The profile plugin is bundled with both the full and core-only Elgg packages. The intention is that it can be disabled and replaced with another profile plugin if you wish.

It provides a number of pieces of functionality which many consider fundamental to the concept of a social networking site, and is unique within the plugins because the profile icon it defines is referenced as standard from all over the system.

User details

This provides information about a user, which is configurable from within the plugin's start.php file. Later versions will allow you to change the available profile fields from a control panel.

Each profile field has its own access restriction, so users can choose exactly who can see each individual element. Some of the fields contain tags (for example skills); limiting access to a field will also limit who can find you by that tag.

User avatar

The user avatar represents a user (or a group) throughout the site. By default, this includes a context-sensitive menu that allows you to perform actions on the user it belongs to wherever you see their avatar. For example, you can add them as a friend, send an internal message, and more. Each plugin can add to this context menu, so its full contents will vary depending on the functionality active in the current Elgg site.

Notes for developers

Using a different profile icon

To replace the profile icon, or provide more content, extend the profile/icon view.

Adding to the context menu

The context menu can be expanded by extending the following views with new ones containing link tags only:

• profile/menu/links for non-active links (eg to read a blog)
• profile/menu/actions for active links (in other words, links that perform an action on the specified user)
• profile/menu/adminlinks for links accessible by administrators only

In each case, the user in question will be passed as $vars['entity'].