List Of Add-Ons A Newbie Developer Should Study

[TheBigK]

I've decided to teach myself the art and science of XF Addon Development. I now have knowledge of how classes, objects and methods work and can figure out more than 50% of the code. I, however, still lack the confidence to start coding any addon. That is, I simply do not know where to start.

I've followed the tutorials and know how they work; but if I were to start coding a similar addon; I lack the confidence to figure out the overall approach and where to begin. I've decided to get recommendations on which are the addons I should follow (starting with the most basic to advanced).

My objective is to be able to code an addon that would let members with permissions live-blog any event.

 

[Naz]

I've decided to teach myself the art and science of XF Addon Development. I now have knowledge of how classes, objects and methods work and can figure out more than 50% of the code. I, however, still lack the confidence to start coding any addon. That is, I simply do not know where to start.

I've followed the tutorials and know how they work; but if I were to start coding a similar addon; I lack the confidence to figure out the overall approach and where to begin. I've decided to get recommendations on which are the addons I should follow (starting with the most basic to advanced).

My objective is to be able to code an addon that would let members with permissions live-blog any event.

I believe one of Kier's demo add-ons for a tutorial was called 'Scratchpad' or something similar. You could look in to how he put that all together and got it to work since it seems like it'd be a pretty good base for the larger goal you're trying to achieve here with the live blogging add-on.

 

[LPH]

If you are not following him then @AndyB is worth the time. He asks great questions and in the past he has published how he puts things together. His code in his add-ons are also worth reading.

Projects usually begin with a need. Since you are constantly improving your site then start with a small add-on to do something small and move from there.

I look forward to seeing your add-ons !

 

[Chris D]

On the contrary, any particular add-on is probably not necessary.

There are some nuances with add-ons, sure. There's a bit of best practice with regards to how certain things should be done, e.g. how to extend certain existing actions or adding new actions to existing controllers.

But in that sense, the XenForo Resource Manager (or indeed any official XF add-on) will teach you that.

The best point of reference for any code you write should simply be XenForo itself.

 

[Paul B]

On the contrary, any particular add-on is probably not necessary.

And potentially damaging if the add-on has been badly coded.

Personally I would check out @Chris D's posts in the development forum - he is always bang on the money when it comes to responding to dev questions.

(You could also download some of his free add-ons, the simpler ones, to get an idea of how to correctly code an add-on.)

 

[Aayush]

XenForo Resource Manager would be great for a beginner. You can learn a lot of things about the style in which XF officially codes its addon and it has a relatively smaller codebase as compared to other good add ons.

Edit: And as said by @Brogan , @Chris D 's add ons which are relatively small and free would be a great place to begin.

 

[TheBigK]

Thank you, everyone! I think I'll pick up smaller addons and see how they work. I'm planning to begin with the 'Unread Post Count' and then head over to the bigger ones.