Questions About Plugins

[Former Member]

Just wondering if you have edited any plugins and what changes you made or features added?

I like the NPC plugin, but just noticed that you can edit it in the build section of the plugins settings.

Also, is the ProBoards library section the only resource for plugins? I wish there were more.

[Peter]

Aug 27, 2017 6:14:29 GMT -8 @alianaliliiharosi said:

Just wondering if you have edited any plugins and what changes you made or features added?

I like the NPC plugin, but just noticed that you can edit it in the build section of the plugins settings.

Also, is the ProBoards library section the only resource for plugins? I wish there were more.

A lot of plugins are left open, and if they aren't, they are usually open source. All mine are on GitHub, so you can easily grab them and modify them.

github.com/PopThosePringles?tab=repositories

Some plugins don't make it into the library. A lot of those are ones that are done in the request board. I usually don't submit any plugins I do as requests to the library, mainly because I rush them out for the person requesting it, but I always put the source up on GitHub. There are quite a few done by other coders here that are really good but lost in the request board.

Edit:  Should also point out that some plugins in the plugin board aren't in the library as well.

[Former Member]

Aug 27, 2017 8:18:38 GMT -8 Peter said:

Aug 27, 2017 6:14:29 GMT -8 @alianaliliiharosi said:

Just wondering if you have edited any plugins and what changes you made or features added?

I like the NPC plugin, but just noticed that you can edit it in the build section of the plugins settings.

Also, is the ProBoards library section the only resource for plugins? I wish there were more.

A lot of plugins are left open, and if they aren't, they are usually open source. All mine are on GitHub, so you can easily grab them and modify them.

github.com/PopThosePringles?tab=repositories

Some plugins don't make it into the library. A lot of those are ones that are done in the request board. I usually don't submit any plugins I do as requests to the library, mainly because I rush them out for the person requesting it, but I always put the source up on GitHub. There are quite a few done by other coders here that are really good but lost in the request board.

Edit:  Should also point out that some plugins in the plugin board aren't in the library as well.

Ah, okay. Thanks for clearing that up!

[Kami]

I've edited a few, but the problem with that is most plugin creators won't support plugins if you've made modifications to the build -- so if you screw it up, you're frequently on your own to either fix it, get it fixed, or are forced to redownload the original. For me, it's just easier to ask the plugin creator to make a modification, if possible, or ask for a new plugin entirely if my modifications are extensive.

I think there are several resource sites as well that have plugins that don't make it into the library, but there's always a risk with that. PB Library plugins have been vetted by the PB Staff to ensure that there aren't any security issues or externally linked content that could break a forum in the event the host were unavailable, so getting plugins from outside that will be a grab bag of reliability. Of course, there are reputable coders that wouldn't do something like that, but obviously not everyone is reputable.

[Peter]

Aug 27, 2017 9:00:04 GMT -8 Kami said:

externally linked content that could break a forum in the event the host were unavailable

Yootil broke a load of sites doing that

[Kami]

Aug 27, 2017 9:02:53 GMT -8 Peter said:

Aug 27, 2017 9:00:04 GMT -8 Kami said:

externally linked content that could break a forum in the event the host were unavailable

Yootil broke a load of sites doing that :o

:o how did you wind up fixing it

[Peter]

Aug 27, 2017 9:11:24 GMT -8 Kami said:

Aug 27, 2017 9:02:53 GMT -8 Peter said:

Yootil broke a load of sites doing that

how did you wind up fixing it

Martyn had to write something to filter out the remote file due to my host going down.  It caused the page to hang.  Easy fix in the end, just a bit of inconvenience.

At the time Yootil was getting updated so often that I kept the JS remotely linked.  My plan was to always compress it and throw it into the plugin, but I kept putting it off as I kept coming up with features for it.  Eventually my host went down and due to how many forums had it installed, it caused lots of problems.