Drupal Module Development Course
Length: 3 days
Delivery: Face to face for both public and private training
Designed for: Those familiar with Drupal, especially Views and CCK
What will happen: You’ll begin by writing a small four-line module and will work up to a complex module with more than 200 lines of code. Over the course of three days, your knowledge of how Drupal modules are built will jump from 0% to 90%. The course will cover:
Ten of the top Drupal hooks
The use of the Form API and Schema API
Testing using Simpletest
Building custom database tables, adding a custom CCK field
What is provided
Depending on the venue, students will either use their own computers or work in a computer lab with a sandbox environment
Students will be provided with printed manuals that outline the day’s step-by-step schedule
More about this course
We’ll begin with a module anatomy discussion and an explanation of the complex system of Drupal hooks. You’ll be walked through the creation of a complex module with over 200 lines of code. Then we’ll go over the top ten Drupal hooks, the Form API and the menu system. We’ll explain how to adapt to Drupal coding standards, including how to utilize specific functions to write secure codes that sanitize data from end users. You’ll understand how to expose your custom data to the Views module and learn how to use Drupal’s database abstraction layer to safely insert and extract data. The course also covers how to define themes, preprocess functions, include template files and how to access Drupal’s theme system from your module. If there’s still time, we’ll go over Drupal’s built-in testing abilities. Once the course is finished, you’ll receive a copy of your finished module, including documentation and alternate examples.
After these three days, you’ll be experienced with Drupal API and developer tools and you’ll understand how over 90% of Drupal modules are built. You’ll leave with the confidence and skills necessary to take on your own similar projects.
Prerequisites
At least six months of prior PHP development. You should also understand Drupal terms such as Blocks, Nodes, Views, CCK, etc. To better understand the concepts of theme development, experience with installing Drupal and contributed modules/themes is recommended.
