What the heck are Features and why do I need them for my Drupal website?
1. What the heck are Features
and why do I need them for my Drupal website?
2. Who We Are
Bryan Mayjor
Technology-assisted Developer
Extension & Experiment Station Communications
bryan.mayjor@oregonstate.edu
Tamara Hill-Tanquist
Technology-assisted Instructional Designer
Extension & Experiment Station Communications
tamara.hill-tanquist@oregonstate.edu
3. What the heck are Features?
Features is a Drupal module that create modules
4. Features …
‣ Package up site configurations, content-types, views and
more
‣ Provide an easy way to duplicate functionality to other
websites
‣ Allow site admins to set defaults that can be overwritten
AND reverted back to their original state
‣ Save configurations to code that can be version
controlled
‣ Play well with other modules
5. Modules that play well with Features
‣ Views
‣ Content Construction Kit (CCK) - for Drupal 6 sites
‣ Diff
‣ Context
‣ Feeds
‣ Strongarm
‣ Chaos tool suite (ctools)
‣ Drush
Using existing settings, content types, views, etc
We wanted to counties to have: - a similar look-and-feel for across their sites - and for features to be updatable globally look very similar learn where to find resources between sites
- links back to topic areas on Extension site
we can add banners they choose which they want -- and the order
pulls data from OSU Calendar for individual sites can see more info without leaving their site Links to more info
add image and video upload adds them to the page with a border and description
Uniform way to display images can add slideshow of these imgs to any page
- content editor -- so editors can edit content, but not get confused by additional options
One place to add content and look at previous content Links to add Calendar items (OSU Calendar) Link to Custom Drupal instructions Link to who to contact for Drupal help
- Site manager: have additional access: - administer blocks and users
they can new items edit it from the pages they display on
when it appears on the site
- Flexibility to choose what page to for it to appear on
Update once, update appears on all sites - Bryan: How to Create a Feature
Update once, update appears on all sites - Bryan: How to Create a Feature