Add help page

Great idea to add help text to Feeds! Here are my findings:

1. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +    case  'help.page.feeds':
   

   Coding standards: between two cases there needs to be an empty line.

2. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +      $output .= '<p>' . t('An import and aggregation framework for Drupal. For more information, see the <a href=":feed-documentation">online documentation for the Automated Cron module</a>.', [':feed-documentation' => 'https://drupal.org/project/feeds']) . '</p>';
   

   You accidentally said 'Automated Cron module' here ;).

3. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +      $output .= '<dt>' . t('Import or aggregate data as nodes, users, taxonomy terms or simple database records.') . '</dt>';
   ...
   +      $output .= '<li>' . t('Create nodes, users, taxonomy terms or <a href=":simple-db-records"> simple database records</a> from import.', [':simple-db-records' => 'http://drupal.org/project/data']) . '</li>';
   

   Simple database records is only supported by the D6 version of Feeds. So that part can be left out here.

4. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +      $output .= '<li>' . t('Exportable configurations.') . '</li>';
   

   This can be left out. All D8 config is exportable these days.

5. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +      $output .= '<p>' . t('For a guide to using Feeds in site builds or how to develop for Feeds, see the <a href=":feed-doc">Feeds documentation</a>. On developmentseed.org, there is a December 09 post showing how to import and aggregate with Feeds in <a href=":three-brief-screencasts">three brief screencasts</a>.', [':feed-doc' => 'http://drupal.org/node/622696', ':three-brief-screencasts' => 'http://developmentseed.org/blog/2009/dec/15/importing-and-aggregating-stuff-feeds']) . '</p>';
   +      $output .= '<p>' . t('To see what Feeds can do, you can enable one of the included feature modules: Feeds Import or Feeds News (requires the <a href=":features">Features module</a>).', [':features' => 'https://www.drupal.org/project/features']) . '</p>';
   

   These apply on the D6/D7 versions of Feeds, so I think a link to the Feeds D8 documentation should be added here.

6. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +      $output .= '<li>' . t('<a href=":feed-import-preview">Feeds Import Preview provides a way of previewing the source content before importing. This can help you with debugging your imports.', [':feed-import-preview' => 'https://www.drupal.org/project/feedspreview']) . '</li>';
   +      $output .= '<li>' . t('<a href=":commerce-feeds">Commerce Feeds allows you to import products into your Drupal Commerce installation.', ['' => 'https://www.drupal.org/project/commerce_feeds', ':commerce-feeds' => 'https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal.org/project/commerce']) . '</li>';
   +      $output .= '<li>' . t('<a href=":feed-entity-proc">Feeds Entity Processor</a> allows you to import content for almost any entity type. Be aware though that the module is still a bit experimental, so for some entity types you may run into errors. If so, don&apos;t hesitate to open an <a href=":issue">issue</a>!', [':feed-entity-proc' => 'https://www.drupal.org/project/feeds_entity_processor', ':issue' => 'https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/feeds_entity_processor']) . '</li>';
   

   These modules do not have D8 versions yet. I'm not sure if we should reference them here?

7. +++ b/feeds.module
   @@ -16,10 +16,46 @@ use Drupal\feeds\Plugin\QueueWorker\FeedRefresh;
   +      $output .= '<p>' . t('For a better reference of contributed modules for Feeds, read the <a href=":corres-page">corresponding page of the documentation or use drupal.org&apos;s search.', [':corres-page' => 'https://www.drupal.org/node/856644']) . '</p>';
   

   This also references D7 modules mostly, but that page could perhaps be updated to give an overview for which of them are in D8 as well. In that case this phrase can be left in.

Should this task cover the README.txt file as well or should we create a new task for this?

I tried applying patch mentioned in #4 but it is failed to apply.

Tagging for DrupalCamp Colorado's upcoming contrib day.

I updated comment #6. Originally it said that there was no README file, but there is now.

I would put two links on this page instead of adding full text of help

• https://www.drupal.org/docs/contributed-modules/feeds
• https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/modules/feeds

I agree to @irinaz for the moment it would be enough to directly link to the drupal.org documentation for the help page. Just provide a single link for each version of Feeds:

8.x-3.0-alpha9 : https://www.drupal.org/docs/contributed-modules/feeds
7.x-2.0-beta5: https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/modules/feeds

That should be sufficient for the moment and would save work instead of repeating the overview content from the drupal.org module page. At a later point those documentation pages could be easily transformed into Help Topics (an experimental core module - https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/documenting-your-project/help-topic-... ) since the documentation is already written in a task based manner. But I guess it would be reasonable to open up a separate issue for that.

I've created a quick patch adding a help page just linking to the Feeds documentation on drupal.org as @irinaz has suggested (talked about that with her on the Drupalcamp Colorado Zoom call - if there are any issues with it in regards of conventions, naming or general wording of the sentence please let me know)

I agree with the work of #12 and #13.

If anything, updated documentation should be reflected on #3128377: Redesign Feeds project page and the growing #3128379: Improving Feeds Documentation using information from solved issues.

Should this task cover the README.txt file as well or should we create a new task for this?

I recommend creating a new task for README changes.

Ideally, the detailed changes mentioned in #6, for example, IMO are better suited to live in README (and then consumed by d.o module documentation and project page).

The guide could be used to provide topical help but the last patch is required anyway

https://www.drupal.org/docs/develop/documenting-your-project/help-topic-...

I committed #13 with a minimal change. PHP was complaining about the undefined variable $output.

Should we leave this issue open for more content on the help page?

I think that we should close this ticket - it was about help link available in drupal UI. We could later open separate ticket for more help text on Feeds documentation https://www.drupal.org/docs/contributed-modules/feeds.
These are two different issues.

We can also use this issue to see if working with issue forks https://git.drupalcode.org/issue/feeds-2960836 is more efficient than working through patches.

Based on discussion in ContributionWeekend2022 leave the patch short, ready for release.