How to make a Custom Rock Library Plugin

This will show how to make a simple Custom Rock Library Plugin that can be used to extend the functionality of the core Rock system, without needing to change any code in the core.

Prerequisites

Proficiency in C# and a familiarity with Entity Framework.
An installation of Rock, either from the Rock Installer or by building the Rock core in your development environment (see Installing Rock ChMS)
A version of Rock with Entity Framework 6.0.
The Rock Requirements

Prepare your Development Environment

Create a new folder for your custom Solution.
- Name your folder using the Rock naming conventions
- For example
  - c:\projects\mychurch-rock\ as the solution folder of your custom project(s)
  - c:\projects\mychurch-rock\MyCustomProject\ as the folder for your Custom Rock Library Plugin project
- Optional: Now would also be a good time to implement some sort of Source Control for your code. For example, you could use http://github.com, create an account and make a repository for your project.
Install Rock
Install Rock to c:\projects\mychurch-rock\RockWeb\
Since we aren’t changing the Rock Core, just use the regular Rock Installer
When prompted for the Database connection string, make sure you choose one for your development environment (not production)
For more details, see Installing Rock ChMS

Create new Visual Studio Solution

Using Visual Studio, create a new Class Library project
- Choose C:\Projects\mychurch-rock\ as the Location, and name your Library in the format of com.mychurch.. For example: com.mychurch.MyFirstRockLibrary