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Talking About Drupal
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Web browser
1. URL 8. HTML
2. filename
Web server File system
3. File contents
4. File
7. HTML
contents
5. SQL statement
Script interpreter DBMS
6. Query result
Who Uses Drupal?
Who Uses Drupal?
• Nike.com • Mike Bloomberg, Mayor
- City of New York
• FedEx
• Warner Bros.
• Fox News
• NASA/NATO
• Belgian Government &
the Prime Minister’s site • Yahoo! Help
• Fast Company.com • Adobe Flex
• AOL Corporate • Britney Spears
• Ozzy Osborne • Universal Music
More...
• www.zappos.com
• amnesty.org
• theonion.com
• popsci.com (Popular Science)
• http://www.drupalsites.net/
What it is NOT.
• Appropriate for every website.
• A silver bullet.
• A “set and forget” system
Disadvantages
• Technical/knowledge requirements
• Design biases - columns, blocks, header
• Dries Buytaert quote...
The Drupal Way
Basic Terminology
• Node
• nid, uid, fid
• Module
• Core
• Contributed
• Block
• Theme
Nodes
• Nodes
• The basic content “unit” - serves as a generic
“content” bucket.
• All content types are based off of it.
• It is stored together with all other nodes in one
big "shoe-box" known as a "table" in your
database.
Nodes
• Node:
• May be a "page," "story," "book page," or "blog
entry.”
• New types may be created.
• May be heavily customized using the Content
Creation Kit.
• Different types of content are also referred to
as "Content types".
“Content Type”
Poll node
Your
Page node
Content
Blog node
Drupal Framework
• Core Modules
• Modules that are integrated with the “core”
Drupal code
• Some optional/some not
• Contributed “Contrib” Modules
• Extended functionality
• Modules contributed by the Drupal community,
may be companies or individuals
Core Modules
}
• Node
Cannot
• System
be
• User deleted
• Block
Core - Optional Modules
• Aggregator: publishing syndicated content Block:
controlling content in the sidebars
• Blog: a blog for every user
• BlogApi: post from blog tools
• Book: structured document publishing
• Color: Allows the user to change the color scheme
of certain themes
• Comment: allow comments on content
Core (Optional) Modules
• Content translation: translating posts
to different languages
• Dblog: Capture system events in log
• Filter: Input formats for user content
• Forum: create threaded
Core (Optional) Modules
• Help: context-sensitive guidance
• Legacy: remapping of old-style URLs
• Locale: multi-language support
• and many more we’ll discuss...
Navigation (Menus)
• Primary links
• Secondary links
• Navigation
Blocks
• Small, self-contained
units of information
• Typically displayed in
navigation areas or side
areas of the page
• Enable, disable and
position
Themes
• Responsible for look and
feel
• Generated by PHP
template engine
• not a “Page” in the
traditional Dreamweaver
sense
• Site Building>Themes
But, First...a word from
our sponsor on tips
and tricks..
Memory Allocation
Error!
• Caused by running “out” of allocated PHP memory
-99% of the time it occurs on the Modules page
• Fixes:
• Turn off modules in phpmyadmin with the “0”
flag.
• Collapse fieldsets on the modules page
• BEST IDEA: reallocate more memory in php.ini.
Editing php.ini
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
; Resource Limits ;
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
max_execution_time = 30 ; Maximum execution time of each script, in
seconds
;
max_input_time = 60
Maximum amount of time each script may spend parsing
request data
memory_limit = 512M ; Maximum amount of memory a script may
consume (32MB)
I’m locked out of Admin!
1. Enter http://www.myexample.com/user (or, if you
don't use Clean URLs,
http://www.myexample.com/?q=user).
Yes, it is the word "user" -- not your user ID.
2. Go to your Site information settings and stick
a "login" link in the footer.
<a href="/user">login</a>
Forgot my Password!
• Go to phpmyadmin and login
• Go to the users table, go to “Browse”
• Find the password field and delete the contents
• Enter a new password and assign it a “type” of
“MD5”
• Hit “Go” to execute the SQL query.
• Login as admin.
Selecting Modules
• drupal.org/project/modules
• Filter by 6.0
• Assess module health by:
• Look at Project Pages
• Check last commit date
• Check last release date
• Look at issue queue
• Check user profiles (project involvement, etc)
Designing a Drupal
Implementation
Architecture & Project Issues
Key Issues
• It’s all about the content
• Pen & Paper are your Friends. Exploit them.
• Consider OO, going forward
• Design for what works/what you need - now.
Initial Questions to Ask
General Architectural Approach:
1. What are the general aims of the site?
2. What kinds of content currently exists?
3. What kinds of content might I want in 3
months, 6 months, 12 months?
4. What immediate customizations will you need?
(AFAYK)
5. Don’t go further.
An Approach
• Decide on basic content.
• Layout blocks/structure on paper.
• Fill in the “blanks” with tentative content.
• Set up test server and sandbox.
• Lock down security around the server/sandbox
today. Do not wait until “later”. You WILL...
An Approach
• Select modules (80% rule).
• Check module health:
• Maintainer track record
• Commit record
• Issue queue for the module
• Any forum discussion
• Project page
• Check drupalmodules.com
Build
• Use Demo mode. Take frequent snapshots.
• Use Devel - be prepared to turn it off.
• Make back up copies of underlying config files,
including .htaccess, and any module config files.
(Store away carefully.)
• Install modules by themselves or in groups by
functionality.
• Do not allow errors to go uninvestigated.
• Use cron.php - run update.php
Do NOT hack core.
• Do NOT hack core.
• Do NOT hack core.
• Do NOT hack core.
• Do NOT hack core.
• Do NOT hack core.
• Do NOT hack core.
Do NOT Hack Core
Deploying Drupal
• Try to separate out the specific from the generic:
• host
• platform
• security clearance
• admin panel/site issues
• from the fairly generic
On the DVD
• Drupal Install
• Drupal Modules
• Resource Documents
• Tools
Related docs
