Module development and code questions

First let me say hello and it's good to see such an active support forum. I am a member of CubeCart and PHPWebsite and have sites running on those programs. Drupal looks as if I can switch my e-commerce sites because of the many options. I am however having a problem installing the e-commerce module. I have uploaded all to my server and have enabled the required modules but I cannot seem to configure my sql db and get loads of errors like this one:

Here is my problem. I have a large header on my page, and the page content starts 30 pixels below that. Except on a few of my pages I want to add stuff like a subheader or generate a sub nav for that certain section directly under the navigation. Can anybody tell me how to add a variable to the page theme? I would like to dump a variable such as "subHeader" and if it exists on the page then I display it. I tried to manipulate the breadcrumb but that didn't work.

Hi all,

Wondering if anyone has done any work before to customise the information stored about different types of users, so different input fields are available e.g. for a 'professional' user a drop down box with professional type (doctor, lawyer, etc.).

Am still familiarising myself with drupal's innards and have considered a number of possible ways to accomplish what I want.

Initially I thought of creating a different flexinode for each user type and allowing access to creation of each based on user type. I decided though that it was silly to create a separate portal for entering user data when this already exists (and would it be possible to integrate already existing data into a flexinode anyway? i.e. to enable editing of data existing elsewhere already such as email address) and moved onto customising the user edit facilities. I considered just using the profile module but this doesn't seem to have any notion of user types so if I add a category of information such as professional I have no way of only showing this when the user is a professional and something entirely or partially different when the user is an advertiser for example.

So, as I see it, a number of options. Take the profile module and have a play around to see if I can come up with what I'm after. Or, create a module to do what I want. I started work on a Professional module and then realised I'm going to have to duplicate for each type of user required. Maybe I should create a generic module to do all this and a CustomUser settings interface (looking similar to permissions control maybe) to specify what fields to make available for each user type.

Most of you are probably familiar with the rating system employed by Netflix and others. Here's an implementation by ITConversations: http://www.itconversations.com/browse.php

Both Netflix and ITC are using something apparently called "StarBar", various pieces and versions of which can be seen here:

Hi Drupal Gurus:

I was hoping that somoene might be able to help me w/ a little problem. I have been flirting w/ the idea of creating my own nested tree structure as part of a module I'm developing. The structure would essentially complete with the taxonomy functionality except be localized to a $user->uid w/ the ability to be shared and or public.

How can I let users create their own secure (not site wide) taxonomy / tagging system for content?

I was hoping that this could be accomplished w/out the need for duplicating development.

Ok, I'm a total newbie at drupal development, but I know some php and am a capable programmer in my own right. Perhaps some of you can help me.

I would like to create a module that would have the following features: