Information about how to how to create your own plugin for WebTrack

First of all you need to have atleast version 3.5.11 of WebTrack.
Then create a new folder in the plugins folder (the plugins folder can be changed on the "update" page, but default is "plugins" in the root of the WebTrack folder). This new folder in the "plugins" folder will be the name of your plugin and act as the replace tag. If your plugin is called "showstars". Your "replace tag" that you will have to add in the (body) templates will be {PLUGIN_SHOWSTARS}.

Then you need at least two files in your folder. One called "data.txt" and a nother one called "index.php".

Lets start with the data.txt file.
This should be a normal text file. In this file you will add the fields of the data that you want WebTrack to send to your plugin. Start a line with "data=" (you can write anything else in this file starting each line with # and as long as you dont write "data=" anywhere else ofcourse). Then add a number between 0-4 (this is the access needed of the user to "see" the plugin result). If you enter 0 (zero) here all users at all times will see the plugin result. Anything else (1-4) will limit the result. If the user don't have enough access the plugin will only give empty data back (basically your plugin-tag will be replaced with nothing). You can see the different levels on the user management page.

To separate the fields ALWAYS use two pipes ( || ).

Here is a list of available data fields with a shot description below. The order of the fields in your data.txt file does not matter. Remeber some data fields are not "title" specific.

Here is an example for you:
data=3||imdbrating||name||year
As you can see, the user have to have access 3 at least and the fields I want are "imdbrating", "name" and "year".
Thats it. :) Save the file in your plugin directory.

Now to the index.php file.
This file is a normal PHP file. This is the file that WebTrack will execute when the plugin is called. As simple as that. :)
Of course, if you want to retrieve the data that you ordered in your data.txt file (remember?) you need to know how. All the data is stored in a session variable named after your plugin. So again if your plugin directory was called “showstars”, your session variable will be “$_SESSION[“showstars”]”. This session variable will be a string containing your data..

This is a simple code example to retrieve the data and put it in to an array. :)

<?php
// Collects the plugin data from the session.
if (isset($_SESSION["showstars"])) {
$data = $_SESSION["showstars"];
$plugindata = explode("||", $data);
} else {
$plugindata = false;
}
//Your code here!
print_r($plugindata); // Prints out your plugin data (just remove this row when you start playing).
?>

Your data in the session variable will look something like this for each title:
$_SESSION[“showstars”] = 3||9.7/10||The Matrix||1999

Now all you have to do is start creating.
Remeber to keep all your files needed for your plugin inside your plugin folder (and under folders) to simplify installation for others. Also if you want to share your plugin it's good to have some kind of documentation of course. Just make a text file with some simple information about your plugin and how to install it.

It is generally a very good idea to document in your code, mostly for your self to be able to go back and understand how things work.
I have a “start package” for plugin creation that you can find here. :)
This “start pack” contains the basic files for creating a plugin.

Hmm... This is my first time making a API (I don't even know if it can be called a API?). :)