How To Use a MODx Plugin to Cache Snippets

I don't want to take credit for this, but I definitely wanted to blog about it because I think it is a big deal. In a forum post I made on modxcms.com, ganeshXL came up with an awesome way to cache snippet output with a MODx plugin. Here is what ganeshXL wrote:

1. create a chunk. Leave it empty. Name it whatever you want, e.g. testMenu

2. create a plugin. Enter this:

   $myChunk = 'testMenu'; // your chunk name
$params['startId'] = '0';
$params['level'] = '4';
$html = addslashes($modx->runSnippet('Wayfinder', $params));
$sql= "UPDATE " . $modx->getFullTableName("site_htmlsnippets") . " SET snippet='$html' WHERE name='$myChunk'";
$result= $modx->dbQuery($sql);

3. Check the system event OnDocFormSave + save the plugin.
4. Change your template: Replace your Wayfinder call with your chunk: {{testMenu}}

Now, every time you edit a doc, the Menu code is being regenerated and stored in your chunk. This should speed up things quite a bit..

This is really cool since it means that you can cache snippet output and give php and mysql a break on processing your code. Like I said, all the credit goes to ganeshXL :) If you're interested in the context that this was created in, you can read the full post here.