Title: Plugin authoring questions
Last modified: August 19, 2016

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# Plugin authoring questions

 *  [plug_n_author](https://wordpress.org/support/users/plug_n_author/)
 * (@plug_n_author)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-authoring-questions/)
 * I am in the process of hopefully authoring my first WP plugin. NOTE: I am using
   WPMU 2.7.1 (latest stable Apache, MySQL, PHP, etc. on a fresh box). Obviously
   I have some questions – so without further ado:
 * 1) In actions where do_action_ref_array() is the call (instead of do_action()),
   can I modify the source variables passed in and have the modifications ultimately
   alter the caller variables?
 * 2) Corollary: If yes to #1, is doing so forward-compatible?
 * 3) I need to be able to add site-wide admin configurable options. How do I go
   about doing that? That is: How do I add configurable options? AND how do I go
   about differentiating between users so that only the site-wide admin can make
   changes…do I even need to?
 * 4) What should a CREATE TABLE/DROP TABLE statement look like in a WPMU plugin?
   Also, how do I detect, preferably using WP’s provided global objects, a missing
   table (e.g. first-time use)?
 * 4b) ALTERNATE: Perhaps I don’t need a new table. What sort of data can be stored
   in the configurable options? Full-blown PHP arrays (in particular, I need the
   ability to have associative hashes of associative hashes)?
 * 5) How do I add multilingual support to my plugin? This question is low-priority
   for me but I can envision needing it and experience has proven that it works 
   best to plan for multilingual support at the beginning of authoring any application
   that might need it in the future.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

 *  Thread Starter [plug_n_author](https://wordpress.org/support/users/plug_n_author/)
 * (@plug_n_author)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-authoring-questions/#post-1088512)
 * Okay, I know the answer to #1 now: Yes – modifying the variables passed in does
   modify the caller. Still need answers for the rest.
 *  Thread Starter [plug_n_author](https://wordpress.org/support/users/plug_n_author/)
 * (@plug_n_author)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-authoring-questions/#post-1088535)
 * Okay. I’ve decided that 4b is now impossible with this plugin.
 *  Thread Starter [plug_n_author](https://wordpress.org/support/users/plug_n_author/)
 * (@plug_n_author)
 * [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-authoring-questions/#post-1088701)
 * I’ve written the plugin and it works quite well.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

The topic ‘Plugin authoring questions’ is closed to new replies.

 * 3 replies
 * 1 participant
 * Last reply from: [plug_n_author](https://wordpress.org/support/users/plug_n_author/)
 * Last activity: [17 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-authoring-questions/#post-1088701)
 * Status: not resolved

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