Synopses & Reviews
If youre a web programmer new to Drupal, this book shows you which programming techniques you can use—and which you should avoid—when building custom web applications with this content management framework. Drupal has its own set of programming principles that require a different approach, and many programmers make mistakes when relying on skills theyve used for other projects. The guidelines in this book help you through the transition by demonstrating which programming practices conform to the “Drupal way,” and which dont.
If youre familiar with PHP, youll quickly learn how to take advantage of the powerful Drupal API.
- Get a complete overview of Drupal, including Drupal core and add-on modules and themes
- Learn Drupals basic programming principles, such as the ability to customize behavior and output with hooks
- Discover common Drupal programming mistakes—and why hacking is one of them
- Explore specific areas where you can put your programming skills to work
- Learn programming tips and tools to help you perfect and debug your applications
Synopsis
When experienced web programmers start working with the Drupal content management system, the instincts and knowledge that have served them well in creating stand-alone web software can get in the way of learning how best to use the Drupal framework. This book will help programmers get past this obstacle, and make the transition from fighting with Drupal to taking advantage of the powerful Drupal APIs that are available for skillful programmers to use. Topics covered:
- Programmer's introduction to the architecture of Drupal
- Common programmer mistakes and misconceptions
- When to program and when not to program
- Advanced Drupal programming techniques
About the Author
Jennifer Hodgdon wrote her first computer program in 1982, and has been a professional software developer since 1994, using a wide variety of programming languages (FORTRAN, C, Java, PHP, JavaScript, ...). She started doing PHP/MySQL web programming professionally around 2002, and set up her first Drupal web site in 2007. Soon after that, she started contributing volunteer time to the Drupal open-source project and the Seattle Drupal User Group: organizing meet-ups and conferences, serving as the co-leader and then the leader of the Drupal Documentation Team in 2011-2012, leading workshops, and making conference presentations. She is currently a freelance Drupal site builder and module programmer, the volunteer maintainer of several Drupal modules, the co-organizer of the Spokane (WA) Drupal User Group, and the Drupal Core maintainer/committer for API documentation and coding standards. She can be contacted through her business web site, poplarware.com, or through her Drupal.org user account (jhodgdon).