Plugins

Plugins are PHP files that extend CMS Builder with additional features: admin tools, integrations, custom behaviors. The CMS Setup > Plugins page (admins only) lists every plugin found in the plugins directory and lets you activate and deactivate them.

A catalog of plugins from interactivetools.com is available at interactivetools.com/add-ons.

Installing a plugin

1. Upload the plugin’s folder to the /cmsb/plugins/ directory on your server. The usual layout is a folder containing a PHP file of the same name, e.g. /cmsb/plugins/myPlugin/myPlugin.php (though some plugins will be single PHP files with no folder).

2. Open CMS Setup > Plugins. The page scans the plugins directory and lists anything new under Inactive Plugins.

3. Click Activate next to the plugin.

The scan picks up PHP files in /cmsb/plugins/ and up to two subfolder levels below it (e.g. /plugins/dir1/dir2/file.php).

The plugins page

The page shows two tables, Active Plugins and Inactive Plugins, with the same columns. The inactive list is populated after a short directory scan each time the page loads.

Active/Inactive Plugins

The plugin’s name, linked to the plugin’s website if it provides one.

Version

The plugin’s version number.

Description

A short description of what the plugin does, followed by an author credit (linked to the author’s website if provided).

Action

An Activate or Deactivate link, plus status labels such as “System Plugin” or a minimum CMS version notice. Active plugins can also add their own links here: settings pages, tools, and other plugin-specific actions.

The name, version, description, and links all come from the header block inside the plugin’s PHP file.

Below the tables are a link to the plugin hooks reference (for plugin developers) and contact details for requesting custom plugins.

Activating and deactivating

Clicking Activate attempts to load and activate the plugin. If the file has a fatal error, the error is displayed and the plugin is not activated. Deactivate removes the plugin from the active list; the plugin’s files stay in place so it can be re-activated later.

A plugin can declare a minimum CMS version it requires. If your installation is older than that, the Action column shows a “Requires v…” notice instead of an Activate link and the plugin can’t be activated until the CMS is upgraded.

Required system plugins

Plugins marked as required system plugins are activated automatically when the page scans the plugins directory. An alert reports each one as it’s activated. They’re labeled “System Plugin” in the Action column and have no Deactivate link. If a system plugin fails to activate, the errors are listed in a Required System Plugins box at the top of the page.

For development, creating an empty file at /cmsb/plugins/_disable_sys_plugins.txt makes the CMS ignore the system-plugin flag so these plugins can be deactivated like any other; the page shows a “Development Mode” alert while the file exists.

Sections that require plugins

A section editor can list plugins it depends on under its Advanced tab (see Editing a Section). If any listed plugin isn’t active, access to that section is blocked with a “Please activate the following plugins” message until the plugins are activated.

Disabling all plugins

The Disable Plugins toggle at the top of the page prevents every plugin from loading, including system plugins, until it’s turned off. It asks for confirmation, and while it’s on the page shows a warning banner, the Plugins entry in the admin menu is highlighted with a warning icon, and each plugin’s Action column reads “Plugins are disabled”.

If a faulty plugin breaks the CMS Admin before you can reach this page, you can set 'disablePlugins' => 1 in the settings file in the data folder, or move the plugin’s folder out of /cmsb/plugins/. Active plugins whose files are missing are simply skipped.