Module development
- 1. Drupal Modules Module Building 101
- 2. What is a module? • Core Modules o Node o Comment o File o Image o etc... • Contrib Modules o Views o Webform o Block Class o Eldorado Superfly o etc...
- 3. Why more?
- 4. Reasons • Performance • New Functionality • Glue Modules • Tweak Modules
- 5. Performance • Good modules are abstract • Abstraction can be slow • Slow is bad • Custom tailored code can be faster • Tailoring for one site is easier than tailoring for all possible sites now and in the future.
- 6. New Functionality • Because 18,000 just isn’t enough
- 7. Glue Modules • API Hooks • Tie functionality together • Most sites could use one
- 8. Tweak Modules • hook_menu_alter() • hook_menu_link_alter() • hook_menu_breadcrumb_alter() • etc...
- 9. Tools of the trade • http://api.drupal.org • http://api.drupalize.me • http://drupal.org/project/module_builder • http://drupal.org/project/devel (dpm) • http://drupal.org/project/schema • http://php.net • Editor with a step-through debugger (Eclipse, Komodo, VIM)
- 10. Anatomy of a module • Placement - sites/all/modules/custom/mymodule • File names • Required Files • Hooks
- 11. Required Files • mymodule.info • mymodule.module • mymodule.install • ...others as needed
- 12. What’s in a name? • module_implements($hook) • module_invoke_all($hook) hook = modulename e.g. views.module, hook_menu() means views_menu()
- 13. Hooks to know • hook_menu() • hook_form_alter() • hook_block_*() • hook_node_*() • hook_entity_*() • hook_user_*()
- 14. Working with forms • drupal_get_form(‘my_form’) • my_form() // returns an array • my_form_validate($form, $form_state) • my_form_submit($form, $form_state) • hook_form_alter()
- 15. Tips for getting started • Read code - examples.module - core modules • Contribute - core office hours - issue queues - IRC, #drupal, #drupal-contribute