And now, for something completely different. Plugin that can be used to create plugins!

Well, I am almost 100% sure that this is one of a kind plugin, and so far I am unaware of any other similar attempt: to created one base (core) class that implements all the standard code needed for a plugin to work. To use this class, extend it, set parameters through constructor, and just concentrate on writing the actual code for the plugin features. Code is tested onlyt with WordPress 2.5 and WordPress 2.6 and older WP versions will not be suported.

Add to that Wizard that can be used to create skeleton for a plugin. Set a bunch of different parameters that describe plugin features, and in a wizard folder (must have write rights) you get folder for the plugin with all needed files, and all the necessary code for start. Such plugin can be activated in WordPress and it will work immediately. Are you intrigued? Keep reading…

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For some time now Forum is active, and there is sub forum for each of the plugins. Here are direct links:

GD Star Rating
GD Plugin Core
GD Pages Navigator
GD LinkedId Badge

Here you can post bug reports, suggestions and feature request for each of these plugins. Also, release of each version will be announced in these forums. It’s best to keep all these in one place, instead of using post comments on this blog. I will update the missing contents with archive links in the next few days.

I will visit forums at least once a day, and I will try to respond as soon with progress reports on bugs and everything else. Also, you need to register to post there, annonymous posting is not allowed.

Well, new version is now available. This one has some important bugs fixed including the bug that allow duplicate posting with page refresh after voting. Stars can now be GIF or JPG. There is a problem with older IE (5.5 and 6.0) that can’t render transparent PNG’s. So, you can create stars in GIF with regular 1bit transparency. I have included one stars style with GIFs.

Most important new feature is shortcode support that will alow you to add ratings table into your posts. Also, there is a tinymce button that can help you generate shortcode using simple popup form like any other tinymce plugin. Generated table uses default CSS style, but you can change this to any style you want. CSS template for this table is included and you can either change this file or create another one similar.

Next version will have working widget and user guide. Translation support is also still in works.

Thanx for all suggestions and bug reports, and as always don’t hesitate to ask for a feature. I will see what I can add in the future releases. And again, plugin is still in development phase, so there are still errors. Please report any error you find.

There is one more problem with multiple votes, but this one is not that offten and is caused by slow response from server. This will be fixed with next version.

I have decided to play a little with multilanguage wordpress support, and for starters I added multi language support for GD LinkedIn Badge widget plugin. There is a problem with WP_PLUGIN_DIR constant in WordPress 2.6, so I decided against using it to load domain file for translations.

Also, GD Star Rating plugin is updated again. Development on this one is going very well, and I expect to complete most of the planned features very soon. For now, I have made a lot of reorganizations, and added new stars. Statistics page is updated and improved. Controls for the plugin are changed a bit, and now you can see preview of the real size of the stars on different background. From now on, only PNG images will be used for stars, and every style will be in four different sizes.

By the end of the week, GD Pages Navigator will also going to get multilanguage support, and GD Star Rating will be updated with a lot of new features.