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Book Review:
Learning Drupal 6 Module Development
by Matt Butcher
Published by Packt publishing
Now grab this scene : You are at the fairground selling ice cream ; so are a whole bunch of other dudes. The thing is everybody else is selling just plain old vanilla mush , but you’ve got exotic flavors that just perfectly hits the spot at every slurp .(yummy!) Now can you guess who gets the chicks ? Okay the guy with the fat wallet not selling ice cream actually gets the chicks , but that was just an hypothetical question really.
Modules are the stuff which makes Drupal sites do marvelous things . They make the difference between a drab site and a popular one. The point is that when you aim to create a really popular web application in Drupal you can get a bigger bang for your bucks when you roll your own modules instead of just throwing in the contributed modules like everyone else. But to do this you need to know how to build Drupal modules . Never mind though, even if you’ve never set eyes on a Drupal module in your life here comes rescue : Learning Drupal 6 Module Development by Matt Butcher ,Published by Packt publishing . Knowing a bit of PHP/mySQL is also a prerequisite, but your kid brother could probably bang out some code for you in 2 minutes for a few bucks….I think.
This book provides a practical, hands-on approach to developing Drupal modules. And by the end of the book, you will have a solid understanding of how to build exciting modules for Drupal.
Chapter 1 gives an introduction to Drupal. It an introductory look at Drupal modules, and how they fit within the Drupal framework. Specifically, it looks at the Drupal structure , gives an introduction to modules and themes, and also offers a developer's overview of important Drupal concepts and APIs such as nodes, menus, and forms and using tools for module development.
Chapter 2 gets you working on your first module. Here you will be shown how to develop a Drupal module that takes data from an XML feed and displays it as a block on your Drupal site. Through this exercise you will also will learn about the basics of module development, including what files need to be created and where they go.
Chapter 3 introduces you to the Drupal theme system , which is made up of tools, templates, and libraries for configuring the look and feel of just about all aspects of Drupal. This chapter is important because it shows how integral the theming system is to being able to produce high-quality modules..
Chapter 4 shows how to develop a new module that deals with a custom content type. In working to develop this module you will learn about creating a custom content type, performing simple database operations, adding CSS stylesheets to a module's default theme and using theme CSS and template files to override default module theme functions
Chapter 5 focuses on Drupal's JavaScript libraries. Starting with the module that was built in Chapter 4, you will learn in this chapter how to use the jQuery library to implement an AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) service. AJAX enables a user to dynamically change page contents without having to do a full page reload. Here the author shows you how to use the Drupal and jQuery JavaScript libraries, how to build JSON (JavaScript Over the Network) service and how to fetch content using AJAX/JSON queries
Chapter 6 focuses on building an administration module which will provide an interface for administrators to send email messages to users. However, the Mail API is not the only thing that is discussed. The tremendously important Forms API is also introduced here. You will also get a good look at Drupal's access control features. In this chapter, you will create a module with an administration interface. The module we create will provide a way for administrators to send email messages to users—all from within the administration section of Drupal.
Chapter 7 shows how to write a module which defines a more complex content type than previously shown. You will in this case be creating a biography content type and it will involve. using the Schema API, the Database API, and the node system to build a content type that represents a biography. Here you will see how to create a module installation file, use the Schema API to define a new database table , and use the Database API to execute queries against the database.
Chapter 8 discusses three of the more advanced features of Drupal - filters, actions, and hooks. Filters assist to prepare content ,actions and triggers are used to automate jobs, and hooks allow other modules to interact with yours. In this chapter, you will build a module that will automate the process of sending a newsletter email to all of the users on your system. Here the focus is on the three important topics: building content filters, creating an action and assigning a trigger to the action, and creating a hook that other modules can implement.
Chapter 9 focuses more on installation profiles. In this chapter, you will build an installation profile that can install a custom version of Drupal preloaded with the modules and themes of our choice. Working with the installer, you will get a glimpse into Drupal's inner workings. Along with learning how to write code in this minimalistic pre-installation environment, you will also look at registering themes and defining triggers automatically.
Building your own module takes a bit of time and perseverance, but the end result is always worth the toil. If you are up to the task , have a smatter of programming skills and enjoy learning new things this book is certainly for you. Going by demand for Drupal programming skills these days who knows it might even make you the guy with the fat wallet not selling ice cream!!
