Tables/extensions

Usage

• Since: 1.6
• Deprecated Since: Current

Description

The extensions table is designed to hold all extensions installed into Joomla!. The extensions table also functions as the primary storage of information for plugins as of 1.6 as well as the library and package extensions added in to the 1.6 release. Additionally, modules now uses the table to gather The aim of the extensions table is to reduce the need to create a new table for each extension instead allowing specific tables to be created that store information that is unique to that extension.

Extensions Table

Field	Type	Null	Key	Default	Extra	Comments
extensionid	int(11)		PRI	NULL	auto_increment	Unique extension ID
name	varchar(100)					Friendly name of the extension
type	varchar(20)					The extension type
element	varchar(100)					The unique name of the element
folder	varchar(100)					The folder of the element
client_id	tinyint(3)			0		The client ID of the extension
enabled	tinyint(3)			1		The enabled status of the extension
access	tinyint(3) unsigned			0		Primitive access control
protected	tinyint(3)			0		Uninstallation protection
manifestcache	text					Cache of the XML manifest file
params	text					Parameters for the extensions
data	text					Unused excess data field
checked_out	int(10) unsigned			0		Checked Out (FKEY users.id)
checked_out_time	datetime			0000-00-00 00:00:00		Checked Out Time
ordering	int(11)	YES		0		Ordering

Notes

Not all fields are used for all extension types. For example, plugins use the folder whilst most other extensions do not. Client ID is used by modules, templates and languages to specify which application (client) they should run in (e.g. administrator or site). The extensions table can be used to set defaults for extensions where there may exist instances of the extension (e.g. modules), however in 1.6 this does not occur. The table also features the standard checked out fields to support extension locking which is utilised by plugins. The protected field controls if an extension can be uninstalled through the administrator interface and the access is analagous to the access control field used in many other tables (typically public, registered or special). Again, extensions may wish to use this table as either the primary table (plugins) or as a 'defaults' table or 'global' table to control the behaviour of all instances of an extension.