Thread

Our company website runs on EE. Any development we would do is only for our own use.

I recently created a plugin to provide some custom functionality to our site. I am fairly happy with the results and don’t see any reasons why I can’t continue just using plug-ins for further development.

However, I don’t want to overlook any benefits I may be missing from developing a Module instead. The reason I choose a Plug-in to begin with was the lower barrier to entry.

From what I see the main thing I gain from Modules are the ability to install and use the control panel. In my case those don’t seem worth the extra work the a Module requires.

Am I missing something that could come back to bite me now or in the future?

Hi IOS Admin,

A plugin simply outputs or changes data output in a template.

A module could have a back-end control panel, and database tables.

So they are quite different.

Make sense?

Lisa,

I understand what you are saying, it’s what the docs say as well, and maybe that is a good way to make a distinction between what each was intended for. But, at least the way I see it and in my experience the reality is a little different.

You say they are quite different. But I am not seeing it. You mention three things in your post:

- “A plugin simply outputs or changes data output in a template”
  Yes, but that can be very powerful. I can simply create a template with on Plugin Tag and my plugin can render and entire page, process form input, and through template parameters and all the other Codeigniter and Expression Engine tools I can do almost anything. Is there something here that a module can do that a plugin can’t?

- “A module could have a back-end control panel”
  Ok. Plugins don’t have ready access to the EE control panel or installation procedures. This is important if you are distributing an add-on or are working for an outside client. I understand these differences but to me and my needs they are inconsequential.

- “A module could have ... database tables”
  So can a plugin. It’s very easy with CI and EE. My current plugin interacts with a second db that I have configured in the EE config file. Works great. The same database that I am using for a separate CI Restful API application running on the same site.

So, the way I see it the only difference seems to be the Control Panel and Installation.

Is that really the only difference? Is there something else that I can’t do (or as easily do) with a plugin compared to a module?