Registering gateway plugin against template hooks

[mj]

Hi Alec,

Figured I'd post this here so others can learn from it. I'm trying to register a plugin (in the gateway class) against the template display hook you mentioned (TemplateManager::display in classes/template/TemplateManager.inc.php). Specifically, I'm trying to get access to the $additionalHeadData variable when the plugin is registered (to append it with atom/rss feed info).

I'm trying:

Code: Select all

function register($category, $path) {
      $success = parent::register($category, $path);
      if ($success) {
         HookRegistry::register('TemplateManager::display',array(&$this, 'writeMeta'));
         $this->addLocaleData();
         return true;
      }
      return false;
}


But this doesn't seem to be hitting the callback function (writeMeta). I'm sure I'm doing something trivially wrong, but I can't seem to figure it out. Have you got an example of using the hook to do this?

Thanks,
MJ

[asmecher]

Hi MJ,

The problem here is probably the scoping of each plugin. Plugin categories are loaded depending on what part of OJS the user is viewing. I expect we'll be refining this somewhat in the future, but as of OJS 2.1.0-1, here are the plugin categories and their scopes:

• generic: Loaded on every request.
• auth: Loaded whenever user authentication functions are requested.
• importexport: Loaded whenever the Journal Manager requests import/export functions; also loaded by the importexport command-line tool.
• gateways: Loaded whenever http://.../index.php/journalName/gateway/... is requested

Additionally, all plugins are loaded on requests to the Journal Manager's "System Plugins" management area.

The lowest common denominator here is the "generic" category, which is always loaded.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Open Journal Systems Team

[mj]

The problem here is probably the scoping of each plugin. Plugin categories are loaded depending on what part of OJS the user is viewing. I expect we'll be refining this somewhat in the future

I think you're right - the challenge with the feed plugin in particular is that it falls somewhere between a gateway and generic plugin (as Alf originally wrote it). I'll try moving it back to generic and working there - can you just comment on my syntax above to access the $additionalHeadData variable? The TemplateManager in particular is a bit confusing.

My suspicion would be that, if/once we move to a "blocks" framework for dynamic templates, plugins could be bundled with a block to modify display relevant to the plugin, rather than doing it in the plugin itself. Marginally more complicated to install, but far more elegant.

MJ

[mj]

I've been able to implement this as two plugins:

1 (generic) which writes out the appropriate feed headers on the appropriate pages
1 (gateway) which provides the feed functions (atom, rss) for aggregators

This seems like an overly complex way to do it - the alternatives being:

a) omit the generic plugin and edit /templates/common/header.tpl manually (which is also inelegeant if templates change in a newer version).
b) fidn some way to imlpement the feed functions within the generic plugin, although this brings up a path issue (how to call a feed function on a generic plugin by url?)

Am I right in guessing that this is the "only" way to do it, since gateway plugins can't register against TemplateManager hooks?

MJ

[asmecher]

Hi MJ,

In this case, you might be able to go with a purely "generic" plugin. These are able to step in before any execution is delegated and respond to a custom URL by registering against the LoadHandler hook (see the main index.php script). This should only be used when nothing else is available, as it does incur a slight amount of overhead on every request.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Open Journal Systems Team