Why are some of the plugins locked ?

Question

I just notice that several of the plugins are locked and will not let me disabale them I cant un check them any ideal what can cause that ?

Comments

That's right, I also wonder why this is the case!!

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Well atleast  iam not the only one having the problem

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Just change Metadata Json

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Do  not understand what you mean?

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Still waiting for a fix to this problem

Answer 1

If you go to the folder of a plugin and take a look at the metadata.json file, you see that some have the option "load_order" "after_db_init". Plugins without this option are always loaded and cannot be disabled. So, if you want to change the behavior you have to set this values in the metadata.json

Comments

Do I have to do that for all the plugins not letting me un check ?

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Alternatively just remove the respective plugins from the plugin directory, if you don't want them loaded in the first place.

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@ ddemuth✊
Thank you for your detailed explanation. I have made the necessary modifications as you indicated and now all the old plugins can be activated or deactivated from admin banel .☺️

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Note that some plugins require initialization before DB init, in order to work.
If that's the case, you'd be better off by creating a sub-option that serves as a plugin activator/deactivator, and wrap the plugin's code like this. (Some coding will be required):

if(qa_opt('is_my_plugin_active')) {
    // The plugin's code goes here..
}

Here's an example, in a plugin, where this is implemented:
https://github.com/GATEOverflow/q2a-qnumbering/blob/ce2be0dc4207e39a931ccf72aba489a394316df4/qa-qnumbering-layer.php#L8