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Addon Example — Custom Post Type (Books)

This example shows how to create a new post_type called book that injects activity items into the main feed. It uses the post_to_feed.php hook, plus two feed templates.

Step 1 — Declare the post type

Each addon defines its post type name (for example book). You store posts in the posts table with post_type='book'. Extra metadata (e.g. authors, price, cover) goes in addon tables such as books and posts_books.

Example SQL when creating a post:

INSERT INTO posts (user_id, post_type, text) 
VALUES (123, 'book', '');

Link it to a book record:

INSERT INTO posts_books (post_id, book_id) VALUES (456, 789);

Step 2 — Hook: post_to_feed.php

• File: /modules/books/hooks/post_to_feed.php
• Purpose: enrich posts with book fields before rendering in the feed.

Core logic (simplified):

This attaches to each post:

book_title, book_title_full
book_description, book_description_short
book_price
cover_url, book_url
book_author, book_author_url, book_authors[]


Step 3 — Feed Story Template

File: /content/themes/{theme}/templates/books/tabs/feed.story.tpl
Purpose: render the activity line (actor + verb + object).

{elseif $_post.post_type == "book"}
  {__("suggested a book")}
  {if !empty($_post.book_author)}
    {__("by")}
    
      {$_post.book_author|escape}
    
  {/if}
{/elseif}


Step 4 — Feed Content Template

File: /content/themes/{theme}/templates/books/tabs/feed.content.tpl
Purpose: render the book card content.

{if $_post.post_type == "book"}
  

    

      
        {$_post.book_title|escape}
      
    

    {if !empty($_post.cover_url)}
      
        
      
    {/if}

    

      {$_post.book_description_short}
    

    
      {__("View Book")}
    
  
{/if}


Step 5 — Test

Create a new post with post_type = book.
Verify post_to_feed.php enriches the feed array with book fields.
Feed should now show:

Story line: “User suggested a book by Author”
Content card: Title, Cover, Description, Button




Summary
To create a new feed-aware post type, every addon needs:

post_to_feed.php in /modules/{addonid}/hooks/
feed.story.tpl and feed.content.tpl in /content/themes/{theme}/templates/{addonid}/tabs/
Posts saved into the posts table with post_type='yourtype'
Optional extra tables (like books) for metadata

This same pattern works for Books, Forums, Jobs, Blogs, Market, etc. Just swap the metadata fields and templates.