Widgets

It is an easy process for plugins to provide widget views for use on a users dashboard or profile.

Contents

Structure

In order to take advantage of Elgg's widget system, you need to create widget edit and view pages which are located in the plugins views.

'Plugin'

  • /views
    • /default
      • /widgets
        • /widgettitle
          • /edit.php
          • /view.php

The view.php is responsible for all the content that will output within the widget. The edit.php file contains any extra edit functions you wish to present to the user. You do not need to add access level as this comes as part of the widget framework.

NOTE: using HTML checkboxes to set widget flags is problematic because if unchecked, the checkbox input is omitted from form submission. The effect is that you can only set and not clear flags. The "input/checkboxes" view will not work properly in a widget's edit panel.

Initialise the widget

Once you have created your edit and view pages, you need to initialise the plugin widget. This is done within the plugins init() function.

add_widget_type('widgettitle',$name_of_widget,$desc_of_widget) - here is an example: 

// Add generic new file widget
    add_widget_type('filerepo',elgg_echo("file:widget"),elgg_echo("file:widget:description"));

Note: it is possible to add multiple widgets for a plugin. You just initialise as many widget directories as you need. 

// Add generic new file widget
    add_widget_type('filerepo',elgg_echo("file:widget"),elgg_echo("file:widget:description"));
// Add a second file widget
    add_widget_type('filerepo2',elgg_echo("file:widget2"),elgg_echo("file:widget:description2"));
// Add a third file widget
    add_widget_type('filerepo3',elgg_echo("file:widget3"),elgg_echo("file:widget:description3"));

Multiple widgets

Make sure you have the corrosponding directories within your plugin views structure:

'Plugin'

  • /views
    • /default
      • /widgets
        • /filerepo
          • /edit.php
          • /view.php
        • /filerepo2
          • /edit.php
          • /view.php
        • /filerepo3
          • /edit.php
          • /view.php

Simple Example

Here is a simple Flickr widget that uses Flickr's JSON output.

Widget edit page: 

<p>
	<?php echo elgg_echo("flickr:id"); ?>
        <input type="text" name="params[title]" value="<?php echo htmlentities($vars['entity']->title); ?>" />	
    </p>
 
    <p><?php echo elgg_echo("flickr:whatisid"); ?></p>

Widget view page: 

<?php
 
    //some required params
    $flickr_id = $vars['entity']->title;
 
    // if the flickr id is empty, then do not show any photos
    if($flickr_id){
 
?>
<!-- this script uses the jquery cycle plugin -->
<script type="text/javascript" src="<?php echo $vars['url']; ?>mod/flickr/views/default/flickr/js/cycle.js"></script>
 
<!-- the Flickr JSON script -->
<script>
    $.getJSON("http://api.flickr.com/services/feeds/photos_public.gne?id=
<?php echo $flickr_id;?>&lang=en-us&format=json&jsoncallback=?", function(data){
        $.each(data.items, function(i,item){
            $("<img/>").attr("src", item.media.m).appendTo("#images")
            .wrap("<a href='" + item.link + "'></a>");
    });
 
    $('#images').cycle({
        fx:     'fade',
        speed:    'slow',
        timeout:  0,
        next:   '#next',
        prev:   '#prev'
    });
 
});
 
</script>
 
<!-- some css for display -->
<style type="text/css">
    #images { 
        height: 180px;
        width: 100%; 
        padding:0; 
        margin:0 0 10px 0; 
        overflow: hidden;
     }
      #images img { 
          border:none;
      }
</style>
 
<!-- div where the images will display -->
<div id="title"></div>
<div id="images" align="center"></div>
 
<!-- next and prev nav -->
<div class="flickrNav" align="center">
    <a id="prev" href="#">&laquo; Prev</a> <a id="next" href="#">Next &raquo;</a>
</div>
 
<?php
 
    }else{
 
        //this should go through elgg_echo() - it was taken out for this demo
        echo "You have not yet entered your Flickr ID which is required to display your photos.";
 
    }
?>
Retrieved from "http://docs.elgg.org/wiki/Widgets"

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