Howto: Create a new custom search plug-in???

[gdunc]

I'm really liking Joomla for my new school website, but, I'm using an external web-based calendar (http://vtcalendar.sourceforge.net/). I'd like for my Joomla search results to include results from my calendar as well.

I've looked at a few of the existing search plug-ins and I THINK I've got a clue as to what is going on, but could use a little more documentation. Is there a source out there which might help me figure out how to do this?

I'll be happy to share whatever I come up with.

[deeman001]

Hi Gdunc,

Here is a link that might help you develop the plugin.  It is a "How To" Tutorial for developing plugins written by the developers of Joomla.  I think it is tailored for J1.5 though, but I am sure there is another tutorial out there for 1.0.x

http://dev.joomla.org/component/option, ... joomla-1.5

What I have found to be helpful, is if I can't find an extension (ie. Plugin) that meets my needs, I will locate an extension that does generally what I am trying to do.  I will then install it and look at the code behind to figure out how it is doing what it's doing.  I have even modified existing plugins, and components to do what I want them to do.  This method really saves you development time.

I hope this helps. 

[gdunc]

Thanks Deeman, that should get me started. I'd already started down the road of looking at the weblinks search plug-in. I'll try to mod that one the best I can.

Just adding the new php and xml file installs the plug-in? No additions to the database or secret chants or anything? This could be easier than I thought. 

[ianmac]

yes...  they are pretty simple...  Just write a function that takes the correct parameters and return an array of objects with the search results.

Ian