Should load_plugins() only load plugin_name.php?

[coofercat]

I'm writing a plugin, and have found that any .php files in the plugin directory get loaded (by include()). I realise this is a change to the way Pico loads plugins, but I don't think it should do this. I'd favour only loading one file (probably a .php file with the same name as the plugin, eg. plugins/my_plugin/my_plugin.php). That one file should then do any include() it needs on any other PHP files.

My primary motivation is that I'd like to use an external PHP library to provide me with some functionality in some cases. Having Pico load it for me means it has to be loaded on every page view, which adds to response time and memory requirement unnecessarily. If my plugin can load it when required, then it only affects the page views that need it.

If this idea sounds useful/sensible/helpful, I'll produce a patch/pull request for it (all the fun is in the load_plugins() method, line 115 or so).

[mistergraphx]

i've done this with a plugin.yaml description file im my case only the plugin with this file are loaded.

here is my modified function if it can help :

/**
     * Load plugins
     *
     * a plugin is minimaly described by a name in a plugin.yaml config file
     * and a class/file . name, class and file must be identicals
     *
     * 
     *
     * @todo each web site must load only site.config activated plugins
     */
    protected function load_plugins() {

        $this->plugins = array();

                $yamlFiles = $this->get_files(PLUGINS_DIR, 'plugin.yaml');

                if(!empty($yamlFiles)){
                    foreach($yamlFiles as $file){
                        $plugin =Yaml::parse(file_get_contents($file));
                        $plugin['path'] = str_replace('plugin.yaml','', $file);
                        $php_file = $plugin['path'].$plugin['name'].'.php';

                        include_once($php_file);
                        if(class_exists($plugin['name'])){
                            $obj = new $plugin['name'];
                            $this->plugins[] = $obj;
            }
                    }
                }
    }

Look how many pull-request are waiting , there is an issue about a new maintainer or active team for Pico. Nobody 'll never pull anything ...

[PhrozenByte]

Ideas about how to achieve this in a backwards-compatible manner are appreciated! I though about this with Pico 1.0/#252 too, but didn't found a satisfying solution. Please also note that we don't want to increase complexity (at least not considerable; "stupidly simple").

[PhrozenByte]

We'll very likely implement this with Pico 2.0, see #317.

[PhrozenByte]

This feature will be shipped with Pico 2.0, see 9254240 for implementation details. For feedback about this feature, please refer to #334. Thank you for bringing this up!