Becoming A Drupal Master Builder

Philip Norton

Blog at #! code (www.hashbangcode.com)@philipnorton42 on Twitter

Technical Lead at

Philip Norton

Creator of Vlad Helps run NWDUG

==

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrish_99/6730952349/

http://buytaert.net/album/birthday-axl-2011/dries-with-lego

My Experience

● 10+ years in programming

● 8+ years in the web industry

● 6+ years building Drupal sites

● 4+ years as Technical Lead at Access

● Development, system design, database and server administration, consulting, SEO, usability, training, mentoring

Other People’s Projects

● Reviewing projects built internally

● Migrating existing Drupal sites

● Third party sites that we need to host and maintain

● Rescue jobs

The good thing about PHP, is it’s really easy

to learn.The bad thing about

PHP, is it’s really easy to learn

Ben Dechrai

Contents

● Drupal File Architecture

● Coding

● Configuration

● Contrib Modules

Drupal File Architecture

Drupal File Structure

● Custom/contrib for the modules directory

-- sites---- all------ modules-------- contrib-------- custom

● Easy to spot what the custom modules are

● Makes analysing custom code much easier

● Always use sites/default/files to store your files, it will make life easier in the long run

Multi-site Setups

● Use DNS entries to auto-detect your file directory

sites/www.example.com/filessites/www.example.com/modulessites/www.example.com/settings.php

● Nice idea

● In practice it causes more problems than it solves

● This is used even when not needed

Themes

● Use the template.php file for theme overrides and helper functions

● Do not use the template.php file to run database commands

● Do not hardcode ID’s all over the place

● Use generic templates and stop template proliferation

● Drupal 8 forces you to stop using logic in your templates and instead use preprocess hooks

Overly Specifying Specific Specifics

● More specific custom code means more stuff to break

if ($node->nid == 1234) {}

● Node ID and Block ID specific templates

● Use of taxonomy term ID to control things

● If you have to use specifics then use configuration to set these values

Drupal Module File Structure

● Lots of Drupal 7 hooks come with a file parameter

● Use it to move functionality into different files

● Namespace your module functions in Drupal 7

my_custom_module_some_function()

● Put all classes in their own files

● Use the X Autoload module to use PSR-4 in Drupal 7

● Drupal 8 Forces PSR-4! :)

http://www.jpstacey.info/blog/2015-06-22/architecting-drupal-7-module-multiple-files

Drupal Module Documentation

● Add documentation to your modules

● Write more than the basics in your info file

name = Tool Tips moduledescription = A module for tool tips

● Add a readme file and detail to the drupal.org module page

● Also think about adding install and configure help

Drupal CHANGELOG.txt

● Don’t allow information leakage by including the CHANGELOG.txt file in your Drupal install

● Restrict access via webserver configs

● Can also remove them from your codebase but the Hacked! module will complain

● Alternatively, simply remove them as part of your deployment process

Drupal Custom Code

● Don’t reinvent the wheel, use Drupal’s framework

● Use third party modules to provide functionality as much as possible

● Use Drupal’s hooks to accomplish actions or change existing functionality

Coding

Don’t Hack Core

● There are a million good reasons not to do this

● This includes contributed module and theme hacks

● Patching is ok as a last resort, BUT document your changes!

● Do it the right way, learn about hooks, overrides and child themes

https://www.drupal.org/best-practices/do-not-hack-core

Version Control

● Use version control

● Seriously, use it

● Git is good, so is Mercurial

● Commit often, use commit messages, describe your changes

Version Control Branches

● Git branching is cheap

● Use git flow (or a variant)

● The master branch is a copy of the live site

● All work should be done on a development branch and merged with master when ready for deployment

Version Control Etiquette

● Describe your work in commit messages

● Don’t add databases to your git repo

● Don’t include the user files directory in your git repo!

● settings.php file is debatable, just be careful of adding usernames and passwords to your repos

● Use a local settings file

if (file_exists(__DIR__ . '/settings.local.php')) { include __DIR__ . '/settings.local.php';}

Use An IDE

● Syntax highlighting, code navigation, debugging, autocomplete, auto formatting and more!

● Quickly spot unused variables

● Detect errors and problems before you commit the code

Development Environment

● Try to replicate your production environment when developing

● Stop silly errors creeping into the live site

● WAMP/MAMP solutions just don’t cut it

● Use Vagrant and a provisioning tool

● Vlad! :)

PHP Errors

● Syntax errors should never make it into production

● PHP Notices and Warnings are also NOT acceptable in a production environment!

● Understand the internal Drupal error processing (See _drupal_log_error() in Drupal 7)

● Don’t use @ to suppress warnings, it’s lazy and has performance implications

● Use try {...} catch() {...} block to catch exceptions

Coding Standards

● Pick a coding standard and stick to it

● Use the Code Sniffer tool, preferably with the Drupal coding standards files

● Implement a continuous integration system to auto check the code (e.g. Jenkins)

● Coder module (https://www.drupal.org/project/coder) has everything you need

https://www.drupal.org/coding-standards

Cyclomatic Complexity

● The total number of paths of execution through a block of code

if ($variable == TRUE) { do_something();}else { do_something_else();}

● High numbers are bad (harder to read and maintain)

● Use PHPMD to inspect your own code and refactor complexity

Cyclomatic Complexity = 2

Always code as if the person who ends up

maintaining your code is a violent psychopath who knows where you

live.

John Woods

Drupal Tests

● Drupal has a test module bundled

● Drupal 7 uses Simpletest, Drupal 8 uses Simpletest and PHPUnit

● Write tests!

● Test current functionality, re-run tests when refactoring or adding new functionality

● Can take time to write tests, but it’s worth it in the long run

Configuration

Drupal Content Types

● Content type != template type

Press ReleaseNews ArticleFront Page News Article

● A mistake that many site builders make

● Create functional content types, use data to control them

CSS/JavaScript Aggregation

● Turn it on!

● Reduce the size of your files and the number of files downloaded

● Reduces server load and decreases page load speed

● Try it before you deploy live, some CSS/JavaScript code can be broken by this

● Spot problems before they appear in live environments

Fieldsets And Vertical Tabs

● 40+ fields on your content types makes a long edit page

● Use vertical tabs and fieldsets to break the page up

● Field Group module has this functionality

● Try to avoid using “Unlimited” cardinality on fields especially on file fields

● Think about how your users will edit pages

Permissions

● General rule is to restrict user permissions to the core activities they will be doing

● Giving users too much access can be confusing, especially for new Drupal users

● Also don’t allow lots of ‘superuser’ roles as it becomes difficult to restrict access

PHP Filter

● The PHP Filter module is bad, never use it

● Execution of PHP is slow and uncachable

● Quickly creates an unmaintainable mess

● Lots of security implications

● Removed from Drupal 8 (with much fanfare!)

Running Cron

● Don't get your users to run cron, put it in crontab

● Use the Elysia Cron module to process cron tasks at different times

● Can see a massive (90%+) reduction in the cron footprint

https://www.drupal.org/project/elysia_cron

Updates

● Some modules use update hooks to run actions, usually to add or update database tables

● It is essential that you run update.php when you deploy an update to a module

● Using ‘drush updatedb’ also works well here

Uninstall Deactivated Modules

● Uninstalling modules is important as they leave behind tables and data that isn’t used

● Turn off and uninstall modules before deleting them

Contrib Modules

Views, Views, Views

● Use Views to show lists of content

● Built into Drupal 8

● Don’t duplicate a View to display the same thing on different pages

● Use contextual filters to alter the same View in different contexts

● Remember to add pagination and limits

Pathauto

● Seeing node/123 on production websites makes me cringe

● Use Pathauto to create pretty paths from node data

● Creates SEO friendly paths

https://www.drupal.org/project/pathauto

Context

● React to certain page level conditions

- Paths- Views- Content Types- Menu Items- Taxonomy Terms

● Much better and more controlled block placement in Drupal 7

● Fully exportable so placement can be kept in config

https://www.drupal.org/project/context

Advanced Aggregation

● Compress your CSS and JS even more

● GZips your code for smaller size when transporting

https://www.drupal.org/project/advagg

UI Modules

● Many modules come with a user interface (UI) sub module that wrap the administration interface

- Views UI- Context UI- Rules UI- Display Suite UI

etc...

● Turn them off in production

Devel

● Really powerful module

● Makes development easy in Drupal

● Awesome sub modules like Devel Generate and Devel Node Access

● Who doesn’t love Devel?

● Don’t, don’t, DON’T leave it running it production!

● Also, DON’T commit dpm() into your code!

Stage File Proxy

● Really good module for using uploaded files on a dev platform without having to download the user files directory from production

● No need deploy to production

https://www.drupal.org/project/stage_file_proxy

Features

● Features allows modules to be made that create Content Types, Fields, Views, Contexts, Rules, and many more types of configuration

● Allows you to see when things have changed and allows easy deployment of new functionality

● Try to add as much configuration into code as possible

● Group like items together

https://www.drupal.org/project/features

Spotting Problems

opensource.com

● JavaScript aggregation is turned off (but not CSS?)

● Messy module directory structure (due to Panopoly distribution)

Cisco Internet Of Everything

● Runs Drupal 7.24 (as seen from CHANGELOG.txt)

● Vulnerable to SA-CORE-2014-005?

belgium.be

● Lots of stuff done right

● CSS and JavaScript aggregation turned off

Greater Than Games

● Runs Drupal 7.41, as seen in CHANGELOG.txt

● Multi-site setup

Elite Dangerous Community Site

● CSS/JavaScript aggregation is turned off

● Some use of Path Auto so URL’s like ‘node/123’ are common

● Multi-site setup

● Hacked the Bootstrap theme to make a sub-theme

● Call me! :)

Top TipsSome things to take away with you

Top Tips

● Have a go live plan

● Think about the experience of all of your users

● Don’t overcomplicate simple functionality

● Don’t use specific templates, generalise

● Think about the long term life of the site

● Learn the system (i.e. Drupal)

?