Additional Plugin Functionality

There are several additional plugin functionalities that may prove useful:

• Plugin Settings: Plugins can store and retrieve settings with a mechanism similar to Journal Settings. Use the Plugin class’s getSetting and updateSetting functions.
• Templates: Any plugin can keep templates in its plugin directory and display them by calling:

$templateMgr->display($this->getTemplatePath() . 'templateName.tpl');

See the native import/export plugin for an example.

• Schema Management: By overriding getInstallSchemaFile() and placing the named schema file in the plugin directory, generic plugins can make use of OJS’s schema-management features. This function is called on OJS install or upgrade.
• Data Management: By overriding getInstallDataFile() and placing the named data file in the plugin directory, generic plugins can make use of OJS’s data installation feature. This function is called on OJS install or upgrade.
• Helper Code: Helper code in the plugin’s directory can be imported using

$this->import('HelperCode'); // imports HelperCode.inc.php