Friendica Addon development

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Please see the sample addon 'randplace' for a working example of using some of these features. Addons work by intercepting event hooks - which must be registered. Modules work by intercepting specific page requests (by URL path).

Addon names are used in file paths and functions names, and as such:

Can't contain spaces or punctuation.
Can't start with a number.

You can provide human-readable information about your addon in the first multi-line comment of your addon file.

Here's the structure:

/**
 * Name: {Human-readable name}
 * Description: {Short description}
 * Version: 1.0
 * Author: {Author1 Name}
 * Author: {Author2 Name} <{Author profile link}>
 * Maintainer: {Maintainer1 Name}
 * Maintainer: {Maintainer2 Name} <{Maintainer profile link}>
 * Status: {Unsupported|Arbitrary status}
 */

You can also provide a longer documentation in a README or README.md file. The latter will be converted from Markdown to HTML in the addon detail page.

If your addon uses hooks, they have to be registered in a <addon>_install() function. This function also allows to perform arbitrary actions your addon needs to function properly.

Uninstalling an addon automatically unregisters any hook it registered, but if you need to provide specific uninstallation steps, you can add them in a <addon>_uninstall() function.

The install and uninstall functions will be called (i.e. re-installed) if the addon changes after installation. Therefore your uninstall should not destroy data and install should consider that data may already exist. Future extensions may provide for "setup" amd "remove".

Register your addon hooks during installation.

\Friendica\Core\Hook::register($hookname, $file, $function);

$hookname is a string and corresponds to a known Friendica PHP hook.

$file is a pathname relative to the top-level Friendica directory. This should be 'addon/addon_name/addon_name.php' in most cases and can be shortened to __FILE__.

$function is a string and is the name of the function which will be executed when the hook is called.

Your hook callback functions will be called with at least one and possibly two arguments

function <addon>_<hookname>(App $a, &$b) {

}

If you wish to make changes to the calling data, you must declare them as reference variables (with &) during function declaration.

$a

$a is the Friendica App class. It contains a wealth of information about the current state of Friendica:

which module has been called,
configuration information,
the page contents at the point the hook was invoked,
profile and user information, etc.

It is recommeded you call this $a to match its usage elsewhere.

$b

$b can be called anything you like. This is information specific to the hook currently being processed, and generally contains information that is being immediately processed or acted on that you can use, display, or alter. Remember to declare it with & if you wish to alter it.

Your addon can provide user-specific settings via the addon_settings PHP hook, but it can also provide node-wide settings in the administration page of your addon.

Simply declare a <addon>_addon_admin(App $a) function to display the form and a <addon>_addon_admin_post(App $a) function to process the data from the form.

If your addon requires adding a stylesheet on all pages of Friendica, add the following hook:

function <addon>_install()
{
	\Friendica\Core\Hook::register('head', __FILE__, '<addon>_head');
	...
}
 
 
function <addon>_head(App $a)
{
	\Friendica\DI::page()->registerStylesheet(__DIR__ . '/relative/path/to/addon/stylesheet.css');
}

__DIR__ is the folder path of your addon.

If your addon requires adding a script on all pages of Friendica, add the following hook:

function <addon>_install()
{
	\Friendica\Core\Hook::register('footer', __FILE__, '<addon>_footer');
	...
}
 
function <addon>_footer(App $a)
{
	\Friendica\DI::page()->registerFooterScript(__DIR__ . '/relative/path/to/addon/script.js');
}

__DIR__ is the folder path of your addon.

The main Friendica script provides hooks via events dispatched on the document property. In your Javascript file included as described above, add your event listener like this:

document.addEventListener(name, callback);

name is the name of the hook and corresponds to a known Friendica JavaScript hook.
callback is a JavaScript anonymous function to execute.

More info about Javascript event listeners: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/EventTarget/addEventListener

Current JavaScript hooks

postprocess_liveupdate

Called at the end of the live update process (XmlHttpRequest) and on a post preview. No additional data is provided.

Addons may also act as "modules" and intercept all page requests for a given URL path. In order for a addon to act as a module it needs to declare an empty function <addon>_module().

If this function exists, you will now receive all page requests for https://my.web.site/<addon> - with any number of URL components as additional arguments. These are parsed into an array $a->argv, with a corresponding $a->argc indicating the number of URL components. So https://my.web.site/addon/arg1/arg2 would look for a module named "addon" and pass its module functions the $a App structure (which is available to many components). This will include:

$a->argc = 3
$a->argv = array(0 => 'addon', 1 => 'arg1', 2 => 'arg2');

To display a module page, you need to declare the function <addon>_content(App $a), which defines and returns the page body content. They may also contain <addon>_post(App $a) which is called before the <addon>_content function and typically handles the results of POST forms. You may also have <addon>_init(App $a) which is called before <addon>_content and should include common logic to your module.

If your addon needs some template, you can use the Friendica template system. Friendica uses smarty3 as a template engine.

Put your tpl files in the templates/ subfolder of your addon.

In your code, like in the function addon_name_content(), load the template file and execute it passing needed values:

use Friendica\Core\Renderer;
 
# load template file. first argument is the template name,
# second is the addon path relative to friendica top folder
$tpl = Renderer::getMarkupTemplate('mytemplate.tpl', __DIR__);
 
# apply template. first argument is the loaded template,
# second an array of 'name' => 'values' to pass to template
$output = Renderer::replaceMacros($tpl, array(
	'title' => 'My beautiful addon',
));

See also the wiki page Quick Template Guide.

Called when a user attempts to login. $b is an array containing:

username: the supplied username
password: the supplied password
authenticated: set this to non-zero to authenticate the user.
user_record: successful authentication must also return a valid user record from the database

Called after a user has successfully logged in. $b contains the $a->user array.

Called when formatting a post for display. $b is an array:

item: The item (array) details pulled from the database
output: the (string) HTML representation of this item prior to adding it to the page

post_local

Called when a status post or comment is entered on the local system. $b is the item array of the information to be stored in the database. Please note: body contents are bbcode - not HTML.

post_local_end

Called when a local status post or comment has been stored on the local system. $b is the item array of the information which has just been stored in the database. Please note: body contents are bbcode - not HTML

post_remote

Called when receiving a post from another source. This may also be used to post local activity or system generated messages. $b is the item array of information to be stored in the database and the item body is bbcode.

Called when generating the HTML for the user Settings page. $b is the HTML string of the settings page before the final </form> tag.

settings_post

Called when the Settings pages are submitted. $b is the $_POST array.

Called when generating the HTML for the addon settings page. $b is the (string) HTML of the addon settings page before the final </form> tag.

addon_settings_post

Called when the Addon Settings pages are submitted. $b is the $_POST array.

profile_post

Called when posting a profile page. $b is the $_POST array.

Called prior to output of profile edit page. $b is an array containing:

profile: profile (array) record from the database
entry: the (string) HTML of the generated entry

Called when the HTML is generated for the Advanced profile, corresponding to the Profile tab within a person's profile page. $b is the HTML string representation of the generated profile. The profile array details are in $a->profile.

Called from the Directory page when formatting an item for display. $b is an array:

contact: contact record array for the person from the database
entry: the HTML string of the generated entry

Called prior to generating the sidebar "short" profile for a page. $b is the person's profile array

Called when generating the sidebar "short" profile for a page. $b is an array:

profile: profile record array for the person from the database
entry: the HTML string of the generated entry

Called when formatting the block of contacts/friends on a profile sidebar has completed. $b is an array:

contacts: array of contacts
output: the generated HTML string of the contact block

Called after conversion of bbcode to HTML. $b is an HTML string converted text.

Called after tag conversion of HTML to bbcode (e.g. remote message posting) $b is a string converted text

Called when building the <head> sections. Stylesheets should be registered using this hook. $b is an HTML string of the <head> tag.

Called after building the page navigation section. $b is a string HTML of nav region.

Called prior to output of personal XRD file. $b is an array:

user: the user record array for the person
xml: the complete XML string to be output

home_content

Called prior to output home page content, shown to unlogged users. $b is the HTML sring of section region.

Called when editing contact details on an individual from the Contacts page. $b is an array:

contact: contact record (array) of target contact
output: the (string) generated HTML of the contact edit page

contact_edit_post

Called when posting the contact edit page. $b is the $_POST array

Called just after DB has been opened and before session start. No hook data.

Called after HTML content functions have completed. $b is (string) HTML of content div.

Called after HTML content functions have completed. Deferred Javascript files should be registered using this hook. $b is (string) HTML of footer div/element.

Called when looking up the avatar. $b is an array:

size: the size of the avatar that will be looked up
email: email to look up the avatar for
url: the (string) generated URL of the avatar

Called from Emailer::send() before building the mime message. $b is an array of params to Emailer::send().

fromName: name of the sender
fromEmail: email fo the sender
replyTo: replyTo address to direct responses
toEmail: destination email address
messageSubject: subject of the message
htmlVersion: html version of the message
textVersion: text only version of the message
additionalMailHeader: additions to the smtp mail header
sent: default false, if set to true in the hook, the default mailer will be skipped.

Called before calling PHP's mail(). $b is an array of params to mail().

to
subject
body
headers
sent: default false, if set to true in the hook, the default mailer will be skipped.

Called during App initialization to allow addons to load their own configuration file(s) with App::loadConfigFile().

Called after the navigational menu is build in include/nav.php. $b is an array containing $nav from include/nav.php.

Called before vars are passed to the template engine to render the page. The registered function can add,change or remove variables passed to template. $b is an array with:

template: filename of template
vars: array of vars passed to the template

Called after the other queries have passed. The registered function can add, change or remove the acl_lookup() variables.

results: array of the acl_lookup() vars

prepare_body_init

Called at the start of prepare_body Hook data:

item (input/output): item array

prepare_body_content_filter

Called before the HTML conversion in prepare_body. If the item matches a content filter rule set by an addon, it should just add the reason to the filter_reasons element of the hook data. Hook data:

item: item array (input)
filter_reasons (input/output): reasons array

prepare_body

Called after the HTML conversion in prepare_body(). Hook data:

item (input): item array
html (input/output): converted item body
is_preview (input): post preview flag
filter_reasons (input): reasons array

prepare_body_final

Called at the end of prepare_body(). Hook data:

item: item array (input)
html: converted item body (input/output)

Called after prepare_text() in put_item_in_cache(). Hook data:

item (input): item array
rendered-html (input/output): final item body HTML
rendered-hash (input/output): original item body hash

Called when a magic-auth was successful. Hook data:

visitor => array with the contact record of the visitor
url => the query string

Called when displaying the post permission screen. Hook data is a list of form fields that need to be displayed along the ACL. Form field array structure is:

type: checkbox or select.
field: Standard field data structure to be used by field_checkbox.tpl and field_select.tpl.

For checkbox, field is:

[0] (String): Form field name; Mandatory.
[1]: (String): Form field label; Optional, default is none.
[2]: (Boolean): Whether the checkbox should be checked by default; Optional, default is false.
[3]: (String): Additional help text; Optional, default is none.
[4]: (String): Additional HTML attributes; Optional, default is none.

For select, field is:

[0] (String): Form field name; Mandatory.
[1] (String): Form field label; Optional, default is none.
[2] (Boolean): Default value to be selected by default; Optional, default is none.
[3] (String): Additional help text; Optional, default is none.
[4] (Array): Associative array of options. Item key is option value, item value is option label; Mandatory.

Called just before dispatching the router. Hook data is a \FastRoute\RouterCollector object that should be used to add addon routes pointing to classes.

Notice: The class whose name is provided in the route handler must be reachable via auto-loader.

Called before trying to detect the target network of a URL. If any registered hook function sets the result key of the hook data array, it will be returned immediately. Hook functions should also return immediately if the hook data contains an existing result.

Hook data:

uri (input): the profile URI.
network (input): the target network (can be empty for auto-detection).
uid (input): the user to return the contact data for (can be empty for public contacts).
result (output): Set by the hook function to indicate a successful detection.

Here is a complete list of all hook callbacks with file locations (as of 24-Sep-2018). Please see the source for details of any hooks not documented above.

Hook::callAll('init_1');
Hook::callAll('app_menu', $arr);
Hook::callAll('page_content_top', DI::page()['content']);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_mod_init', $placeholder);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_mod_init', $placeholder);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_mod_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_mod_afterpost', $placeholder);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_mod_content', $arr);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_mod_aftercontent', $arr);
Hook::callAll('page_end', DI::page()['content']);

Hook::callAll('logged_in', $a->user);
Hook::callAll('authenticate', $addon_auth);
Hook::callAll('logged_in', $a->user);

Hook::callAll('enotify', $h);
Hook::callAll('enotify_store', $datarray);
Hook::callAll('enotify_mail', $datarray);
Hook::callAll('check_item_notification', $notification_data);

Hook::callAll('conversation_start', $cb);
Hook::callAll('render_location', $locate);
Hook::callAll('display_item', $arr);
Hook::callAll('display_item', $arr);
Hook::callAll('item_photo_menu', $args);
Hook::callAll('jot_tool', $jotplugins);

Hook::callAll('directory_item', $arr);

Hook::callAll('personal_xrd', $arr);

Hook::callAll('network_ping', $arr);

Hook::callAll("parse_link", $arr);

Hook::callAll('home_init', $ret);

Hook::callAll('acl_lookup_end', $results);

Hook::callAll('network_content_init', $arr);
Hook::callAll('network_tabs', $arr);

Hook::callAll('about_hook', $o);

mod/subthread.php

Hook::callAll('post_local_end', $arr);

Hook::callAll('profile_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('profile_edit', $arr);

Hook::callAll('addon_settings_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('connector_settings_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('display_settings_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('settings_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('addon_settings', $settings_addons);
Hook::callAll('connector_settings', $settings_connectors);
Hook::callAll('display_settings', $o);
Hook::callAll('settings_form', $o);

Hook::callAll('photo_post_init', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('photo_post_file', $ret);
Hook::callAll('photo_post_end', $foo);
Hook::callAll('photo_post_end', $foo);
Hook::callAll('photo_post_end', $foo);
Hook::callAll('photo_post_end', $foo);
Hook::callAll('photo_post_end', intval($item_id));
Hook::callAll('photo_upload_form', $ret);

Hook::callAll('profile_advanced', $o);

Hook::callAll('home_init', $ret);
Hook::callAll("home_content", $content);

Hook::callAll('post_local_end', $arr);

Hook::callAll('contact_edit_post', $_POST);
Hook::callAll('contact_edit', $arr);

Hook::callAll('post_local_end', $arr);

Hook::callAll('uexport_options', $options);

Hook::callAll('register_post', $arr);
Hook::callAll('register_form', $arr);

Hook::callAll('post_local_start', $_REQUEST);
Hook::callAll('post_local', $datarray);
Hook::callAll('post_local_end', $datarray);

mod/editpost.php

Hook::callAll('jot_tool', $jotplugins);

Hook::callAll('logged_in', $a->user);

Hook::callAll("template_vars", $arr);

Hook::callAll('load_config');
Hook::callAll('head');
Hook::callAll('footer');
Hook::callAll('route_collection');

Hook::callAll('post_local', $item);
Hook::callAll('post_remote', $item);
Hook::callAll('post_local_end', $posted_item);
Hook::callAll('post_remote_end', $posted_item);
Hook::callAll('tagged', $arr);
Hook::callAll('post_local_end', $new_item);
Hook::callAll('put_item_in_cache', $hook_data);
Hook::callAll('prepare_body_init', $item);
Hook::callAll('prepare_body_content_filter', $hook_data);
Hook::callAll('prepare_body', $hook_data);
Hook::callAll('prepare_body_final', $hook_data);

Hook::callAll('contact_photo_menu', $args);
Hook::callAll('follow', $arr);

Hook::callAll('profile_sidebar_enter', $profile);
Hook::callAll('profile_sidebar', $arr);
Hook::callAll('profile_tabs', $arr);
Hook::callAll('zrl_init', $arr);
Hook::callAll('magic_auth_success', $arr);

Hook::callAll('event_updated', $event['id']);
Hook::callAll("event_created", $event['id']);

Hook::callAll('register_account', $uid);
Hook::callAll('remove_user', $user);

Hook::callAll('lockview_content', $item);

src/Content/ContactBlock.php

Hook::callAll('contact_block_end', $arr);

src/Content/Text/BBCode.php

Hook::callAll('bbcode', $text);
Hook::callAll('bb2diaspora', $text);

src/Content/Text/HTML.php

Hook::callAll('html2bbcode', $message);

src/Content/Smilies.php

Hook::callAll('smilie', $params);

src/Content/Feature.php

Hook::callAll('isEnabled', $arr);
Hook::callAll('get', $arr);

src/Content/ContactSelector.php

Hook::callAll('network_to_name', $nets);

src/Content/OEmbed.php

Hook::callAll('oembed_fetch_url', $embedurl, $j);

src/Content/Nav.php

Hook::callAll('page_header', DI::page()['nav']);
Hook::callAll('nav_info', $nav);

Hook::callAll('logged_in', $a->user);

Hook::callAll('storage_instance', $data);

Hook::callAll('globaldir_update', $arr);

Hook::callAll('notifier_end', $target_item);

Hook::callAll('login_hook', $o);

Hook::callAll("logging_out");

src/Object/Post.php

Hook::callAll('render_location', $locate);
Hook::callAll('display_item', $arr);

Hook::callAll('contact_select_options', $x);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_pre_'.$selname, $arr);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_post_'.$selname, $o);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_pre_'.$selname, $arr);
Hook::callAll($a->module.'_post_'.$selname, $o);
Hook::callAll('jot_networks', $jotnets);

Hook::callAll('logged_in', $a->user);
Hook::callAll('authenticate', $addon_auth);

self::callSingle(self::getApp(), 'hook_fork', $fork_hook, $hookdata);

Hook::callAll('poke_verbs', $arr);

Hook::callAll("proc_run", $arr);

Hook::callAll('emailer_send_prepare', $params);
Hook::callAll("emailer_send", $hookdata);

Hook::callAll('generate_map', $arr);
Hook::callAll('generate_named_map', $arr);
Hook::callAll('Map::getCoordinates', $arr);

Hook::callAll('avatar_lookup', $avatar);

Hook::callAll("getsiteinfo", $siteinfo);

Hook::callAll('atom_feed_end', $atom);
Hook::callAll('atom_feed_end', $atom);

Hook::callAll('email_getmessage', $message);
Hook::callAll('email_getmessage_end', $ret);

view/js/main.js

document.dispatchEvent(new Event('postprocess_liveupdate'));

Friendica Addon development

Naming

Metadata

Install/Uninstall

PHP addon hooks

Arguments

$a

$b

Admin settings

Global stylesheets

JavaScript

Global scripts

JavaScript hooks

Current JavaScript hooks

postprocess_liveupdate

Modules

Templates

Current PHP hooks

authenticate

logged_in

display_item

post_local

post_local_end

post_remote

settings_form

settings_post

addon_settings

addon_settings_post

profile_post

profile_edit

profile_advanced

directory_item

profile_sidebar_enter

profile_sidebar

contact_block_end

bbcode

html2bbcode

head

page_header

personal_xrd

home_content

contact_edit

contact_edit_post

init_1

page_end

footer

avatar_lookup

emailer_send_prepare

emailer_send

load_config

nav_info

template_vars

acl_lookup_end

prepare_body_init

prepare_body_content_filter

prepare_body

prepare_body_final

put_item_in_cache

magic_auth_success

jot_networks

route_collection

probe_detect

Complete list of hook callbacks

index.php

include/api.php

include/enotify.php

include/conversation.php

mod/directory.php

mod/xrd.php

mod/ping.php

mod/parse_url.php

src/Module/Delegation.php

mod/acl.php

mod/network.php

mod/friendica.php

mod/subthread.php

mod/profiles.php

mod/settings.php

mod/photos.php

mod/profile.php