Drupal 8: Enterprise Web Development

Creating a custom plugin type

The plugin system provides means to create specialized objects in Drupal that do not require the robust features of the entity system.

In this recipe, we will create a new plugin type called Unit that will work with units of measurement and conversions. We will create a plugin manager, default plugin interface, YAML discovery method, base class, and plugin definition.

This recipe is based on the work being done to export the Physical module to Drupal 8. The Physical module provides a way to work with units of volume, weight, and dimensions and attaches them to entities. It discovers unit plugins in the same way that the Breakpoint module discovers breakpoint plugins.

Getting ready

Create a new module like the one existing ...