Symphony.

I'm trying to setup a rating system for a site and I've decided on using Rabid Ratings v1.4 (http://widgets.rabidlabs.net/ratings/v1.4/). The Rabid Ratings required tables have been created in my Symphony database, and I've tested the functionality independently of Symphony (visited http://localhost:8888/ratingtest/demo.php) and rated a few of the provided examples, then, to make sure things worked, I verified that each rating had been stored in the Rabid tables. My problem arises when I try to integrate this into Symphony. I'm not sure how to create an extension, so I thought I could attempt to create an Event, then change the Event file (called 'event.ratingtesting.php') to simply include the 'rating.php' file. This seems to have no effect. So can anyone please suggest how I might proceed with this?! Thanks.

This definitely looks like a good candidate for becoming an extension. That said, I'm not the one to speak to going about it.

You can run PHP functions from XSL, but I don't know if Symphony registers the functions in PHP, as is required (never tested it myself).

The extension would be the better way, but the function-call might be the quick solution.

but I don't know if Symphony registers the functions in PHP

Nope. Symphony doesn't register any PHP functions with XSL. This may be changing for 2.0, haven't decided yet.

Is there any documentation on how to create an Extension for Symphony 2 (r5)? If so, where might I find it?

Currently there is no documentation, and won't be until Symphony 2 final. The best option is to get one of the simpler extensions, like Session Monster, and have a poke around. The basic shell of an extension is found in extension.driver.php. See how you go and feel free to ask questions if you get stuck.