[development] node_delete on module specific node

Matt matt at aleph-null.tv
Wed Apr 29 02:07:38 UTC 2009


The question isn't *how* to delete them. The question is *should* we
delete them. It does seem a little presumptuous to just delete all of
the user-entered content. On the other hand, we can't really uninstall
the schema if we are leaving the nodes -- that just leaves a heap of
semi-functional (or non-functional) detritus.

I'm imagining irate users who try re-installing the module only to
discover that they have lost hundreds of quiz question nodes. On the
other hand, uninstalling the schema (which, for quiz, includes tables
for fields that augment the standard node fields) will cripple the
nodes anyway. If that is going to cause irritation, then we might as
well just delete the entire node.

So the question is quite simply this:

Should modules that provide their own content types delete all content
of said types when the module is uninstalled?

I'm remembering a particularly frustrating experience trying to
uninstall a desktop application. The uninstaller was broken, and I had
all kinds of mostly broken junk left on my system that I couldn't get
rid of. I would hate to impose that experience on any Drupal user.

As chx points out, removing all of the content may leave a site with
broken views. As sivaji points out, it can mess with menus and other
Drupal structures as well. So we have cases where removing nodes is
going to have negative side-effects.

And then, again, we have the case where we leave the nodes, but remove
the module-specific data that is stored in the module-specific tables.
That, too, leaves Drupal broken.

So which kind of broken do we want?

Matt

On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 4:12 PM, Charlie Gordon <cwgordon7 at gmail.com> wrote:
> In order to delete nodes of a certain type (say, "quiz"), you can execute a
> database query of the following form:
>
> $result = db_query("SELECT nid FROM {node} WHERE type = '%s'", 'quiz');
> while ($node = db_fetch_object($result)) {
>  node_delete($node->nid);
> }
>
> However, this will encounter several scaling problems for sites with many
> quiz nodes. You may want to investigate using the batch API for something of
> this scale.
>
> On the other hand, you probably shouldn't be deleting the nodes quiz module
> created - "uninstalling" a module means removing any module settings or data
> stored within the module: core poll module, for example, does not delete its
> nodes upon uninstalling. You seem to be aware of this in your message, and
> express concern that quiz nodes promoted to the front page still exist; I
> would argue that it's not the quiz module's place to be handling this
> problem.
>
> This opens up a larger debate over whether node-type modules should delete
> their own nodes upon deletion. In this case, I'd advise following core's
> example and not worrying about orphaned quiz nodes.
>
> -Charlie
>
> sivaji j.g wrote:
>>
>> Hello folks
>>
>> I am a gsoc student working on quiz module. Quiz module treats quiz and
>> its question types (multichoice, true/false etc) as a Drupal nodes. I would
>> like to know whether i can delete a nodes specific to quiz module in
>> hook_uninstall. My mentor and current maintainer of quiz module mbutcher is
>> not sure about this. I have already asked this question in #drupal and came
>> to know that core modules never deletes thier node with type story, page etc
>> but nobody is sure about nodes specific modules.
>>
>> If you suggest me to leave quiz nodes untouched like core modules imagine
>> the situation where i have some primary links to quiz nodes and quiz nodes
>> promoted to front page they remains active even if i uninstall quiz module,
>> how should i handle this situation ? or shall i unpublish the quiz nodes to
>> tackle this situation ?
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Thanks a lot
>> -----------------------------------------
>> http://ubuntuslave.blogspot.com/
>>
>
>



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