• Extensions-Plugins

Community Plugins

Introduction

In this section of the wiki, we provide space for documentation of plugins that are not currently included in the default distribution of MediaPortal. This list is not complete, as some plugins will have their documentation included in the download, some will have online documentation on their own webservers, and some will have no documentation at all.

Anybody is free to add documentation for non-included plugins to this page, but we ask you to check first to see if documentation is not already provided in other locations.

For a complete list of all community plugins, check the Plugins section of the file repository.

For documentation on configuring the plugins that are included in the latest update of MediaPortal, see the Plugins setup page.

For an explanation on how to enable and configure installed plugins, see the Plugins setup page.

Note: Before you install a plugin or skin, you should check that the version it has been developed for, matches the version you are using.

Installation

Most plugins are distributed as ZIP files. To install the plugin, you have to copy the files that are inside this ZIP-file to the correct folders under the MediaPortal application folder. (On a default installation, this is C:\Program Files\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\.)

Start by opening the ZIP file.

If you find only one DLL file inside the ZIP, then this is the plugin itself. Try to find documentation on the plugin, which states if it is a window or process plugin. If it is a window plugin, then copy the DLL to the plugins\windows\ folder inside your MediaPortal program files folder. If it is a process plugin, the file goes into the plugins\process\ folder. Your plugin is now installed, you can skip over the next paragraphs and onto enabling and configuring your plugin in the last paragraph.

Elsewise, see if you find a file called readme.txt. This file should contain up-to-date information and installation instructions. Open this file and read it carefully to see if there are any special installation considerations.

There may be a folder called source. This folder contains the source-code for the plugin. For the moment, we will skip this folder. You can have a look and play around with this later on if you feel up to it, but that is beyond the scope of these instructions.

You will probably also see a folder called plugins. This will contain the actual program files for your plugin. Copy this whole folder into your MediaPortal application folder, so that everything inside the plugins folder is added to the MediaPortal plugins folder.

You might also find a folder called skin. This will contain updated skin files. Look inside this folder. If it contains subfolders like BlueTwo, then you can copy all of these into your MediaPortal skins folder. If it just contains a number of XML files and folders like media, then you have to copy all files and folders into each separate MediaPortal skins subfolder.

If you find any more files and/or folders that have not been discussed so far, you probably have to copy these into your MediaPortal application folder.

Remember, these are just basic instructions. The plugin you downloaded may have other file and folder names, or for example separate folders for different versions of MediaPortal. Read the plugin documentation for specific installation instructions.

Now, your plugin is installed. Next you have to enable and configure your plugin on the Plugins page in MediaPortal Setup to use it. Happy pluggin'!

Documentation overview

Below is an overview of documentation for community plugins.

Developing your own plugin

Do you want to write your own plugin? Study the Plugin Developers Guide for a good step-by-step introduction.

When ready, announce new plugins in the Plugins Development forum section.

1. Create a new thread for your plugin.
2. Keep the topic name short.
3. Be sure to contain a download link in your post, and if you have an updated version replace the link in the 1st post of the thread!

Write documentation for your plugin:

1. Update the list on this wiki page to include your plugin. Try to keep the list alphabetically! (The common "My" part of the pluginname can be ignored, so that "My DVDs" would be under "D" for "DVDs", not under "M" for "My".)

2. Write a wiki documentation page, select the PluginTemplate when creating a new page.