Standalone addon modules

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Common types of plugins

Standalone addon modules

A standalone addon module is a plugin that is almost entirely self contained --- a completely new feature module that doesn't really change or affect any of the existing parts of Pro Edition.

Note: For this section I'll be using ViaStep's Premium Gallery Module as example of a standalone addon module.

Standalone addons typically consist of four parts:

  1. Button on the Main Menu - links to the plugin's management module
  2. Management Module - Where you create/edit stuff, set up the various config options for the plugin, etc. In the photo gallery example, this is where you create and edit your photo galleries, upload new images to use, etc.
  3. Page Editor Object - Draggable icon in the Page Editor that you drag-and-drop onto a site page. These typically have some sort of properties dialog that appears when you drag the object onto a page that prompts you to choose from various options related to exactly what you want to place on this particular page. Using the photo gallery example again: when you drag the "Premium Gallery" object onto a page the properties dialog that appears prompts you to choose which album you want to place on the page and how you want the pictures to be arranged (i.e. number of pics to show per row, whether to place captions above or below pics, etc).
  4. Website Display Element - This what displays on the actual website when you drop your plugin's Page Editor Object onto a site page and save/preview the page. In the photo gallery example, this would be the gallery itself as displayed to visitors on the website. As in, the actual pictures with captions, arranged occording to what site owner specified in the properties dialog when he/she dragged-and-dropped the gallery object on to the site page in the Page Editor.
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