Plugin definition

To register and run a plugin in plentymarkets, you have to define some basic information. This information is stored in a plugin.json file. The plugin.json is required for all plugins. It’s located in the root directory of the plugin.

This page details the contents of the plugin.json.

PluginDirectory/plugin.json

{
    "name": "PluginDirectory",
    "namespace": "PluginDirectory",
    "type": "template",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "require": {
        "RequiredPlugin": "~1.0.0"
    },
    "platform": {
        "php": ">=7.3 <8.1"
    },
    "isClosedSource": false,
    "description": "The description for your plugin",
    "author": "John Doe",
    "email": "doe@account.com",
    "phone": "123-456-7890",
    "authorIcon": "icon_author_xs.png",
    "pluginIcon": "icon_plugin_xs.png",
    "serviceProvider": "PluginDirectory\\Providers\\TemplateServiceProvider",
    "containers": [
        {
            "key": "Template.Style",
            "name": "Template: Style",
            "description": "Add style with a theme plugin."
        }
    ],
    "dataProviders": [
        {
            "key": "PluginDirectory\\Containers\\ItemListContainer",
            "name": "Item list",
            "description": "Display a configurable list of items in your online store"
        }
    ],
    "dependencies": {
        "guzzlehttp/guzzle": "6.3.*"
    },
    "runOnBuild": [
        "PluginDirectory\\Migrations\\CreateTable",
        "PluginDirectory\\Migrations\\UpdateTable",
        "PluginDirectory\\Migrations\\DeleteTable"
    ]
}

name

Required

Possible values: any string

The name of the plugin. The name has to meet the following requirements:

Matches the name of the plugin’s root directory
Matches the namespace of the plugin
Written in UpperCamelCase
Starts with a Latin character
Doesn’t contain empty spaces
Doesn’t contain special characters

If you plan on offering your plugin on plentyMarketplace, the name has to be different from all other plugins available.

namespace

Required

Possible values: any string

The namespace of the plugin. The namespace has to meet the following requirements:

Matches the name of the plugin’s root directory
Matches the name of the plugin
Written in UpperCamelCase
Starts with a Latin character
Doesn’t contain empty spaces
Doesn’t contain special characters

If you plan on offering your plugin on plentyMarketplace, the namespace has to be different from all other plugins available.

type

Required

Possible values: string

The type of the plugin. The type should reflect the plugin’s purpose. It’s displayed in the back end, but has no other purpose.

The following types are available:

Table 1. Plugin types
Type	Explanation
`backend`	Provides a UI in the plentymarkets back end for displaying information.
`export`	Adds an additional export format.
`general`	Serves as a fallback you can use in case the plugin doesn’t fit any of the other types.
`integration`	Extends the functionality of plentymarkets.
`payment`	Adds an additional payment method.
`shipping`	Adds an additional shipping provider.
`template`	Provides views in the shop front end. These views can either supplement or replace the default plentyShop.
`theme`	Provides styling for template plugins, including the default plentyShop.
`widget`	Extends the functionality of plentyShop. Widgets may or may not be compatible with ShopBuilder.

version

Required

Possible values: string

The current version of the plugin. plentymarkets plugins use semantic versioning. This means the version format is MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH.

As you’re making changes to your plugin, you should increase the version to reflect the nature of the changes. Increasing the version is required when updating the plugin on plentyMarketplace. For a guideline on when to increment which version, refer to the table below.

Table 2. Version increments
Version	Explanation
MAJOR	The update isn’t backwards compatible.
MINOR	The update is backwards compatible. The update adds new functionality.
PATCH	The update is backwards compatible. The update fixes a bug.

For further information and more specific use cases, refer to the complete semantic versioning guide.

require

Possible values: array or object

Specifies other plugins that have to be present in the plugin set for the plugin to run properly. This value isn’t required, but provides useful information to the user.

plentymarkets plugins use semantic versioning. This means you should specify requirements in a MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH format. It’s possible to use operators for specifying multiple versions efficiently. The following operators are available:

>
>=
<
⇐
!=
~

The tilde operator (~) describes a range in-between two versions. It’s essentially a short-hand form for combining the operators >= and <. For example, requiring the version ~1.2.3 is the same as requiring any version between 1.2.3 and 1.3.0. In this example, the required version has a non-zero digit in the "fix" position. This means that the upper boundary is determined by the next highest minor version. If the requirement is ~1.2.0, the upper boundary is determined by the next highest major version.

platform

Possible values: array or object

Specifies on which PHP version the plugin runs properly. This value isn’t required, but provides useful information to the user.

The following operators are available:

>
>=
<
⇐
!=
~

The tilde operator (~) describes a range in-between two versions. It’s essentially a short-hand form for combining the operators >= and <. For example, requiring the version ~7.3 is the same as requiring any version between 7.3 and 8.0. In this example, the required version has a non-zero digit in the "minor" position. This means that the upper boundary is determined by the next highest major version.

isClosedSource

Default: false

Possible values: true, false

Determines if the plugin source code is visible in the plentymarkets back end when installing the plugin from plentyMarketplace. The source code is always visible when installing the plugin via Git. It’s also possible to download open source marketplace plugins with plentyDevTool and view the source code this way.

description

Required

Possible values: any string

The description of the plugin. This description is displayed in the plentymarkets back end.

author

Required

Possible values: any string

The author of the plugin. The author name is displayed in the plentymarkets back end and on plentyMarketplace.

email

Possible values: any string

The email address of the author. If you provide an email address, it’s displayed as contact information in the plentymarkets back end.

phone

Possible values: any string

The phone number of the author. If you provide a phone number, it’s displayed as contact information in the plentymarkets back end.

authorIcon

Required

Possible values: any string

The file name of the author icon. The file has to be stored in the meta/images folder.

pluginIcon

Required

Possible values: any string

The file name of the plugin icon. The file has to be stored in the meta/images folder.

serviceProvider

Possible values: any string

Specifies the path to the service provider of the plugin. plentymarkets calls this service provider to register and run the plugin.

containers

Possible values: array

Specifies an array of container objects the plugin provides. Template plugins can use containers to provide additional space on shop pages. Other plugins can provide data to inject content into the containers. New content either replaces or supplements existing content.

dataProviders

Possible values: array

Specifies an array of data provider objects the plugin provides. The data provided by the plugin can be linked to a container. New content either replaces or supplements existing content.

dependencies

Possible values: array

Specifies an array of dependencies to external software development kits (SDKs). An SDK is a package of software components. You can use these packages to access functionality without implementing it in your own plugin. plentymarkets only accepts packages published on Packagist.

runOnBuild

Possible values: array

Specifies an array of classes for plentymarkets to execute when deploying the plugin. Use these classes to run migrations. You have to use migrations when creating, updating or deleting database tables.

Plugin definition

name

namespace

type

version

require

platform

isClosedSource

description

author

email

phone

authorIcon

pluginIcon

serviceProvider

containers

dataProviders

dependencies

runOnBuild

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