=== WP Plugin Info ===
Contributors: _luigi
Plugin URI: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-plugin-info/
Donate link: http://sitetreeplugin.com/contribute/
Tags: api, developer, info, information, plugin, remote, repository, shortcode, template, tool, wordpress
Requires at least: 3.3
Tested up to: 3.4.1
Stable tag: 1.1
License: GPL v2.0

Lets you retrieve information about a plugin from WordPress.org and show them into a post or page.

== Description ==

*WP Plugin Info* is mostly addressed to plugin developers. It lets you show, in a post or page, any kind of information related to a plugin hosted on WordPress.org. I developed it for my own use on [sitetreeplugin.com](http://sitetreeplugin.com), the information you see in the sidebar are fetched with this plugin.

= Features =
* Shortcode-based plugin: you just need the shortcode `[wp-plugin-info]` to use it.
* The information retrieved are cached and refreshed once per hour. It is able to efficiently manage the caching of multiple arrays of information (each one related to a different plugin) at the same time.<br />
* Optimised performances: even if you insert the shortcode multiple times into the same page, the access to the cached data will be performed just once.
* Template tag to embed the information directly into a template file.

= Shortcode Attributes =

**`plugin_id`** (Required)<br />
*Description:* The slug name of the plugin whose information you want to retrieve.<br />
*Value:* the basename of the url of the plugin page.<br />

For example, the value of `plugin_id` for this plugin is `wp-plugin-info`, because the url of this plugin page is `http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wp-plugin-info/`.

**`info_id`** (Required)<br />
*Description:* The unique identifier associated to the information to retrieve.<br />
*Accepted values:* name, slug, version, author, author_profile, contributors, requires, tested, rating, num_ratings, downloaded, last_updated, added, homepage, download_link, description, installation, screenshots, changelog, faq

**`default`** (Optional)<br />
*Description:* The string to show if an error occurs while retrieving the information.<br />
*Default:* The character "-".

**`date_format`** (Optional)<br />
*Description:* The format of the date to show. This is an attribute to be used only when retrieving a date.<br />
*Value:* A valid [PHP date format](http://codex.wordpress.org/Formatting_Date_and_Time).

= Template Tag =
The following tag can be used directly into a template file.<br />

`<?php wp_plugin_info( $plugin_id, $args ); ?>`

*$plugin_id* (Required): a string value<br />
*$args* (Optional): an associative array<br />

`<?php $args = array(
	'plugin_id'    => WPPI_PLUGIN_ID,
	'default'	   => '-',
	'date_format'  => null,
	'echo'         => true
); ?>`

= Configuration =
The plugin is ready to use just after its activation, however, there are a couple settings you can customise through the php constants listed below.<br />
It is recommended to define these constants in your `wp-config.php` file instead to directly edit them in the main plugin file. In the latter case you should set them every time you update the plugin.

* `WPPI_CACHE_EXPIRATION`: cannot be set a value lower than 600 (seconds).
* `WPPI_PLUGIN_ID`: if set, you don't need to include the attribute `plugin_id` into the shortcode. However, The attribute `plugin_id` has an higher priority, so it can override the value of the constant.
* `WPPI_ENABLE_SHORTCODE`: the default value is `true`. Set it to `false` if you want to disable the shortcode feature.

= Just an Example =
Suppose you want to show the information listed in the sidebar of [sitetreeplugin.com](http://sitetreeplugin.com) and you set the php constant `WPPI_PLUGIN_ID`, what you would write in a post or page should look like this:

> Version: `[wp-plugin-info info_id="version"]`<br />
> Requires: WordPress `[wp-plugin-info info_id="requires"]` or higher<br />
> Release date: `[wp-plugin-info info_id="last_updated" date_format="Y-n-j"]`<br />
> Downloads: `[wp-plugin-info info_id="downloaded"]`

The same can be achieved with the template tag:

> Version: `<?php wp_plugin_info( 'version' ); ?>`<br />
> Requires: WordPress `<?php wp_plugin_info( 'requires' ); ?>` or higher<br />
> Release date: `<?php wp_plugin_info( 'last_updated', array( 'date_format' => 'Y-n-j' ) ); ?>`<br />
> Downloads: `<?php wp_plugin_info( 'downloaded' ); ?>`

== Installation ==

1. Upload the folder `wp-plugin-info` to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory
1. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress

== Upgrade Notice ==
Added a few features and improved performaces.

== Changelog ==
= 1.1 =
* Reduced the number of database queries performed in the worst case.
* Added a button to delete the cache.
* Added the template tag `wp_plugin_info()`.
* Added the configuration constant `WPPI_ENABLE_SHORTCODE`.
* Minor fixes.

= 1.0 =
* Initial release.