Getting Started with Plugin Development for Craft CMS
Getting Started
- Plugin Development Docs – The Plugin Development section of the Craft Docs is a good place to start.
- Full Class Reference – The auto-generated Class Reference is a comprehensive reference for Craft, links you directly to examples of the code on GitHub, and provides links back to the Yii Class Reference as well.
- Coding Standards – Recommended coding standards for plugin development
- Plugin Directory – A comprehensive list of Craft CMS plugins, many of which you can download and explore for free.
Tutorials and other Resources
- Master the Elements – A comparison of all native Craft CMS Element Types and what makes them unique.
- Introduction to Element Types in Craft CMS - Part 1 of 3
- Element Types and the Element Service - Part 2 of 3
- Exploring the Element Type Model - Part 3 of 3
- The Definitive Guide to Validation in Craft – Stephen Lewis provides a nice overview and deep dive of Validation in Craft and how it relates to the underlying validation in Yii.
- Plugin Development – The _Plugin Development_ Category on Straight Up Craft has a collection of articles and links to plugin-related content.
Craft 3
Several things are changing about Plugin Development in Craft 3.
- Development changes in Craft 3 – Brandon Kelly discusses changes in Craft 3.
- Craft 3 Docs – The Dev Preview page links to Craft 3 documentation
- Craft Plugins in Craft 3 – Ben Croker on some initial considerations for making your plugin Craft 3 compatible.
- The Definitive Guide to Yii 2.0 – The official guide to the Yii2 Framework.
Courses
- Craft Plugin Development – Customize Craft by building your first plugin with Ben Croker withe this Mijingo Course
Yii
- The Yii Book – A solid overview of the Yii Framework by Larry Ullman.