Ability to find out which plugins has been installed

1. Ability to find out which plugins has been installed

2. Ability to uninstall plugins easiy

3. Not allow same plugins files to have the same name in multiple locations.

Eg. this is madness !!
Orders.php > includes/classes/orders.php
> admin/orders.php
> admin/includes/languages/english/orders.php
etc etc.

4. Each zencart core file name to have commented at the top within the code so that code view can show where the page starts and where it ends and which file name.
   eg
   This is for example (or similar concept)

While it appears that this was generated by the trouble discussed: https://www.zen-cart.com/showthread.php?221587-Is-there-anyway-to-find-out-which-plugins-has-been-installed&p=1323165#post1323165

1. There is a plugin that generally helps with this: Mod List. The fact that the code is open source means that every part of the code can be reviewed and with a file/folder comparison tool (there are many both free and commercial), this comparison can identify what has been modified and if lucky enough to have updated the affected file(s) to see what plugin(s) and version(s) were installed.

2. This is generally left to the plugin author(s) and is a recommended part of plugin development, that said removal typically is in one way or another reverse of installation. That is not to say that because a file was included in a plugin that it should be removed from the server, but the changes made by that plugin to the file(s) should be removed. For the database, a similar delete as was used to insert.

3. The filenames have a logical consistency in some respects, for example two of the file identified in the admin side: admin/orders.php and admin/includes/languages/english/orders.php are actually directly linked to one another... The second file is the language file for the first. The only way I see for the second file to be made any more human understandable would be to incorporate one or more parts of the file path into the file name... That though adds another level of complexity to the existing/longstanding instruction on how to develop and how the system inter-operates.

Perhaps it would be more helpful to identify what problem you are coming across by the existence of two or more files in the nearly 1,900 files that make up the program.

4. This is done already for the majority of portions of the code/template. While it has been nice to see where certain portions of a template's file starts or stops (when such file offers some form of output), there are also operational considerations one should have such as, why output anything to the browser (even if hidden from the main view of the page) that the receiving end has to process and it provides no operational benefit? If the desire is to understand the code sequence more, then there are plenty of ways to review and identify the process that underlies it. I know there is at least one other site outside of a ZC official site that provides a sort of breakdown of the base logic/processing, but again, open source... Anything could be changed...

Note that the Mod List plugin is built in to Zen Cart 1.6.0 as "Tools->System Inspection".

....a recommended part of plugin development,
What recommendations? A rhetorical question.

swguy:

Note that the Mod List plugin is built in to Zen Cart 1.6.0 as "Tools->System Inspection".

That is great news! Although a name somehow using the word "Module" or "Core Alterations" or relating to changes made by a Module might make more sense. Mind you, I'm not sure what has been added to the original Mod List plugin as a "System Inspection" usually means a lot more checking & information than just stating changes made by a module install.

I think you can also check for changes in the files by adding like a GitHub default and have it check file changes.
Checking current version on github to your changes would be a nice addition.