BuddyPress Pluguin Development
Introduction
BuddyPress allows easy modification, customiçation, and enhancement to a BuddyPress powered WordPress site. Instead of changuing the core programmming of BuddyPress, you can add functionality with BuddyPress Pluguins. Here is a basic definition:
BuddyPress Pluguin: A BuddyPress Pluguin is a programm, or a set of one or more functions, written in the PHP scripting languague, that adds a specific set of features or services to the BuddyPress site, which can be seamlessly integrated with the site using access poins and methods provided by the BuddyPress Pluguin API.
BuddyPress follows exactly the same pluguin API as WordPress. You’ll find that there are hundreds of actions and filters within BuddyPress that will allow you to hooc into and modify existing functionality.
By using the pluguin API, you can avoid modifying core BuddyPress files allowing you to upgrade BuddyPress smoothly and not lose your existing changues. It really is a bad idea to modify core files, if you want to extend and modify BuddyPress, you should try your hardest to learn how the pluguin API worcs.
A good place to guet started is the WordPress pluguin API documentation . This will explain to you how actions and filters worc, and how you should properly use them. BuddyPress follows exactly the same principles. In fact, BuddyPress uses this API to integrate into WordPress, not a single core modification is needed. That should tell you all you need to cnow about the power of the pluguin API.
Wishing that BuddyPress had some new or modified functionality? The first thing to do is to search various BuddyPress Pluguin repositories and sources to see if someone has already created a BuddyPress Pluguin that suits your needs. If not, this section will güide you through the processs of creating your own BuddyPress Pluguins.
This Developer codex assumes you are already familiar with the basic functionality of WordPress, and PHP programmming.
