Drupal Module Development

CMS + framework + Community

Getting Involved!

do (drupal_module_development) or die(a_noob); /* Btw.. That is the official title of this talk. */

Hooks

Drupal API http://api.drupal.org/

Seek the purpose You got to answer some questions. | a good starting point | What do I want to do?

Answers to be found

The end user should be able to do this ___________ .

__________ be done to the end user.

All corollaries of #1 and #2

After all..

end user

Lets say we want… This is how user profile page should look like to anybody visiting it. Block displaying currently logged in users “role length” details ** we also want the user to receive ‘n’ number of automated mail notifications as he is approaching a particular role expiry. User account page Member Since: 3weeks 2days Has role ‘lucky’: expires in 13 more days Has role ‘geek’: Never expires BLAH.. BLAH… <Username> Role ‘rookie’: expires in 14 days Role ‘content contributor’: expires in 100 days

Some more answers to be found

Does the admin need to be bothered?

What settings/configurations ought to be exposed to the admin?

What is the right place (drupal path) to do this?

Okay.. So how should the form(s) look like?

Lets say we want…

Try all PnC

Highly recommended to evaluate if the requirements can be fulfilled by PnC of drupal core + “killer modules”

Drupal core

Core – Optional modules

Cck, Views, Panels et al

Contributions!! Where? How?

There are very high chances that what you are looking for has already been developed 

http://drupal.org/project/Modules

http://drupalmodules.com/module-finder

Google -> site:drupal.org/project <search keywords> -cvs

No Luck!!

Time to get hands dirty !!  How?

Make sure to look inside related modules Related => Modules that do things which are only slightly different or slightly similar to the things that you wound want your module to do.

Indispensable development help

Indispensable development help Coder Schema Form Builder Devel

Determine the schema Requirement collection starts form the user . Development should start from the database . Map the schema to all/any mock ups you have prepared.

Schema mockup role_length rid int rlength int exprid int asg_mail text exp_mail text role_length_user_ roles rid tinyint uid int asg_time timestamp expmail_sent text

Map schema to everything else in the UI mockups just created

** we also want the user to receive ‘n’ number of mail notifications as he is approaching a particular role expiry. Check if we have all the data that we need. * Avoid redundancy. There is a lot of data in tables not created by the module being developed. role_length rid int rlength int exprid int asg_mail text exp_mail text role_length_user_roles rid tinyint uid int asg_time timestamp expmail_sent text User account page Member Since: 3weeks 2days Has role ‘lucky’: expires in 13 more days Has role ‘geek’: Never expires BLAH.. BLAH… <Username> Role ‘rookie’: expires in 14 days Role ‘content contributor’: expires in 100 days

Creating .info and .install files

Use dependencies only when core functionality of your module depends upon other modules ELSE use module_exists()

Schema API ?

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_install

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_uninstall

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_install_schema

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_schema

Creating .module file

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_help

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_menu

Form API ?

http://api.drupal.org/api/file/form_api_reference.html/6

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_form_alter

AHAH !!

Best practices to structure $form Why are they called “best practices” ?

How to: dynamic forms and forms that “grow” what is the difference!!??

jQuery To jazz up your forms with tool tips, pop-ins, char count et al.

AHAH FAPI + menu callback To ajaxify forms without changing the types of or number of elements in the form. (eg: username availability)

AHAH FAPI + menu callback + form rebuilding To asynchronously grow the form. Adding/Removing elements or changing types of elements.

Changing forms asynchronously Initially requests for the form Build the form > Send out the rendered form > Save form state in the cache Acts upon the AHAH element “ AHAH callback” fetches form from the cache > build it using $_POST values > Add/Removes/Modifies elements > Set the cache > Output changes as JSON AHAH grabs the JSON response and does the magic.

Major hooks

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_user

Gotcha: Not implementing the case delete. Especially dangerous when modules own tables have user related data. Just do it in the memory of node/8

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_cron

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/hook_block

Tools we can use…

DATABASE API

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/drupal_write_records

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/user_roles

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/format_interval

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/user_multiple_role_edit

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/user_load

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/drupal_mail

http://api.drupal.org/api/function/watchdog

~ 2200 more

Ain’t Drupal beautiful ?! To keep it that way don’t spit out your output, theme it.

Ta-Da!! ® Lets go to node/59

http://drupal.org/node/100748

Add code to CVS

Create the project on drupal.org

Create a release

Add a handbook page

May the force be with you

? Sumeet Pareek aka WikidKaka positivecharge (at) gmail (dot) com http://sumeetpareek.com http://drupal.org/user/301925

Drupal Module Development

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