SquirrelMail performance.
141 The files that you may need to include in a plugin will vary greatly
142 depending upon what the plugin is designed to do. For files that are
143 requested directly by the client browser, we strongly recommend that
144 you include the file include/validate.php, since it will set up the
145 SquirrelMail environment automatically. It will ensure the the user
146 has been authenticated and is currently logged in, load all user
147 preferences, include internationalization support, call stripslashes()
148 on all incoming data (if magic_quotes_gpc is on), and initialize and
149 include all other basic SquirrelMail resources and functions. You may
150 see other plugins that directly include other SquirrelMail files, but
151 that is no longer necessary and is a hold-over from older SquirrelMail
155 Hook Types: Parameters and Return Values
156 -----------------------------------------
158 Hooks, when executed, are called with differing parameters and may or may
159 not take return values, all depending on the type of hook being called and
160 the context in which it is being used. On the source side (where the hook
161 call originates), all hooks have at least one parameter, which is the
162 name of the hook. After that, things get complicated.
166 Most hook calls don't pass any data and don't ask for anything back.
167 These always use the do_hook call. A limited number of do_hook calls do
168 pass some extra parameters, in which case your plugin may modify the
169 given data if you do so by reference. It is not necessary to return
170 anything from your function in such a case; modifying the parameter
171 data by reference is what does the job (although the hook call itself
172 (in the source) must grab the return value for this to work). Note
173 that in this case, the parameter to your hook function will be an array,
174 the first element simply being the hook name, followed by any other
175 parameters that may have been included in the actual hook call in the
176 source. Modify parameters with care!
180 This hook type was intended to be the main hook type used when the
181 source needs to get something back from your plugin. It is somewhat
182 limited in that it will only use the value returned from the LAST
183 plugin registered against the hook. The source for this hook might
184 use the return value for internal purposes, or might expect you to
185 provide text or HTML to be sent to the client browser (you'll have to
186 look at its use in context to understand how you should return values
187 here). The parameters that your hook function gets will be anything
188 you see AFTER the hook name in the actual hook call in the source.
189 These cannot be changed in the same way that the do_hook parameters
194 This is a newer hook type meant to address the shortcomings of
195 do_hook_function; specifically in that it uses the return values of
196 all plugins registered against the hook. In order to do so, the
197 return value is assumed to be a string, which is just piled on top
198 of whatever it got from the other plugins working on the same hook.
199 Again, you'll have to inspect the source code to see how such data
200 is put to use, but most of the time, it is used to create a string
201 of HTML to be inserted into the output page. The parameters that
202 your hook function will get are the same as for the do_hook_function;
203 they are anything AFTER the hook name in the actual hook call in the
206 boolean_hook_function
207 ---------------------
208 The newest of the SquirrelMail hooks, this type is used to let all
209 plugins registered against the hook to "vote" for some action. What
210 that action is is entirely dependent on how the hook is used in the
211 source (look for yourself). Plugins make their "vote" by returning
212 TRUE or FALSE. This hook may be configured to "tally votes" in one
213 of three ways. This configuration is done with the third parameter
214 in the hook call in the source:
215 > 0 -- Any one or more TRUEs will override any FALSEs
216 < 0 -- Any one or more FALSEs will override any TRUEs
217 = 0 -- Majority wins. Ties are broken in this case with
218 the last parameter in the hook call in the source.
219 Your hook function will get the second paramter in the hook call in
220 the source as its parameter (this might be an array if multiple values
223 See below for further discussion of special hook types and the values
229 This is a list of all hooks currently available in SquirrelMail, ordered
230 by file. Note that this list is accurate as of June 17, 2003 (should be
231 close to what is contained in release 1.4.1, plus or minus a hook or two),
232 but may be out of date soon thereafter. You never know. ;-)
234 Hook Name Found In Called With(#)
235 --------- -------- --------------
236 abook_init functions/addressbook.php do_hook
237 abook_add_class functions/addressbook.php do_hook
238 loading_constants functions/constants.php do_hook
239 logout_error functions/display_messages.php do_hook
240 error_box functions/display_messages.php concat_hook
241 get_pref_override functions/file_prefs.php hook_func
242 get_pref functions/file_prefs.php hook_func
243 special_mailbox functions/imap_mailbox.php hook_func
244 % rename_or_delete_folder functions/imap_mailbox.php hook_func
245 mailbox_index_before functions/mailbox_display.php do_hook
246 mailbox_form_before functions/mailbox_display.php do_hook
247 mailbox_index_after functions/mailbox_display.php do_hook
248 check_handleAsSent_result functions/mailbox_display.php do_hook
249 subject_link functions/mailbox_display.php concat_hook
250 mailbox_display_buttons functions/mailbox_display.php do_hook
251 message_body functions/mime.php do_hook
252 ^ attachment $type0/$type1 functions/mime.php do_hook
253 attachments_bottom functions/mime.php hook_func
254 decode_body functions/mime.php hook_func
255 generic_header functions/page_header.php do_hook
256 menuline functions/page_header.php do_hook
257 internal_link functions/page_header.php hook_func
258 loading_prefs include/load_prefs.php do_hook
259 addrbook_html_search_below src/addrbook_search_html.php do_hook
260 addressbook_bottom src/addressbook.php do_hook
261 compose_form src/compose.php do_hook
262 compose_bottom src/compose.php do_hook
263 compose_button_row src/compose.php do_hook
264 compose_send src/compose.php do_hook
265 folders_bottom src/folders.php do_hook
266 help_top src/help.php do_hook
267 help_chapter src/help.php do_hook
268 help_bottom src/help.php do_hook
269 left_main_after_each_folder src/left_main.php concat_hook
270 left_main_before src/left_main.php do_hook
271 left_main_after src/left_main.php do_hook
272 login_cookie src/login.php do_hook
273 login_top src/login.php do_hook
274 login_form src/login.php do_hook
275 login_bottom src/login.php do_hook
276 move_before_move src/move_messages.php do_hook
277 move_messages_button_action src/move_messages.php concat_hook
278 * optpage_set_loadinfo src/options.php do_hook
279 * optpage_loadhook_personal src/options.php do_hook
280 * optpage_loadhook_display src/options.php do_hook
281 * optpage_loadhook_highlight src/options.php do_hook
282 * optpage_loadhook_folder src/options.php do_hook
283 * optpage_loadhook_order src/options.php do_hook
284 * options_personal_save src/options.php do_hook
285 * options_display_save src/options.php do_hook
286 * options_folder_save src/options.php do_hook
287 * options_save src/options.php do_hook
288 * optpage_register_block src/options.php do_hook
289 * options_link_and_description src/options.php do_hook
290 * options_personal_inside src/options.php do_hook
291 * options_display_inside src/options.php do_hook
292 * options_highlight_inside src/options.php do_hook
293 * options_folder_inside src/options.php do_hook
294 * options_order_inside src/options.php do_hook
295 * options_personal_bottom src/options.php do_hook
296 * options_display_bottom src/options.php do_hook
297 * options_highlight_bottom src/options.php do_hook
298 * options_folder_bottom src/options.php do_hook
299 * options_order_bottom src/options.php do_hook
300 * options_highlight_bottom src/options_highlight.php do_hook
301 & options_identities_process src/options_identities.php do_hook
302 & options_identities_top src/options_identities.php do_hook
303 &% options_identities_renumber src/options_identities.php do_hook
304 & options_identities_table src/options_identities.php concat_hook
305 & options_identities_buttons src/options_identities.php concat_hook
306 message_body src/printer_friendly_bottom.php do_hook
307 read_body_header src/read_body.php do_hook
308 read_body_menu_top src/read_body.php hook_func
309 read_body_menu_bottom src/read_body.php do_hook
310 read_body_header_right src/read_body.php do_hook
311 html_top src/read_body.php do_hook
312 read_body_top src/read_body.php do_hook
313 read_body_bottom src/read_body.php do_hook
314 html_bottom src/read_body.php do_hook
315 login_before src/redirect.php do_hook
316 login_verified src/redirect.php do_hook
317 generic_header src/right_main.php do_hook
318 right_main_after_header src/right_main.php do_hook
319 right_main_bottom src/right_main.php do_hook
320 search_before_form src/search.php do_hook
321 search_after_form src/search.php do_hook
322 search_bottom src/search.php do_hook
323 logout src/signout.php do_hook
324 webmail_top src/webmail.php do_hook
325 webmail_bottom src/webmail.php concat_hook
326 logout_above_text src/signout.php concat_hook
328 % = This hook is used in multiple places in the given file
329 # = Called with hook type (see below)
330 & = Special identity hooks (see below)
331 ^ = Special attachments hook (see below)
332 * = Special options hooks (see below)
337 Each hook is called using the hook type specified in the list above:
339 hook_func do_hook_function()
340 concat_hook concat_hook_function()
345 This set of hooks is passed special information in the array of arguments:
347 options_identities_process
349 This hook is called at the top of the Identities page, which is
350 most useful when the user has changed any identity settings - this
351 is where you'll want to save any custom information you are keeping
352 for each identity or catch any custom submit buttons that you may
353 have added to the identities page. The arguments to this hook are:
355 [0] = hook name (always "options_identities_process")
356 [1] = should I run the SaveUpdateFunction() (alterable)
358 Obviously, set the second array element to 1/true if you want to
359 trigger SaveUpdateFunction() after the hook is finished - by default,
360 it will not be called.
362 options_identities_renumber
364 This hook is called when one of the identities is being renumbered,
365 such as if the user had three identities and deletes the second -
366 this hook would be called with an array that looks like this:
367 ('options_identities_renumber', 2, 1). The arguments to this hook
370 [0] = hook name (always "options_identities_renumber")
371 [1] = being renumbered from ('default' or 1 through (# idents) - 1)
372 [2] = being renumbered to ('default' or 1 through (# idents) - 1)
374 options_identities_table
376 This hook allows you to insert additional rows into the table that
377 holds each identity. The arguments to this hook are:
379 [0] = color of table (use it like this in your plugin:
380 <tr bgcolor="<?PHP echo $info[1]?>">
381 [1] = is this an empty section (the one at the end of the list)?
382 [2] = what is the 'post' value? (ident # or empty string if default)
384 You need to return any HTML you would like to add to the table.
385 You could add a table row with code similar to this:
387 function demo_identities_table(&$args)
389 return '<tr bgcolor="' . $args[0] . '"><td> </td><td>'
390 . 'YOUR CODE HERE' . '</td></tr>' . "\n";
393 options_identities_buttons
395 This hook allows you to add a button (or other HTML) to the row of
396 buttons under each identity. The arguments to this hook are:
398 [0] = is this an empty section (the one at the end of the list)?
399 [1] = what is the 'post' value? (ident # or empty string if default)
401 You need to return any HTML you would like to add here. You could add
402 a button with code similar to this:
404 function demo_identities_button(&$args)
406 return '<input type="submit" name="demo_button_' . $args[1]
407 . '" value="Press Me">';
413 When a message has attachments, this hook is called with the MIME types. For
414 instance, a .zip file hook is "attachment application/x-zip". The hook should
415 probably show a link to do a specific action, such as "Verify" or "View" for a
416 .zip file. Thus, to register your plugin for .zip attachments, you'd do this
417 in setup.php (assuming your plugin is called "demo"):
419 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['attachment application/x-zip']['demo']
420 = 'demo_handle_zip_attachment';
422 This is a breakdown of the data passed in the array to the hook that is called:
424 [0] = Hook's name ('attachment text/plain')
425 [1] = Array of links of actions (see below) (alterable)
426 [2] = Used for returning to mail message (startMessage)
427 [3] = Used for finding message to display (id)
428 [4] = Mailbox name, urlencode()'d (urlMailbox)
429 [5] = Entity ID inside mail message (ent)
430 [6] = Default URL to go to when filename is clicked on (alterable)
431 [7] = Filename that is displayed for the attachment
432 [8] = Sent if message was found from a search (where)
433 [9] = Sent if message was found from a search (what)
435 To set up links for actions, you assign them like this:
437 $Args[1]['<plugin_name>']['href'] = 'URL to link to';
438 $Args[1]['<plugin_name>']['text'] = 'What to display';
440 It's also possible to specify a hook as "attachment type0/*",
441 for example "attachment text/*". This hook will be executed whenever there's
442 no more specific rule available for that type.
444 Putting all this together, the demo_handle_zip_attachment() function should
445 look like this (note the argument being passed):
447 function demo_handle_zip_attachment(&$Args)
449 include_once(SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/functions.php');
450 demo_handle_zip_attachment_do($Args);
453 And the demo_handle_zip_attachment_do() function in the
454 plugins/demo/functions.php file would typically (but not necessarily)
455 display a custom link:
457 function demo_handle_zip_attachment_do(&$Args)
459 $Args[1]['demo']['href'] = SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/zip_handler.php?'
460 . 'passed_id=' . $Args[3] . '&mailbox=' . $Args[4]
461 . '&passed_ent_id=' . $Args[5];
462 $Args[1]['demo']['text'] = 'show zip contents';
465 The file plugins/demo/zip_handler.php can now do whatever it needs with the
466 attachment (note that this will hand information about how to retrieve the
467 source message from the IMAP server as GET varibles).
472 Before you start adding user preferences to your plugin, please take a moment
473 to think about it: in some cases, more options may not be a good thing.
474 Having too many options can be confusing. Thinking from the user's
475 perspective, will the proposed options actually be used? Will users
476 understand what these options are for?
478 There are two ways to add options for your plugin. When you only have a few
479 options that don't merit an entirely new preferences page, you can incorporate
480 them into an existing section of SquirrelMail preferences (Personal
481 Information, Display Preferences, Message Highlighting, Folder Preferences or
482 Index Order). Or, if you have an extensive number of settings or for some
483 reason need a separate page for the user to interact with, you can create your
484 own preferences page.
487 Integrating Your Options Into Existing SquirrelMail Preferences Pages
488 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
490 There are two ways to accomplish the integration of your plugin's settings
491 into another preferences page. The first method is to add the HTML code
492 for your options directly to the preferences page of your choice. Although
493 currently very popular, this method will soon be deprecated, so avoid it
494 if you can. That said, here is how it works. :) Look for any of the hooks
495 named as "options_<pref page>_inside", where <pref page> is "display",
496 "personal", etc. For this example, we'll use "options_display_inside" and,
497 as above, "demo" as our plugin name:
499 1. In setup.php in the squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo() function:
501 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['options_display_inside']['demo']
502 = 'demo_show_options';
504 Note that there are also hooks such as "options_display_bottom",
505 however, they place your options at the bottom of the preferences
506 page, which is usually not desirable (mostly because they also
507 come AFTER the HTML FORM tag is already closed). It is possible
508 to use these hooks if you want to create your own FORM with custom
511 2. Assuming the function demo_show_options() calls another function
512 elsewhere called demo_show_options_do(), that function should have
513 output similar to this (note that you will be inserting code into
514 a table that is already defined with two columns, so please be sure
515 to keep this framework in your plugin):
517 ------cut here-------
526 ------cut here-------
528 Of course, you can place any text where OPTION_NAME is and any input
529 tags where OPTION_INPUT is.
531 3. You will want to use the "options_<pref page>_save" hook (in this case,
532 "options_display_save") to save the user's settings after they have
533 pressed the "Submit" button. Again, back in setup.php in the
534 squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo() function:
536 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['options_display_save']['demo']
537 = 'demo_save_options';
539 4. Assuming the function demo_save_options() calls another function
540 elsewhere called demo_save_options_do(), that function should put
541 the user's settings into permanent storage (see the preferences
542 section below for more information). This example assumes that
543 in the preferences page, the INPUT tag's NAME attribute was set
546 global $data_dir, $username;
547 sqgetGlobalVar('demo_option', $demo_option);
548 setPref($data_dir, $username, 'demo_option', $demo_option);
551 The second way to add options to one of the SquirrelMail preferences page is
552 to use one of the "optpage_loadhook_<pref page>" hooks. The sent_subfolders
553 plugin has an excellent example of this method. Briefly, this way of adding
554 options consists of adding some plugin-specific information to a predefined
555 data structure which SquirrelMail then uses to build the HTML input forms
556 for you. This is the preferred method of building options lists going forward.
558 1. We'll use the "optpage_loadhook_display" hook to add a new group of
559 options to the display preferences page. In setup.php in the
560 squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo() function:
562 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['optpage_loadhook_display']['demo']
565 2. Assuming the function demo_options() calls another function elsewhere
566 called demo_options_do(), that function needs to add a new key to two
567 arrays, $optpage_data['grps'] and $optpage_data['vals']. The value
568 associated with that key should simply be a section heading for your
569 plugin on the preferences page for the $optpage_data['grps'] array,
570 and yet another array with all of your plugin's options for the
571 $optpage_data['vals'] array. The options are built as arrays (yes,
572 that's four levels of nested arrays) that specify attributes that are
573 used by SquirrelMail to build your HTML input tags automatically.
574 This example includes just one input element, a SELECT (drop-down)
577 global $optpage_data;
578 $optpage_data['grps']['DEMO_PLUGIN'] = 'Demo Options';
579 $optionValues = array();
580 $optionValues[] = array(
581 'name' => 'plugin_demo_favorite_color',
582 'caption' => 'Please Choose Your Favorite Color',
583 'type' => SMOPT_TYPE_STRLIST,
584 'refresh' => SMOPT_REFRESH_ALL,
585 'posvals' => array(0 => 'red',
589 'save' => 'save_plugin_demo_favorite_color'
591 $optpage_data['vals']['DEMO_PLUGIN'] = $optionValues;
593 The array that you use to specify each plugin option has the following
596 name The name of this setting, which is used not only for
597 the INPUT tag name, but also for the name of this
598 setting in the user's preferences
599 caption The text that prefaces this setting on the preferences
601 type The type of INPUT element, which should be one of:
602 SMOPT_TYPE_STRING String/text input
603 SMOPT_TYPE_STRLIST Select list input
604 SMOPT_TYPE_TEXTAREA Text area input
605 SMOPT_TYPE_INTEGER Integer input
606 SMOPT_TYPE_FLOAT Floating point number input
607 SMOPT_TYPE_BOOLEAN Boolean (yes/no radio buttons)
609 SMOPT_TYPE_HIDDEN Hidden input (not actually
610 shown on preferences page)
611 SMOPT_TYPE_COMMENT Text is shown (specified by the
612 'comment' attribute), but no
614 SMOPT_TYPE_FLDRLIST Select list of IMAP folders
615 refresh Indicates if a link should be shown to refresh part or
616 all of the window (optional). Possible values are:
617 SMOPT_REFRESH_NONE No refresh link is shown
618 SMOPT_REFRESH_FOLDERLIST Link is shown to refresh
620 SMOPT_REFRESH_ALL Link is shown to refresh
622 initial_value The value that should initially be placed in this
624 posvals For select lists, this should be an associative array,
625 where each key is an actual input value and the
626 corresponding value is what is displayed to the user
627 for that list item in the drop-down list
628 value Specify the default/preselected value for this option
630 save You may indicate that special functionality needs to be
631 used instead of just saving this setting by giving the
632 name of a function to call when this value would
633 otherwise just be saved in the user's preferences
634 size Specifies the size of certain input items (typically
635 textual inputs). Possible values are:
642 comment For SMOPT_TYPE_COMMENT type options, this is the text
643 displayed to the user
644 script This is where you may add any additional javascript
645 or other code to the user input
646 post_script You may specify some script (usually Javascript) that
647 will be placed after (outside of) the INPUT tag.
649 Note that you do not have to create a whole new section on the options
650 page if you merely want to add a simple input item or two to an options
651 section that already exists. For example, the Display Options page has
654 0 - General Display Options
655 1 - Mailbox Display Options
656 2 - Message Display and Composition
658 To add our previous input drop-down to the Mailbox Display Options,
659 we would not have to create our own group; just add it to group
662 global $optpage_data;
663 $optpage_data['vals'][1][] = array(
664 'name' => 'plugin_demo_favorite_color',
665 'caption' => 'Please Choose Your Favorite Color',
666 'type' => SMOPT_TYPE_STRLIST,
667 'refresh' => SMOPT_REFRESH_ALL,
668 'posvals' => array(0 => 'red',
672 'save' => 'save_plugin_demo_favorite_color'
675 3. If you indicated a 'save' attribute for any of your options, you must
676 create that function (you'll only need to do this if you need to do
677 some special processing for one of your settings). The function gets
678 one parameter, which is an object with mostly the same attributes you
679 defined when you made the option above... the 'new_value' (and possibly
680 'value', which is the current value for this setting) is the most useful
681 attribute in this context:
683 function save_plugin_demo_favorite_color($option)
685 // if user chose orange, make note that they are really dumb
686 if ($option->new_value == 3)
688 // more code here as needed
691 // don't even save this setting if user chose green (old
692 // setting will remain)
693 if ($option->new_value == 2)
696 // for all other colors, save as normal
697 save_option($option);
701 Creating Your Own Preferences Page
702 ----------------------------------
704 It is also possible to create your own preferences page for a plugin. This
705 is particularly useful when your plugin has numerous options or needs to
706 offer special interaction with the user (for things such as changing password,
707 etc.). Here is an outline of how to do so (again, using the "demo" plugin
710 1. Add a new listing to the main Options page. Older versions of
711 SquirrelMail offered a hook called "options_link_and_description"
712 although its use is deprecated (and it is harder to use in that
713 it requires you to write your own HTML to add the option). Instead,
714 you should always use the "optpage_register_block" hook where you
715 create a simple array that lets SquirrelMail build the HTML
716 to add the plugin options entry automatically. In setup.php in the
717 squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo() function:
719 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['optpage_register_block']['demo']
720 = 'demo_options_block';
722 2. Assuming the function demo_options_block() calls another function
723 elsewhere called demo_options_block_do(), that function only needs
724 to create a simple array and add it to the $optpage_blocks array:
726 global $optpage_blocks;
727 $optpage_blocks[] = array(
728 'name' => 'Favorite Color Settings',
729 'url' => SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/options.php',
730 'desc' => 'Change your favorite color & find new exciting colors',
734 The array should have four elements:
735 name The title of the plugin's options as it will be displayed on
737 url The URI that points to your plugin's custom preferences page
738 desc A description of what the preferences page offers the user,
739 displayed on the Options page below the title
740 js Indicates if this option page requires the client browser
741 to be Javascript-capable. Should be TRUE or FALSE.
743 3. There are two different ways to create the actual preferences page
744 itself. One is to simply write all of your own HTML and other
745 interactive functionality, while the other is to define some data
746 structures that allow SquirrelMail to build your user inputs and save
747 your data automatically.
749 Building your own page is wide open, and for ideas, you should look at
750 any of the plugins that currently have their own preferences pages. If
751 you do this, make sure to read step number 4 below for information on
752 saving settings. In order to maintain security, consistant look and
753 feel, internationalization support and overall integrity, there are just
754 a few things you should always do in this case: define the SM_PATH
755 constant, include the file include/validate.php (see the section about
756 including other files above) and make a call to place the standard page
757 heading at the top of your preferences page. The top of your PHP file
758 might look something like this:
760 define('SM_PATH', '../../');
761 include_once(SM_PATH . 'include/validate.php');
763 displayPageHeader($color, 'None');
765 From here you are on your own, although you are encouraged to do things
766 such as use the $color array to keep your HTML correctly themed, etc.
768 If you want SquirrelMail to build your preferences page for you,
769 creating input forms and automatically saving users' settings, then
770 you should change the 'url' attribute in the options block you created
771 in step number 2 above to read as follows:
773 'url' => SM_PATH . 'src/options.php?optpage=plugin_demo',
775 Now, you will need to use the "optpage_set_loadinfo" hook to tell
776 SquirrelMail about your new preferences page. In setup.php in the
777 squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo() function:
779 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['optpage_set_loadinfo']['demo']
780 = 'demo_optpage_loadinfo';
782 Assuming the function demo_optpage_loadinfo() calls another function
783 elsewhere called demo_optpage_loadinfo_do(), that function needs to
784 define values for four variables (make sure you test to see that it
785 is your plugin that is being called by checking the GET variable you
786 added to the url just above):
788 global $optpage, $optpage_name, $optpage_file,
789 $optpage_loader, $optpage_loadhook;
790 if ($optpage == 'plugin_demo')
792 $optpage_name = "Favorite Color Preferences";
793 $optpage_file = SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/options.php';
794 $optpage_loader = 'load_optpage_data_demo';
795 $optpage_loadhook = 'optpage_loadhook_demo';
798 Now you are ready to build all of your options. In the file you
799 indicated for the variable $optpage_file above, you'll need to create
800 a function named the same as the value you used for $optpage_loader
801 above. In this example, the file plugins/demo/options.php should
802 have at least this function in it:
804 function load_optpage_data_demo()
806 $optpage_data = array();
807 $optpage_data['grps']['DEMO_PLUGIN'] = 'Demo Options';
808 $optionValues = array();
809 $optionValues[] = array(
810 'name' => 'plugin_demo_favorite_color',
811 'caption' => 'Please Choose Your Favorite Color',
812 'type' => SMOPT_TYPE_STRLIST,
813 'refresh' => SMOPT_REFRESH_ALL,
814 'posvals' => array(0 => 'red',
818 'save' => 'save_plugin_demo_favorite_color'
820 $optpage_data['vals']['DEMO_PLUGIN'] = $optionValues;
821 return $optpage_data;
824 For a detailed description of how you build these options, please read
825 step number 2 for the second method of adding options to an existing
826 preferences page above. Notice that the only difference here is in the
827 very first and last lines of this function where you are actually
828 creating and returning the options array instead of just adding onto it.
830 That's all there is to it - SquirrelMail will create a preferences page
831 titled as you indicated for $optpage_name above, and other plugins
832 can even add extra options to this new preferences page. To do so,
833 they should use the hook name you specified for $optpage_loadhook above
834 and use the second method for adding option settings to existing
835 preferences pages described above.
837 4. Saving your options settings: if you used the second method in step
838 number 3 above, your settings will be saved automatically (or you can
839 define special functions to save special settings such as the
840 save_plugin_demo_favorite_color() function in the example described
841 above) and there is probably no need to follow this step. If you
842 created your own preferences page from scratch, you'll need to follow
843 this step. First, you need to register your plugin against the
844 "options_save" hook. In setup.php in the squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo()
847 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['options_save']['demo']
848 = 'demo_save_options';
850 Assuming the function demo_save_options() calls another function
851 elsewhere called demo_save_options_do(), that function needs to grab
852 all of your POST and/or GET settings values and save them in the user's
853 preferences (for more about preferences, see that section below). Since
854 this is a generic hook called for all custom preferences pages, you
855 should always set "optpage" as a POST or GET variable with a string that
856 uniquely identifies your plugin:
858 <input type="hidden" name="optpage" value="plugin_demo">
860 Now in your demo_save_options_do() function, do something like this:
862 global $username, $data_dir, $optpage, $favorite_color;
863 if ($optpage == 'plugin_demo')
865 sqgetGlobalVar('favorite_color', $favorite_color, SQ_FORM);
866 setPref($data_dir, $username, 'favorite_color', $favorite_color);
869 Note that $favorite_color may not need to be globalized, although
870 experience has shown that some versions of PHP don't behave as expected
871 unless you do so. Even when you use SquirrelMail's built-in preferences
872 page generation functionality, you may still use this hook, although
873 there should be no need to do so. If you need to do some complex
874 validation routines, note that it might be better to do so in the file
875 you specified as the "$optpage_file" (in our example, that was the
876 plugins/demo/options.php file), since at this point, you can still
877 redisplay your preferences page. You could put code similar to this
878 in the plugins/demp/options.php file (note that there is no function;
879 this code needs to be executed at include time):
882 if ($optmode == 'submit')
884 // do something here such as validation, etc
885 if (you want to redisplay your preferences page)
893 Saving and retrieving user preferences is very easy in SquirrelMail.
894 SquirrelMail supports preference storage in files or in a database
895 backend, however, the code you need to write to manipulate preferences
896 is the same in both cases.
900 Setting preferences is done for you if you use the built-in facilities
901 for automatic options construction and presentation (see above). If
902 you need to manually set preferences, however, all you need to do is:
904 global $data_dir, $username;
905 setPref($data_dir, $username, 'pref_name', $pref_value);
907 Where "pref_name" is the key under which the value will be stored
908 and "pref_value" is a variable that should contain the actual
909 preference value to be stored.
913 There are two approaches to retrieving plugin (or any other) preferences.
914 You can grab individual preferences one at a time or you can add your
915 plugin's preferences to the routine that loads up user preferences at
916 the beginning of each page request. If you do the latter, making sure
917 to place your preference variables into the global scope, they will be
918 immediately available in all other plugin code. To retrieve a single
919 preference value at any time, do this:
921 global $data_dir, $username;
922 $pref_value = getPref($data_dir, $username, 'pref_name', 'default value');
924 Where "pref_name" is the preference you are retrieving, "default_value"
925 is what will be returned if the preference is not found for this user,
926 and, of course, "pref_value" is the variable that will get the actual
929 To have all your preferences loaded at once when each page request is
930 made, you'll need to register a function against the "loading_prefs" hook.
931 For our "demo" plugin, in setup.php in the squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo()
934 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['loading_prefs']['demo']
937 Assuming the function demo_load_prefs() calls another function
938 elsewhere called demo_load_prefs_do(), that function just needs to
939 pull out any all all preferences you'll be needing elsewhere:
941 global $data_dir, $username, $pref_value;
942 $pref_value = getPref($data_dir, $username, 'pref_name', 'default value');
944 Remember to globalize each preference, or this code is useless.
950 Although this document may only be available in English, we sure hope that you
951 are thinking about making your plugin useful to the thousands of non-English
952 speaking SquirrelMail users out there! It is almost rude not to do so, and
953 it isn't much trouble, either. This document will only describe how you can
954 accomplish the internationalization of a plugin. For more general information
955 about PHP and SquirrelMail translation facilities, see:
957 http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/wiki.php?LanguageTranslation
959 The unofficial way to internationalize a plugin is to put all plugin output
960 into the proper format but to rely on the SquirrelMail translation facilities
961 for all the rest. If the plugin were really to get translated, you'd need
962 to make sure that all output strings for your plugin are either added to or
963 already exist in the main SquirrelMail locale files.
965 The better way to make sure your plugin is translated is to create your own
966 locale files and what is called a "gettext domain" (see the link above for
969 There are three basic steps to getting your plugins internationalized: put
970 all output into the proper format, switch gettext domains and create locale
973 1. Putting plugin output into the correct format is quite easy. The hard
974 part is making sure you catch every last echo statement. You need to
979 So, even in the HTML segments of your plugin files, you need to do this:
981 <input type="submit" value="<?php echo _("Submit") ?>">
983 You can put any text you want inside of the quotes (you MUST use double
984 quotes!), including HTML tags, etc. What you should think carefully
985 about is that some languages may use different word ordering, so this
986 might be problematic:
988 echo _("I want to eat a ") . $fruitName . _(" before noon");
990 Because some languages (Japanese, for instance) would need to translate
991 such a sentence to "Before noon " . $fruitName . " I want to eat", but
992 with the format above, they are stuck having to translate each piece
993 separately. You might want to reword your original sentence:
995 echo _("This is what I want to eat before noon: ") . $fruitName;
997 2. By default, the SquirrelMail gettext domain is always in use. That
998 means that any text in the format described above will be translated
999 using the locale files found in the main SquirrelMail locale directory.
1000 Unless your plugin produces no output or only output that is in fact
1001 translated under the default SquirrelMail domain, you need to create
1002 your own gettext domain. The PHP for doing so is very simple. At
1003 the top of any file that produces any output, place the following code
1004 (again, using "demo" as the plugin name):
1006 bindtextdomain('demo', SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/locale');
1009 Now all output will be translated using your own custom locale files.
1010 Please be sure to switch back to the SquirrelMail domain at the end
1011 of the file, or many of the other SquirrelMail files may misbehave:
1013 bindtextdomain('squirrelmail', SM_PATH . 'locale');
1014 textdomain('squirrelmail');
1016 Note that if, in the middle of your plugin file, you use any
1017 SquirrelMail functions that send output to the browser, you'll need
1018 to temporarily switch back to the SquirrelMail domain:
1020 bindtextdomain('squirrelmail', SM_PATH . 'locale');
1021 textdomain('squirrelmail');
1022 displayPageHeader($color, 'None');
1023 bindtextdomain('demo', SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/locale');
1026 Note that technically speaking, you only need to have one bindtextdomain
1027 call per file, you should always use it before every textdomain call,
1028 since PHP installations without gettext compiled into them will not
1029 function properly if you do not.
1031 3. Finally, you just need to create your own locale. You should create
1032 a directory structure like this in the plugin directory:
1046 Create a directories such as de_DE for each language (de_DE is German,
1047 ja_JP is Japanese, etc. - check the SquirrelMail locale directory for
1048 a fairly comprehensive listing). Inside of each LC_MESSAGES directory
1049 you should place two files, one with your translations in it, called
1050 <plugin name>.po (in this case, "demo.po"), and one that is a compiled
1051 version of the ".po" file, called <plugin name>.mo (in this case,
1052 "demo.mo"). On most linux systems, there is a tool you can use to pull
1053 out most of the strings that you need to have translated from your PHP
1054 files into a sample .po file:
1056 xgettext --keyword=_ -d <plugin name> -s -C *.php
1058 --keyword option tells xgettext what your strings are enclosed in
1059 -d is the domain of your plugin which should be the plugin's name
1060 -s tells xgettext to sort the results and remove duplicate strings
1061 -C means you are translating a file with C/C++ type syntax (ie. PHP)
1062 *.php is all the files you want translations for
1064 Note, however, that this will not always pick up all strings, so you
1065 should double-check manually. Of course, it's easiest if you just keep
1066 track of all your strings as you are coding your plugin. Your .po file
1067 will now look something like:
1069 # SOME DESCRIPTIVE TITLE.
1070 # Copyright (C) YEAR Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1071 # FIRST AUTHOR <EMAIL@ADDRESS>, YEAR.
1076 "Project-Id-Version: PACKAGE VERSION\n"
1077 "POT-Creation-Date: 2003-06-18 11:22-0600\n"
1078 "PO-Revision-Date: YEAR-MO-DA HO:MI+ZONE\n"
1079 "Last-Translator: FULL NAME <EMAIL@ADDRESS>\n"
1080 "Language-Team: LANGUAGE <LL@li.org>\n"
1081 "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
1082 "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=CHARSET\n"
1083 "Content-Transfer-Encoding: ENCODING\n"
1090 msgid "Favorite Color"
1093 You should change the header to look something more like:
1095 # Copyright (c) 1999-2003 The Squirrelmail Development Team
1096 # Roland Bauerschmidt <rb@debian.org>, 1999.
1100 "Project-Id-Version: plugin-name version\n"
1101 "POT-Creation-Date: 2003-01-21 19:21+0100\n"
1102 "PO-Revision-Date: 2003-01-21 21:01+0100\n"
1103 "Last-Translator: Juergen Edner <juergen.edner@epost.de>\n"
1104 "Language-Team: German <squirrelmail-i18n@lists.squirrelmail.net>\n"
1105 "MIME-Version: 1.0\n"
1106 "Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1\n"
1107 "Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit\n"
1109 The most important thing to change here is the charset on the next to
1110 last line. You'll want to keep a master copy of the .po file and make
1111 a copy for each language you have a translation for. You'll need to
1112 translate each string in the .po file:
1117 After you're done translating, you can create the .mo file very simply
1118 by running the following command (available on most linux systems):
1120 msgfmt -o <plugin name>.mo <plugin name>.po
1122 In the case of the "demo" plugin:
1124 msgfmt -o demo.mo demo.po
1126 Please be sure that the .po and .mo files both are named exactly the
1127 same as the domain you bound in step 2 above and everything else works
1128 automatically. In SquirrelMail, go to Options -> Display Preferences
1129 and change your Language setting to see the translations in action!
1133 Documenting the Code (Optional)
1134 -------------------------------
1136 If you wish, you can use phpdoc (Javadoc-style) comments, when documenting your
1139 If you follow the standards that are followed between Squirrelmail core &
1140 plugin developers, the resulted documentation can be included with the rest of
1141 the Squirrelmail code & API documentation. Specifically, in the page-level
1142 docblock, declare the package to be 'plugins', and the subpackage to be the
1143 name of your plugin. For instance:
1148 * Copyright (c) 2003 My Name <my-email-address>
1149 * Licensed under the GNU GPL. For full terms see the file COPYING.
1155 The rest is up to you. Try to follow some common sense and document what is
1156 really needed. Documenting the code properly can be a big help not only to
1157 yourself, but to those who will take a look at your code, fix the bugs and even
1158 improve it, in the true open-source spirit that Squirrelmail was built upon.
1160 For more information about phpdocumentor and how to write proper-tagged
1161 comments, you are directed at:
1163 http://phpdocu.sourceforge.net/
1167 PLUGIN STANDARDS AND REQUIREMENTS
1168 =================================
1170 The SquirrelMail project has some important goals, such as avoiding the
1171 use of JavaScript, avoiding non-standard HTML tags, keeping file sizes
1172 small and providing the fastest webmail client on the Internet. As such,
1173 we'd like it if plugin authors coded with the same goals in mind that the
1174 core developers do. Common sense is always a good tool to have in your
1175 programming repertoire, but below is an outline of some standards that we
1176 ask you as a plugin developer to meet. Depending upon how far you bend
1177 these rules, we may not want to post your plugin on the SquirrelMail
1178 website... and of course, no one really wants your efforts to go to waste
1179 and for the SquirrelMail community to miss out on a potentially useful
1180 plugin, so please try to follow these guidelines as closely as possible.
1186 In order for SquirrelMail to remain fast and lean, we are now asking
1187 that all plugin authors remove all unnecessary functionality from setup.php
1188 and refactor it into another file. There are a few ways to accomplish
1189 this, none of which are difficult. At a minimum, you'll want to have the
1190 squirrelmail_plugin_init_<plugin name>() function in setup.php, and naturally,
1191 you'll need functions that are merely stubs for each hook that you are using.
1192 One (but not the only) way to do it is:
1194 function squirrelmail_plugin_init_demo()
1196 global $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks;
1197 $squirrelmail_plugin_hooks['generic_header']['demo'] = 'plugin_demo_header';
1199 function plugin_demo_header()
1201 include_once(SM_PATH . 'plugins/demo/functions.php');
1202 plugin_demo_header_do();
1206 Internationalization
1207 --------------------
1209 Q: What is more disappointing to users in France who would make good
1210 use of your plugin than learning that it is written entirely in English?
1211 A: Learning that they cannot send you a French translation file for your
1214 There are thousands of users out there whose native tongue is not English,
1215 and when you develop your plugin without going through the three simple steps
1216 needed to internationalize it, you are effectively writing them all off.
1217 PLEASE consider internationalizing your plugin!
1220 Developing with E_ALL
1221 ---------------------
1223 When you are developing your plugin, you should always have error reporting
1224 turned all the way up. You can do this by changing two settings in your
1225 php.ini and restarting your web server:
1228 error_reporting = E_ALL
1230 This way, you'll be sure to see all Notices, Warnings and Errors that your
1231 code generates (it's OK, really, it happens to the best of us... except me!).
1232 Please make sure to fix them all before you release the plugin.
1235 Compatibility with register_globals=Off
1236 ---------------------------------------
1238 Most sensible systems administrators now run their PHP systems with the
1239 setting "register_globals" as OFF. This is a prudent security setting,
1240 and as the SquirrelMail core code has long since been upgraded to work
1241 in such an environment, we are now requiring that all plugins do the same.
1242 Compatibility with this setting amounts to little more than explicitly
1243 gathering any and all variables you sent from a <form> tag as GET or POST
1244 values instead of just assuming that they will be placed in the global
1245 scope automatically. There is nothing more to do than this:
1247 global $favorite_color;
1248 sqgetGlobalVar('favorite_color', $favorite_color, SQ_FORM);
1254 It may seem innocuous, but if you have any blank lines either before the
1255 first <?php tag or after the last ?> tag in any of your plugin files, you
1256 you will break SquirrelMail in ways that may seem entirely unrelated. For
1257 instance, this will often cause a line feed character to be included with
1258 email attachments when they are viewed or downloaded, rendering them useless!
1264 When including files, please make sure to use the include_once() function
1265 and NOT include(), require(), or require_once(), since these all are much
1266 less efficient than include_once() and can have a cumulative effect on
1267 SquirrelMail performance.
1273 In order for systems administrators to keep better track of your plugin and
1274 get upgrades more efficiently, you are requested to make version information
1275 available to SquirrelMail in a format that it understands. There are two
1276 ways to do this. Presently, we are asking that you do both, since we are
1277 still in a transition period between the two. This is painless, so please
1278 be sure to include it:
1280 1. Create a file called "version" in the plugin directory. That file
1281 should have only two lines: the first line should have the name of
1282 the plugin as named on the SquirrelMail web site (this is often a
1283 prettified version of the plugin directory name), the second line
1284 must have the version and nothing more. So for our "demo" plugin,
1285 whose name on the web site might be something like "Demo Favorite
1286 Colors", the file plugins/demo/version should have these two lines:
1288 Demo Favorite Colors
1291 2. In setup.php, you should have a function called <plugin name>_version().
1292 That function should return the version of your plugin. For the "demo"
1293 plugin, that should look like this:
1295 function demo_version()
1304 It is common to need a configuration file that holds some variables that
1305 are set up at install time. For ease of installation and maintenance, you
1306 should place all behavioral settings in a config file, isolated from the
1307 rest of your plugin code. A typical file name to use is "config.php". If
1308 you are using such a file, you should NOT include a file called "config.php"
1309 in your plugin distribution, but instead a copy of that file called
1310 "config.php.sample". This helps systems administrators avoid overwriting
1311 the "config.php" files and losing all of their setup information when they
1312 upgrade your plugin.
1318 In the past, there have been some rather serious issues with PHP sessions
1319 and SquirrelMail, and certain people have worked long and hard to ensure
1320 that these problems no longer occur in an extremely wide variety of OS/PHP/
1321 web server environments. Thus, if you need to place any values into the
1322 user's session, there are some built-in SquirrelMail functions that you are
1323 strongly encouraged to make use of. Using them also makes your job easier.
1325 1. To place a variable into the session:
1327 global $favorite_color;
1328 $favoriteColor = 'green';
1329 sqsession_register($favorite_color, 'favorite_color');
1331 Strictly speaking, globalizing the variable shouldn't be necessary,
1332 but certain versions of PHP seem to behave more predictably if you do.
1334 2. To retrieve a variable from the session:
1336 global $favorite_color;
1337 sqgetGlobalVar('favorite_color', $favorite_color, SQ_SESSION);
1339 3. You can also check for the presence of a variable in the session:
1341 if (sqsession_is_registered('favorite_color'))
1342 // do something important
1344 4. To remove a variable from the session:
1346 global $favorite_color;
1347 sqsession_unregister('favorite_color');
1349 Strictly speaking, globalizing the variable shouldn't be necessary,
1350 but certain versions of PHP seem to behave more predictably if you do.
1356 You are also encouraged to use SquirrelMail's built-in facilities to
1357 retrieve variables from POST and GET submissions. This is also much
1358 easier on you and makes sure that all PHP installations are accounted
1359 for (such as those that don't make the $_POST array automatically
1362 global $favorite_color;
1363 sqgetGlobalVar('favorite_color', $favorite_color, SQ_FORM);
1366 Files In Plugin Directory
1367 -------------------------
1369 There are a few files that you should make sure to include when you build
1370 your final plugin distribution:
1372 1. A copy of the file index.php from the main plugins directory. When
1373 working in your plugin directory, just copy it in like this:
1377 This will redirect anyone who tries to browse to your plugin directory
1378 to somewhere more appropriate. If you create other directories under
1379 your plugin directory, you may copy the file there as well to be extra
1380 safe. If you are storing sensitive configuration files or other data
1381 in such a directory, you could even include a .htaccess file with the
1382 contents "Deny From All" that will disallow access to that directory
1383 entirely (when the target system is running the Apache web server).
1384 Keep in mind that not all web servers will honor an .htaccess file, so
1385 don't depend on it for security. Make sure not to put such a file in
1386 your main plugin directory!
1388 2. A file that describes your plugin and offers detailed instructions for
1389 configuration or help with troubleshooting, etc. This file is usually
1390 entitled "README". Some useful sections to include might be:
1392 Plugin Name and Author
1395 Detailed Plugin Description
1396 How-to for Plugin Configuration
1398 Future Ideas/Enhancements/To Do List
1400 3. A file that explains how to install your plugin. This file is typically
1401 called "INSTALL". If you do not require any special installation
1402 actions, you can probably copy one from another plugin or use this as
1405 Installing the Demo Plugin
1406 ==========================
1408 1) Start with untaring the file into the plugins directory.
1409 Here is a example for the 1.0 version of the Demo plugin.
1412 $ tar -zxvf demo-1.0-1.4.0.tar.gz
1414 2) Change into the demo directory, copy config.php.sample
1415 to config.php and edit config.php, making adjustments as
1416 you deem necessary. For more detailed explanations about
1417 each of these parameters, consult the README file.
1420 $ cp config.php.sample config.php
1424 3) Then go to your config directory and run conf.pl. Choose
1425 option 8 and move the plugin from the "Available Plugins"
1426 category to the "Installed Plugins" category. Save and exit.
1432 Upgrading the Demo Plugin
1433 =========================
1435 1) Start with untaring the file into the plugins directory.
1436 Here is a example for the 3.1 version of the demo plugin.
1439 $ tar -zxvf demo-3.1-1.4.0.tar.gz
1442 2) Change into the demo directory, check your config.php
1443 file against the new version, to see if there are any new
1444 settings that you must add to your config.php file.
1446 $ diff -Nau config.php config.php.sample
1448 Or simply replace your config.php file with the provided sample
1449 and reconfigure the plugin from scratch (see step 2 under the
1450 installation procedure above).
1453 COMPATIBILITY WITH OLDER VERSIONS OF SQUIRRELMAIL
1454 =================================================
1456 Whenever new versions of SquirrelMail are released, there is always a
1457 considerable lag time before it is widely adopted. During that transitional
1458 time, especially when the new SquirrelMail version contains any architectural
1459 and/or functional changes, plugin developers are put in a unique and very
1460 difficult position. That is, there will be people running both the old and
1461 new versions of SquirrelMail who want to use your plugin, and you will
1462 probably want to accomodate them both.
1464 The easiest way to keep both sides happy is to keep two different versions
1465 of your pluign up to date, one that runs under the older SquirrelMail, and
1466 one that requires the newest SquirrelMail. This is inconvenient, however,
1467 especially if you are continuing to develop the plugin. Depending on the
1468 changes the SquirrelMail has implemented in the new version, you may be able
1469 to include code that can auto-sense SquirrelMail version and make adjustments
1470 on the fly. There is a function available to you for determining the
1471 SquirrelMail version called check_sm_version() and it can be used as such:
1473 check_sm_version(1, 4, 0)
1475 This will return TRUE if the SquirrelMail being used is at least 1.4.0, and
1478 As this document is written, we are in a transition period between versions
1479 1.2.11 and 1.4.0. There is a plugin called "Compatibilty" that is intended
1480 for use by plugin authors so they can develop one version of their plugin
1481 and seamlessly support both 1.2.x and 1.4.x SquirrelMail installations. For
1482 more information about how to use the "Compatibility" plugin, download it and
1483 read its README file or see:
1485 http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/wiki.php?PluginUpgrading
1488 REQUESTING NEW HOOKS
1489 ====================
1491 It's impossible to foresee all of the places where hooks might be useful
1492 (it's also impossible to put in hooks everywhere!), so you might need to
1493 negotiate the insertion of a new hook to make your plugin work. In order
1494 to do so, you should post such a request to the squirrelmail-devel mailing
1498 HOW TO RELEASE YOUR PLUGIN
1499 ==========================
1501 As long as you've consulted the list of plugin standards and done your
1502 best to follow them, there's little standing in the way of great fame as an
1503 official SquirrelMail plugin developer.
1505 1. Make a distribution file. There is a convenient Perl script in
1506 the plugins directory that will help you do this:
1508 make_archive.pl -v demo 1.0 1.4.0
1510 -v is optional and indicates that the script should run in verbose mode
1511 demo is the name of your plugin
1512 1.0 is the version of your plugin
1513 1.4.0 is the version of SquirrelMail that is required to run your plugin
1515 You can also create the distribution file manually in most *nix
1516 environments by running this command from the plugins directory (NOT
1517 your plugin directory):
1519 $ tar czvf demo-1.0-1.4.0.tar.gz demo
1521 Where "demo" is the name of your plugin, "1.0" is the version of
1522 your plugin, and "1.4.0" is the version of SquirrelMail required
1525 2. Consult the SquirrelMail web site for contact information for the
1526 Plugins Team Leaders, to whom you should make your request. If they
1527 do not respond, you should feel free to ask for help contacting them
1528 on the squirrelmail-plugins mailing list.
1530 http://www.squirrelmail.org/wiki/wiki.php?SquirrelMailLeadership