jimisaacs

<p>In addition to adding numerous extremely useful widgets for developers and users alike, this plugin is a system written on a PHP 5 object oriented structure. In short, it is built for modification and extension. It wraps the WordPress Widget API to allow for an alternative, and in my opinion more robust method to hook into and use it. Widgets are WordPress’s version of user interface modules. They already support an administrative and client-side view. This system simply leverages that with a higher potential in mind.</p>
<p>This plugin started as a collection of widgets that I developed over time and used in numerous projects. I eventually merged them into one conglomerate which is now known as the ‘Extensible Widgets’ plugin. Currently I do not have extensive documentation on the plugin functionality and code-base yet.</p>
<p>A Quick summary is that this plugin in its current state is a PHP widget class manager, as well as a collection of useful widget classes that build on each other for extended functionality. When the plugin is first activated, the widget classes included are not registered automatically, and will not appear within your WordPress widgets administration page. To activate your desired widgets you must go to the ‘Extensible Widgets’ Registration page. From there you can read a short description before registering anything.</p>
<p>This plugin also comes with an Export and Import page. You will notice this functionality is very useful in backing up your current data of all your widgets and ‘Extensible Widgets’ settings. I felt this was a major necessity since while using ‘Extensible Widgets’ these little pieces of data suddenly turn into major aspects in the whole of your website. I needed to give an acceptable method of retrieving, backing up, and restoring that data if something bad happens.</p>
<p>A quick summary of the most useful of the widgets included:</p>
<ul>
<li>Widget Group: Use this widget to create a new widget group, as a widget? Yes… this is where it gets interesting.</li>
<li>Query Posts: A Widget than can create and use a sub-query or use the current global query and output the results in a view template.</li>
<li>Context: More basic options that would be good for any widget, but this widget is specifically used for controlling where widgets appear.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Widgets</h3>
<p>These are the widgets that come with this plugin. No widget here is pre-registered, this is to let you register them as needed. Each widgets builds on another’s functionality, and you may view the hierarchy from within the ‘Extensible Widgets’ registration page.</p>
<h4>Widget Base</h4>
<p>The base for ‘Extensible Widgets’ and not much on its own, it can still serve as a useful dynamic element.</p>
<h4>Context</h4>
<p>More basic options that would be good for any widget, but this widget is specifically used for controlling where widgets appear.</p>
<h4>View</h4>
<p>Use the view template control system and pass custom parameters to display data in any desired format.</p>
<h4>Content</h4>
<p>Use this widget to enter any data (ex: text/HTML/XML/JavaScript) and optionally access it within in a view template.</p>
<h4>Date</h4>
<p>Use this widget to select a view template and handle any arbitrary date.</p>
<h4>Widget Group</h4>
<p>Use this widget to create a new widget group, as a widget? Yes… this is where it gets interesting.</p>
<h4>Query Posts</h4>
<p>A Widget than can create and use a sub-query or use the current global query and output the results in a view template.</p>
<h4>QP Extended</h4>
<p>This is an extended version of the Query Posts widget with a controlled form.</p>
<h4>Twitter</h4>
<p>Use this widget to retrieve statuses from a specified twitter account.</p>


Extensible Widgets

Includes extremely useful widgets for developers and users alike, and is a system written on a PHP 5 object oriented structure.

postpostmodern

<p>Churro is a plugin that allows developers to easily create pages and functionality, in a style similar to CodeIgniter.  By itself, Churro will not add any functionality to your WordPress site.</p>
<p>Tested with WordPress and WordPress MU 2.8.0 ~ 3.0.5<br />
Requires PHP 5.  PHP 4 is like 10 years old, you know?</p>
<h3>Churro Basics</h3>
<p>= URLs =<br />
Churro requires friendly urls rather than query strings.  Your url will usually be mapped as following: <code>yoursite.com/class/method/variables</code></p>
<h4>Controllers</h4>
<p>The controller will be directly mapped to a file and class with the same name.  For example,<br />
        yoursite.com/contact<br />
will look for a file named contact.php in the /churro/ directory.  This file should have a class contact that extends Churro.  Without a defined method, it will default to index.  All methods accessible through URLs will have ‘Action’ appended to it.  The following code will provide scaffolding for <code>yoursite.com/contact</code> and <code>yoursite.com/contact/submit</code></p>
<pre><code><?php
class contact extends Churro {
    public function indexAction(){

    }

    public function submitAction(){

    }
}
</code></pre>
<h4>Models</h4>
<p>Churro gives you access to several important WordPress Models through the <code>$this</code> keyword.  The <code>$wp</code>, <code>$wpdb</code>, and <code>$wp_query</code> classes, as well as <code>$blog_id</code> in MU are all availble without using the global keyword, eg <code>$this->wpdb</code>.</p>
<h4>Views</h4>
<p>Your views belong in your normal theme directory.  If you are using multiple themes, you can override the direcotry using <code>$this->Theme( 'directory-name' )</code> any place in the controller.  To specify a view to use, <code>$this->View( 'file-name' )</code>.  Seperating logic from  views is the most important thing to remember in Churro.  To set varaibles in your view, use <code>$this->vars->var_name</code> in the controller, and <code>$var_name</code> in your view.</p>
<h4>Ajax / Javascript</h4>
<p>If you use the excellent jQuery javascript library, Churro will detect ajax requests and automatically return JSON.  Churro defines a constant <code>ISAJAX</code> on each request.  With a little planning, it is very easy to create a dynamic application in a way that is totally accessible without javascript.</p>
<h3>Learning Churro</h3>
<p>There is much more functionality in Churro than outlined here.  As of September 2, 2009, there is no complete, formal, documentation for writing code with Churro.  Stay tuned to <a href="http://labs.findsubstance.com/" title="The passionate voice for interactive brand strategy and creative experiences" rel="nofollow ugc">Substance Labs</a> for tutorials.</p>


Extensible Widgets vs Churro