Joomla plugin install file

Question

Is it possible in joomla install.xml file write some sql, which would be executed on install? Or somehow else do this trick? The point is that i have written custom authorization plug-and i have to disable/replace/delete an existing one.

Answer 1

You could use external SQL-files and make them execute on install.

1. Create a SQL-file install.mysql.utf8.sql in your plugin root with some content like:

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS `#__tablename` (
  `id` int(11) unsigned NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
  PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 AUTO_INCREMENT=0 ;

2. In your XML-manifest add the file as a filename node underneath files:

<files>
    <filename>install.mysql.utf8.sql</filename>
</files>

3. Add a install node in your manifest that tells Joomla what SQL file to execute on installation:

<install>
    <sql>
        <file driver="mysql" charset="utf8">install.mysql.utf8.sql</file>
    </sql>
</install>

If you install the plugin with this and it's a new installation (the plugin havn't been installed on the site before) then Joomla will execute the SQL-file.

If you need to execute SQL on a upgrade (reinstallation) of the plugin you'd have to use the update node.

An alternative to SQL-files is to use PHP-scripts to be executed (which can run SQL queries themselves) on install/update. For help with that, see this.