November 2005 - Development - lists.drupal.org

SCM discussion.
by Gordon Heydon 25 Nov '05

25 Nov '05

Hi, With all the discussion on which SCM (Source Code Management) system we should be using. There has always been talk of using SVN, and recently I proposed darcs and in the last couple of days there has been bzr. These are all good SCM's but I am wondering if we are going to not have some of the important functionality that we currently have. I think I am most likely in the minority of users that use nesting to set up a site. I know that with darcs I am going to loss this ability and I also think with bzr we would as well. Basically this is how I set up a brand new site. First I check out the core of drupal $ cvs -z9 -d:pserver:anonymous:anonymous@cvs.drupal.org:/cvs/drupal checkout -d drupal_new drupal Using the -d option I can specify the directory to put it into. Also if I am doing a 4.6 install I add -r DRUPAL_4_6 Once I have the base setup, edited the settings, create the database, create user 1, etc. Then I go to the modules directory and I start checking out the modules that I need, with the following command to get it out of cvs. $ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.drupal.org:/cvs/drupal-contrib checkout -d htmlarea contributions/modules/htmlarea This will check out the htmlarea module and put it into my modules directory. I repeat this for all the modules that I need. if this is a 4.6 install I will then go to the themes/engines and use the same command to checkout phptemplate, and then I will usually check out the bluemarine phptemplate theme into the themes directory like co. $ cvs -d:pserver:anonymous@cvs.drupal.org:/cvs/drupal-contrib checkout -d bluemarine-phptemplate -r DRUPAL_4_6 contributions/themes/bluemarine Now once I have done all this, keeping the site up to date is extremely simple. all I do is go to the root of the drupal install and do a. $ cvs update -dP which will not only update the core but also update the contributed modules which are in a different repository. I can also do things like upgrade between versions with a cvs update -r DRUPAL_4_7 which will do the same. This is a function of cvs that makes my life so much easier to maintain sites, and keep them current. It also makes things easier when I am doing development of my contributed modules as I do not need to copy them back to another directory to be commited, I can commit them from my working directory. I know that darcs can't do this, and I am not sure about bzr. I feel this is an underused function that really more people should know about and should really not be lost. Any SCM that is chosen needs to be done wisely, and make sure that it does fit our method of working. Because of the 2 repositories we are not what would be called normal, so we need to allow for this. Gordon. Gordon.

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Re: [task] Allow non-workflow form elements on the node type settings page
by Karoly Negyesi 25 Nov '05

25 Nov '05

On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 11:12:35 +0100, Dries <drupal-devel(a)drupal.org> wrote: > Tue, 22 Nov 2005 00:40:04 +0000 : adrian > > +1 > > > we use array_merge_recursive on the node form. I agree in that we should but I found no trace of this.

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Support with XML-RPC and Flash remoting.
by Fabiana 25 Nov '05

25 Nov '05

Hello, everybody! I'm using the last version of Drupal with taxonomy_menu.module to build the hierarchy menu and taxonomy_images.module to have one image per term. I want a Flash movie to get and show these images accordingly to the category the user is visiting. I know I have to use XML-RPC library for Flash, but I don't know if I need to build a custom module to output these images or I can handle this just making the appropriate actionscripting using the xmlrcpflash library. I don't know much of actionscripting, that's why I really need help. Can someone gimme support? I don't have much money, but we can negotiate a price, so I'll pay for the work if someone could help me finish this stuff today. Thanks in advance. Fabiana

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Forms API: Duplication of "#prefix" string in elements of type "weight"
by Syscrusher 25 Nov '05

25 Nov '05

Good evening, all. I'm not sure how to go about reporting this issue, but I've found that the new forms API is duplicating the value of #prefix on form elements of type "weight". It doesn't seem to happen with other types. If I change the type of the form element from "weight" to "textfield", making no other changes in the $form array, the prefix string is no longer emitted twice. So it's type-specific. I'm looking to see if I can find the cause and contribute a patch, but wanted to make the team aware of the problem. Just out of curiosity, how does one submit an issue on a core file like forms.inc? I've never done that before, but have only filed reports on contrib modules using the links from each module's project page. Sorry for my ignorance of this. Scott -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Scott Courtney Drupal user name: "syscrusher" http://drupal.org/user/9184 scott at 4th dot com Drupal projects: http://drupal.org/project/user/9184 Sandbox: http://cvs.drupal.org/viewcvs/drupal/contributions/sandbox/syscrusher

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menu gurus? question about local tasks and 'active' tab
by Nedjo Rogers 25 Nov '05

25 Nov '05

I'm wrestling with a question related to local tasks and could use some help from a menu guru. As part of the proposed classification approach for projects, I've used tertiary/third-level local tasks as an aid for browsing, see the demo at: http://www.islandnet.com/~nedjo/costarica/?q=project/Modules The code is posted as a patch to the issue at: http://drupal.org/node/33803#comment-56410 The issue has to do with the 'active' secondary task tab. When the tertiary task is the default, the secondary task is correctly highlighted. But for any other third-level task (e.g., in the demo, click on the category 'utility'), the 'active' class selector disappears from the secondary tabs. Apparently, the secondary task is not recognized as being on the active path. Anyone tried to use third-level local tasks before? Any troubleshooting tips? Anyone able to spot what I'm doing wrong? I don't follow the menu.inc code well enough to easily determine where the issue is. Thanks, Nedjo

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Re: One core, many distributions
by Charlie Lowe 24 Nov '05

24 Nov '05

"are you not able to reply to the old posts? what you are doing messes up the thread..." Sorry. Digest mode.

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hook_comment() php5 issues
by Gordon Heydon 24 Nov '05

24 Nov '05

Hi, I have had a problem with the hook_comment() which is that the $comment var is not consistent. If it is called with the insert or update operation then the $comment is passed as an array(), where as the delete operation is an object. For php4 this doesn't matter so much, but in php5 you cannot treat an object as an array without getting a fatal error. Also from my quick investigation this is also going to be an issue with 4.7 as the edits are passing array's and the delete is an object. My question is, which way should it be so that I can roll a patch for both 4.6 and 4.7. Looking at the api, and other implementations of the hook_comment() I think it should be an array, but I think this is a little inconsistent with other parts of drupal such as nodes which are always objects. However making it an array means that it is a very small patch (change db_fetch_object() t db_fetch_array()) Thanks for any input. Gordon.

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Re: [development] One core, many distributions
by Charlie Lowe 23 Nov '05

23 Nov '05

Gerhard wrote, "It did create a great number of Drupal sites, but how many core developers did we get from it? There's Neil Drumm, Aaron Welch and ...? And if I look closely at the Drupal project as an Open Source project, the number and quality of people working on core is the only thing that is _really_ important." And how many projects did its influence directly or indirectly fund so that core developers could be core developers, devoting more of their time to Drupal (hint: anyone you and I know making money through working on CivicSpace)? How many extra clients did it turn on to Drupal so that they sought core developers? How many other people have contributed patch reviews and bug fixes as a result? It's the trickle down effect. That's what is also *really* important ;) "(and no I didn't take your post personally, why would I?)" (I didn't think so :)

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WARNING(virus check bypassed): Re: [development] One core, many distributions
by Charlie Lowe 23 Nov '05

23 Nov '05

Gerhard wrote, "No, no, and no. The "community" (I hate that word) is not the reason d'etre for Drupal or the reason why anybody would develop for it. The reason is to get stuff done for our own needs. You are free to use it, too. But that's it." Okay. I'm non-coder, but I do work with Drupal for my "own needs," and would suggest that here is part of the conflict which traces back to Liza's post. It all depends on your perspective of what is important about open source (or free software if that is your term). I've been doing lots of reasearch on open source lately, and IMHO, the idea that the community is unimportant and that the code is "free to use" is very short-sighted. In The Success of Open Source, Stephen Weber explains that “the essence of open source is not the software. It is the process by which software is created” (56). The licensing merely gives users rights. The fact that the open source product becomes available in a gift economy for everyone to use is not the end in itself, but rather the means to that end as Ilkka Tuomi pointed out in an article on First Monday, “open-source communities control the developmental dynamic of an evolving good. The 'openness' of open source, therefore, is more about open future than about access to currently existing source-code text” (442). So for those for whom Drupal is not just a short term solution for a client, but part of a long strategy for developing a successful consulting business (or other types of career advancement), the community is very important, and even the end users of which Liza speaks. Open source depends on collaboration--and as long as the workflow processes and organizational structure can handle it--increased growth in the community. End users play an important role in this. For every 100 new end users, there are 100 new people potentially marketing Drupal for those trying to build a client base. And out of those 100, there are probably at least a few who will contribute to development and increase the functionality of the product. Need further convincing? I sent the following statistics to Dries at the end of October. For anyone who's long term prosperity depends on Drupal's brand name succcess (and I think it does; IMHO, DeanSpace, for example, did a lot for advancing Drupal's community growth), consider the followiong statistics. I'm sure they haven't changed much in the last month. Are the perceptions represented there going to make a difference in everyone's current client work. Probably not. Is it going to affect most people's ability to build a larger client base and more successfuly consulting opportunities? Most definitely so. Charlie Lowe Check out the Google results on these phrase and term combinations: "Drupal sucks" 627 hits "Mambo sucks" 289 hits "PostNuke sucks" 341 hits "Plone sucks" 123 hits "Drupal is easy" 100 hits "Mambo is easy" 656 hits "PostNuke is easy" 117 hits "Plone is easy" 514 hits "Drupal is hard" 52 hits "Mambo is hard" 43 hits "PostNuke is hard" 5 hits "Plone is hard" 28 hits "Drupal is difficult" 280 hits "Mambo is difficult" 89 hits "PostNuke is difficult" 44 hits "Plone is difficult" 14 hits Now what's interesting are these keyword stats: Drupal usability 372,000 hits Mambo usability 338,000 hits PostNuke usability 82,900 hits Plone usability 147,000 hits A lot of talk about Drupal usability, but it seems that more needs to be accomplished to change public perception.

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Re: WARNING(virus check bypassed): Re: [development] One, core, many distributions
by Charlie Lowe 23 Nov '05

23 Nov '05

NK wrote: "Lisa tried to provoke a flame war. Succeeded. Of course the developers and I am sure Gerhard too cares about the community -- why do you think he answers the forums, shepherds the translators and manages CVS accounts besides coding?" Sorry. It was not my intention to flame and I hadn't even thought of this discussion as a flame war (well, except for the highly inflammatory nature of Liza's post). It seems quite civil :) And I might be wrong, but as direct as Gerhard likes to be, I suspect he didn't take my response personally. But I do believe that more community focus, more end user focus, would benefit everyone in the long term. The payoff's not immediately apparent up front, but one must invest in the future. This, I believe, is the crux of Liza's complaint, and it's a perception of balance. More short term reward with less emphasis on long term marketing benefits vs. weighing promotion through more sensitiviy of end user needs as the means to long term prosperity. So the everyone does their own thing, "that's it," is not the mantra I would choose for Drupal. Maybe I'm wrong, but I happen to believe in the collaborative process and facilitating it as the best means to the end, and that process depends on everyone. For instance, I would suspect that if Drupal made a major push to focus on a mini-usability release for 4.8 with significantly improved documentation (no long waits for newer features), that the pay off in the next few years would be incredible.

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