Plugins

Some plugins carry parameters: an API key, a display name, a limit, a switch. Parameters belong to that one plugin and affect nothing else.

Most of the time you are here because something outside the hub needs telling apart from the hub: the client ID and secret an identity provider issued, the key a spam service gave you, the name a sign-in button should show. A hub whose plugins are all doing what they should never needs this screen.

This chapter covers the parameters. Turning a plugin on and off, setting its access level, and changing the order plugins run in are covered in Plug-in Manager — the same screen, the other half of the job.

What this is not

It is not where plugins are installed or removed; they arrive and leave with the code. And a plugin's parameters are not a substitute for its Status: a plugin with a perfectly filled-in API key does nothing at all while it is disabled.

Opening a plugin's parameters

1. Sign in to the administrator interface.
2. Choose Extensions > Plug-in Manager.
3. Narrow the list with the - Select Type - drop-down, which filters by plugin group, and the search box, which matches the plugin's title.
4. Select the plugin's name.
5. Find the collapsible panels on the right of the edit screen: Basic Options, and Advanced Options if the plugin declares any.
6. Change what you need and select Save or Save & Close. Changes take effect immediately.

Parameters take effect on the next request, everywhere, for everyone. That is harmless for a display name or a limit and worth pausing over for anything that gates access — an authentication plugin's Auto approve new users, say, or a limit that decides how many failed sign-ins block an account. If you are changing a plugin that stands between a member and the hub, keep a second signed-in administrator session open while you do it.

The list screen

Filters: a search box, - Select Status -, - Select Type -, and - Select Access -. Columns: Plug-in Name, Status, Ordering, Type, Element, Access, and ID. A plugin whose files are missing is flagged under its name with "Plugin file(s) not found!".

The toolbar offers Edit, Enable, Disable, Check In, Options, and Help, each subject to your permissions. There is no New and no Delete: plugins arrive and leave through the Extension Manager, and the Plug-in Manager only turns them on and off and configures them.

The edit screen

Details holds the three settings you can change: Status, Access, and Ordering. Beside it is a read-only table: Plug-in Name, ID, Plug-in Type — the group the plugin belongs to, such as authentication or members — Plug-in File, Description, and who last modified it. Those describe where the plugin lives on disk and come from its manifest.

The toolbar has Save, Save & Close, Close, and Help.

Every plugin's parameters are listed by group in the generated configuration reference.

Older screenshots