Xenforo plugin development

[T3G Silas]

This is a question to not only the developers Kier and Mike, but also the community. I'm also making this thread to help out all others who are currently in the same situation as I am in at this very moment.

How would one, who is currently learning php on their own, go about creating modifications for Xenforo. This question can even be expanded beyond the Xenforo spectrum and applied to any forum software. What advice, resources, tools, and even knowledge would you give to someone as myself. What would you say is most important to know.

I myself am not a coder, I would like to be one and currently taking the steps to reach that goal slowly. I ask for such information to help aid and guide my further studies, and the studies of others.
I look forward to seeing the replies from the Xenforo community, you guys look like a nice smart bunch.

 

[Jake Bunce]

I tried to learn programming by reading books. That didn't work. I had to take programming classes in college. Once you have a grasp on programming concepts then you can learn any language.

It also helps to look at other people's code. Download some addons that other people have made and study how they work.

 

[Jethro]

T3G excellent question mate

There's a few resources up for Xen coding, Lawrence has a good tutorial series happening and apparently along with reading the code to his staff pages you can get started with your own mods.

I'm sort of toying with starting but am waiting on some documentation as to the API and Skin system etc.

 

[T3G Silas]

I tried to learn programming by reading books. That didn't work. I had to take programming classes in college. Once you have a grasp on programming concepts then you can learn any language.

It also helps to look at other people's code. Download some addons that other people have made and study how they work.

I completely agree. I've been doing this, mostly on styles, haven't gotten to toying around with plugins to be honest. This is probably because of my hesitant reaction as to how would I possibly go about figuring what to call and use, ect.

T3G excellent question mate

There's a few resources up for Xen coding, Lawrence has a good tutorial series happening and apparently along with reading the code to his staff pages you can get started with your own mods.

I'm sort of toying with starting but am waiting on some documentation as to the API and Skin system etc.

Thanks for the information Jethro, I'll be sure to check out Lawrence's tutorial.
I as well await some documentation, hopefully it helps me and everyone else out there.

I also honestly did not notice there was a tutorial section, I really refrained from looking through those areas as I have yet to buy a license.
Nevertheless this is still a good way to help others!

Thanks for the fantastic replies.

 

[Kier]

The best documentation is good code. I've not looked at any other add-ons released here so far, but the Post Content Replacement Tool I released earlier today has lots of important little details that should give you some understanding of the XenForo system.