Walk through the development of complete Drupal 6 modules with this primer for PHP programmers, written specifically for Drupal 6 to get you started coding your first module. Are you a Drupal developer looking to update to version 6? This book covers the new and updated APIs to guide your transition to Drupal 6. The new menu system, the Forms and Schema APIs, and many core revisions are covered in this book. This book is written for PHP developers who want to add custom features to Drupal. You will need to know the basics of PHP and MySQL programming, but no experience of programming Drupal is required, although you will be expected to be familiar with the basic operation of Drupal.
Learning Drupal 6 Module Development
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About the Author
Matt Butcher is the principal consultant for Aleph-Null, Inc. (http://aleph-null.tv), where he specializes in content management systems, Linux system integration, and Open Source technologies. He has been an active participant in Open Source technologies for over a decade. Along with Learning Drupal 6, Matt has also written Mastering OpenLDAP, Managing and Customizing OpenCms 6, and Building Websites with OpenCms, all of which are published by Packt. When not pushing bits, Matt likes to explore Colorado with his wife and three daughters.
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More About the Author
Matt Butcher is a software developer and author. He has authored several books as well as dozens of articles on technology and philosophy. Matt is a Senior Developer for ConsumerSearch.Com, a New York Times Company. He is also a frequent contributor to numerous Open Source software packages, including QueryPath, Drupal, and Fortissimo. Matt blogs regularly at technosophos.com.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First off, I have to say that Matt Butcher is an excellent writer. I really like the way he takes a concept, let's you know where he is going, and then follows up with a lucid explanation. He does a great job of explaining his code.
However, on reading the other glowing reviews listed here on Amazon I seriously wonder how many actually tried to work through the example code contained in the book.
Chapter two gives the foundational example of building a module that accesses an RSS feed [...]. The code in the book does not work. So, diligent little beaver that I am, I went to the publisher's web site and checked the errata file. Sure enough, there were corrections to the code. After updating the code, it still didn't work. Finally, I downloaded the code examples from the publisher and found that the working code is *significantly* different than the example in the book! The changes found in the downloaded code not only differ from the book, but also from the corrections in the errata.
So, why do I still give this four stars? Well, it is still a very good book. Matt's skill as a technical writer is noticeably above the majority of technical authors I come across, and you will learn a great deal through reading this book. Just be sure you download the code archive from the publisher, and take the code in the book with a grain of salt until you compare it.
However, on reading the other glowing reviews listed here on Amazon I seriously wonder how many actually tried to work through the example code contained in the book.
Chapter two gives the foundational example of building a module that accesses an RSS feed [...]. The code in the book does not work. So, diligent little beaver that I am, I went to the publisher's web site and checked the errata file. Sure enough, there were corrections to the code. After updating the code, it still didn't work. Finally, I downloaded the code examples from the publisher and found that the working code is *significantly* different than the example in the book! The changes found in the downloaded code not only differ from the book, but also from the corrections in the errata.
So, why do I still give this four stars? Well, it is still a very good book. Matt's skill as a technical writer is noticeably above the majority of technical authors I come across, and you will learn a great deal through reading this book. Just be sure you download the code archive from the publisher, and take the code in the book with a grain of salt until you compare it.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
It seems every version of Drupal likes to change the API considerably. Signatures change, and many functions are dropped. Backwards compatibility is really NOT a concern with Drupal. This book covers the current version, 6, of Drupal.
It walks you through all of the code ideas of Drupal module and theme development. And really does a great job of doing this. Even if you are familiar with 5, the book examples are such that you can skim and upgrade your knowledge to 6.x.
One nice addition would have been a bit of reference. Maybe list all of the hook functions. List all of the form component types, with every attribute. I often found myself going online for examples of how to do form components that were not covered by this book.
It walks you through all of the code ideas of Drupal module and theme development. And really does a great job of doing this. Even if you are familiar with 5, the book examples are such that you can skim and upgrade your knowledge to 6.x.
One nice addition would have been a bit of reference. Maybe list all of the hook functions. List all of the form component types, with every attribute. I often found myself going online for examples of how to do form components that were not covered by this book.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A solid guide to drupal, and a good introduction for experienced PHP developers
September 4, 2008
Format:Paperback
Last autumn's release of Pro Drupal Development was a significant moment in the history of the popular CMS, providing for the first time a relatively comprehensive guide for those wanting to do more than simply manage and skin a drupal site. A number of books have followed it but few have delved as deeply or been such a definitive guide.
Like most of the more recent books, Learning Drupal 6 Module Development focusses on a quite specific area of drupal development, but its a key one for any serious developer and touches every other area of the system. Experienced PHP developers may find that this book (in conjunction with some time for experimentation) will serve as a solid introduction to how they might build applications on top of drupal.
The book focusses on a single project--a website providing biographies of philosophers--and builds the modules it needs, introducing the various available tools and techniques along the way. Much of the time is devoted to generating custom content types, but there's very solid coverage of the hooks, filters, and actions that let modules really take integrate with the rest of the framework. Theming your output, using AJAX, and working with web services all get some time and illustrate how your app can be part of the wider web and keep up with its prevailing trends. A number of times I found myself reaching for code I'd written over the past few months to make amendments based on examples in the book.
I've been quite critical of books from packt lately and some of my criticisms apply here--he book itself feels flimsy and the print quality is poor--but this is also evidence that if an author and editor put the work in they do occasionally produce quality material despite the publisher. There are a number of asides that clarify language which demonstrate an attention to detail too often missing. It would have been good to see clearer signposts as to which features are new in Drupal 6 and which were available previously, but the online API docs can provide most of that.
When I reviewed Pro Drupal Development I noted some disappointment that the book didn't devote any time to automated testing of drupal code, and that criticism applies here too. Along with staged deployments, automated testing remains one of the least considered aspects of drupal and that's a serious concern for those looking to build robust well-managed applications on top of it. There are a few good articles online about how to test drupal code, but it would be good to see it taken more seriously as a core part of the module development process.
This book is likely to sit alongside Pro Drupal Development on my desk whenever I'm working on a drupal project and is a worthwhile investment for anyone who spends much time building drupal modules. There are clear areas for improved coverage, but it is as comprehensive an account as you'll find of how to build modules that take full advantage of the facilities Drupal provides.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher.
Like most of the more recent books, Learning Drupal 6 Module Development focusses on a quite specific area of drupal development, but its a key one for any serious developer and touches every other area of the system. Experienced PHP developers may find that this book (in conjunction with some time for experimentation) will serve as a solid introduction to how they might build applications on top of drupal.
The book focusses on a single project--a website providing biographies of philosophers--and builds the modules it needs, introducing the various available tools and techniques along the way. Much of the time is devoted to generating custom content types, but there's very solid coverage of the hooks, filters, and actions that let modules really take integrate with the rest of the framework. Theming your output, using AJAX, and working with web services all get some time and illustrate how your app can be part of the wider web and keep up with its prevailing trends. A number of times I found myself reaching for code I'd written over the past few months to make amendments based on examples in the book.
I've been quite critical of books from packt lately and some of my criticisms apply here--he book itself feels flimsy and the print quality is poor--but this is also evidence that if an author and editor put the work in they do occasionally produce quality material despite the publisher. There are a number of asides that clarify language which demonstrate an attention to detail too often missing. It would have been good to see clearer signposts as to which features are new in Drupal 6 and which were available previously, but the online API docs can provide most of that.
When I reviewed Pro Drupal Development I noted some disappointment that the book didn't devote any time to automated testing of drupal code, and that criticism applies here too. Along with staged deployments, automated testing remains one of the least considered aspects of drupal and that's a serious concern for those looking to build robust well-managed applications on top of it. There are a few good articles online about how to test drupal code, but it would be good to see it taken more seriously as a core part of the module development process.
This book is likely to sit alongside Pro Drupal Development on my desk whenever I'm working on a drupal project and is a worthwhile investment for anyone who spends much time building drupal modules. There are clear areas for improved coverage, but it is as comprehensive an account as you'll find of how to build modules that take full advantage of the facilities Drupal provides.
Disclaimer: I was sent a copy of this book for review by the publisher.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Typical Drupal Cyphers
This book has plenty of useful information, but getting it out and making sense of it was rather tedious. Read more
Published on December 11, 2010 by toG
3.0 out of 5 stars
Hung up on Chapter 2
I'm not sure if any of the other reviewers actually tried to implement the code in the book. In chapter 2, the Goodreads module does not work and the errata probably won't fix it. Read more
Published on July 2, 2010 by Andrew
5.0 out of 5 stars
Indepth, Concise Introduction to Programming D6 Mods
As my title says, this is a "Indepth, Concise Introduction to Programming D6 Mods". Matt fully covers the breadth of the drupal system, but equally important he masters the art of... Read more
Published on May 17, 2010 by Dan Spurgin
4.0 out of 5 stars
A good place to start!
I was very excited to receive my copy of "Learning Drupal 6 Module Development" by Matt Butcher. So excited, I asked my wife, "Guess the title of the awesome book I just got? Read more
Published on January 16, 2009 by Michael Hofmockel
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent Hands-On Way to Learn
Working through this book is like having a Drupal expert sit down and walk you through everything you need to know to jump into Drupal module development. Read more
Published on November 29, 2008 by E. Peck
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good developers intro for Drupal
This book is a good one for people getting into programming Drupal and switching to Drupal 6. Examples are explained in great detail so those without a strong Drupal background... Read more
Published on October 19, 2008 by Dean Myerson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent book!
Extremely well written and easy to read without "dumbing down" any material. This book takes a non-trivial example project and builds it from scratch. Read more
Published on August 31, 2008 by C. Brookins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Relief there is a dedicated title on Drupal 6 module development
I must say I was asked to review this book, and I was very excited to do so. I thought it'd be good to comment on areas for people who aren't familiar with Drupal on a daily basis... Read more
Published on August 29, 2008 by Chris Charlton
4.0 out of 5 stars
sophisticated CMS
Butcher teaches serious coding within Drupal 6. This latest version of Drupal has been heavily built out, with the key ideas of modules and themes. Read more
Published on July 14, 2008 by W Boudville
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Intro to developing on Drupal
This is a great introduction to begin developing on Drupal. If you use Drupal but want to start going beyond merely plugging in new modules, this is the book to get. Read more
Published on May 30, 2008 by CEO'S
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