[Developer]

How to make a plugin:

I have an addition to this tutorial:

vbulletin_plugins.xml
If you need to tell your users to add a lot of plugins, this will become tedious as much copy/pasting is required. A simpler way would be to use the .xml import. It works just like the importing of templates and phrases, by adding the contained code as a Plugin.
The correct format for a plugin.xml file is like so (thanks to Live Wire):
Code:

PHP Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<plugins>
    <plugin active="1">
        <title>vB Category Icons</title>
        <hookname>forumdata_start</hookname>
        <phpcode><![CDATA[$this->validfields['forumhomeicon'] = array(TYPE_STR, REQ_NO);]]></phpcode>
    </plugin>
</plugins>

Explanations:
<plugin active="1"> - The 'active' attribute determines the default value of 'Plugin is Active' in the Plugin Manager.
<title></title> - Self explanatory, it is the 'Title' field in the Manager.
<hookname></hookname> - The 'Hook Location' you would select.
<phpcode><![CDATA[ ]]></phpcode> - Anything added in the space between these is added to the 'Plugin PHP Code' part.


// end my contribution (if this is being merged into the first post, nothing below this is to be included)

And just for all you lazy people out there, here is an empty set, ready for copypasting into a blank xml file (only the <?xml and <plugins> tags need to be there already):
Code:

PHP Code:

<plugin active="1">
        <title></title>
        <hookname></hookname>
        <phpcode><![CDATA[]]></phpcode>
    </plugin>


I hope this helps hack writers that want to minimise the hassle for the end-user