September 2006 - Development - lists.drupal.org

NodeAPI Broken-ness, possible solutions
by Jeff Eaton 09 Sep '06

09 Sep '06

In Drupal 5.0, hook_view() and nodeapi 'view' operations now stick elements into the $node->content[] array, and it's rendered for output. That open up a lot of doors for theming and customization, and also moves us closer to a clean centralized 'rendering API' for on screen content. However, some modules need to do more than just add or rearrange elements, though. They need to modify *the complete text of the node* after it's fully rendered. In the case of upload.module, for example, we do path substitution to make sure that things work when clean URLs are turned off. In 4.7 and earlier, this was easy because ALL view-time work involved altering the raw node body. In 5.0, though, this requires adding a callback to $node->content['#after_render']. When drupal_render parses the array to render it, it will call the functions listed in that element, giving them a chance to alter the final text. Shortly after the code freeze, however, I realized that this was insufficient for some modules, and broke functionality that worked fine in 4.7. Why? 1) Because they're called inside drupal_render(), the #after_render callback functions don't get any context. They don't have a copy of the $node object (which some modules need to do substitutions properly). 2) In addition, they don't know whether the node is displaying in teaser mode, whether it's in full page mode, etc. 3) Code that needs to output just a small chunk of the node (in a sidebar block, for example) loses any filtering done by modules like inline or upload. Since the #after_build element is only processed when the node is rendered *as a whole*. Taken together, these problems cripple a couple of critical Drupal modules and rob us of many of the promised benefits of the new node rendering system. http://drupal.org/node/82045 has a patch that I posted in an attempt to solve this problem a day or so after the code freeze. It is potentially controversial, as it adds a new hook after the code freeze (though it doesn't change any existing ones). It's a somewhat subtle and complex issue, but I'd very much appreciate any thoughts others would be willing to contribute. I'm hoping that we can figure out an elegant solution to this before any of the badly affected modules need to be ported. --Jeff

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DrupalCon updates/information
by Dries Buytaert 09 Sep '06

09 Sep '06

Hello world, those who want to attend BarCamp and/or GovCamp Brussels should read this: http://drupalcon.org/news/2006/09/01/attending-govcamp-and-barcamp Those who are going to attend DrupalCon should read this: http://drupalcon.org/node/79 It's only two weeks until DrupalCon so make sure to check http:// drupalcon.org once in a while. We'll post last-minute updates on the conference website. If you use a RSS-reader, it is probably a good idea to subscribe to: http://drupalcon.org/rss.xml Thanks for listening, -- Dries Buytaert :: http://www.buytaert.net/

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MySQL Insert on Duplicate Key Update
by Ken Rickard 09 Sep '06

09 Sep '06

All- What is the opinion regarding the use of MySQL's syntax for: INSERT .... ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/4.1/en/insert-on-duplicate.html I haven't seen any code that uses it. Is that habit or policy? - Ken Rickard agentrickard

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programmatically creating a node type.
by Augustin (Beginner) 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

Hi, following the examples in form.inc, I managed to programmatically create a new user (the import robot) and some new nodes. Now I would like to create a node type for that robot user to post its nodes. My question is how do I guess which arguments to call drupal_execute() with? for the form id, I look at the html source: <input type="hidden" name="form_id" id="edit-node-type-form" value="node_type_form" /> so I do: $values['name'] = 'node type test'; $values['type'] = 'node_type_test'; $values['description'] = 'my description.'; $values['comment'] = 0; drupal_execute('node_type_form', $values); but I get: warning: call_user_func_array(): First argumented is expected to be a valid callback, 'node_type_form' was given in /includes/form.inc on line 181. I don't understand: the function node_type_form($type = NULL) { exists in: modules/node/content_types.inc Is this a bug? What am I doing wrong? Augustin. -- http://www.wechange.org/ Because we and the world need to change. http://www.reuniting.info/ Intimate Relationships, peace and harmony in the couple.

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SugerCRM demo
by Dries Buytaert 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

People interested in CCK, views, actiona and workflows should take a look at the "administration demo" of SugerCRM: http://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/demo/sugar-suite.html Good stuff, lots to learn from. :) -- Dries Buytaert :: http://www.buytaert.net/

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Authmap explanation
by Jeff Beeman 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

Hi all, Been lurking on the list for a few weeks and I've finally worked up some courage to ask a question :-) I'm currently working on a very-much overhauled version of the CAS module that incorporates LDAP data to pull users and user affiliation info from these services and populate users and groups using the OG module(s). It's working great and I've found module development to be very enjoyable, however I've got a question: Can someone explain authmap? I seem to gather from the limited info I can find<http://drupal.org/node/22268>that it's used to simple store user data in another, possibly non-drupal database on the same database server... am I right? If so, how do I tell it which table in that database, and which field in that table, maps to user name, etc.? Or, is it used to simply allow multiple drupal instances to use the same user base? If that's the case (just allow multiple instances to use the same users), does anyone have advice on extending this capability to have it point at completely unrelated services data? Right now I'm simply telling it to store all the users as drupal users of the local drupal instance. Thanks ahead of time for your help. // Jeff Beeman P.S. "Hi!" Lullabot folks, if you read this. I love the podcast!

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Usability feedback using Flickr
by Dries Buytaert 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

Hello world, I started a little experiment to gather usability feedback: http://drupal.org/node/82282 There are already some great suggestions. Hopefully more will follow, and hopefully some developers will pick them up and turn them into issues/patches. -- Dries Buytaert :: http://www.buytaert.net/

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Re: [development] node type without a title?
by Ken Rickard 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

Jeremy wrote > I agree that titles, whether > explicitly specifed or whether pattern-generated, should be required > and should be unique. Jeremy- I must *strongly* disagree. Forcing unique titles is a bad path, for a number of reasons, especially in import/export routines. For sites that want to use Drupal as CMS and run external content, titles tend to repeat. Use case (in production): We run a daily newspaper through XML/RPC import into Drupal. Each day, there are at least 3 articles that always have the same title (see, for example, 'Letters to the Editor' at http://new.savannahnow.com/node/133628 ). If you enforce unique title constraints, you break the publishing model. If we want to use duplicate titles, we should be able to. It is not the place of the CMS to impose that rule on us. For newspapers (and other periodicals), readers (and writers, and editors) expect certain content to have the same title every day. That's how they find things. And, no, using taxonomies won't solve that problem. - Ken Rickard agentrickard > My importexportapi module, for example, treats the 'title' field as > required and as unique, because it is the only field suitable for > being an 'alternate key' for nid (i.e. a reliable but more > human-friendly identifier, that can be used instead of nid).This is > just one more case where having guaranteed unique titles is very > useful.

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programmatically UPDATE a node won't work: bug or feature?
by Augustin (Beginner) 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

Hello again, I was trying to update a node using FAPI2, but it completely failed. I wanted to try out FAPI2, to see how it worked. I am now going to use the easier method (as I have been advised earlier) of doing: 1) node_load($nid); 2) edit the object 3) node_save($node); I mention what follows in case it is an actual bug that needs fixing: First, I found out that I must cast the node into an array: $node = (array) node_load($nid); $values['title'] = $question['q_desc']; $values['body'] = theme('demexp_question_body', $question); // $values['changed'] = time(); drupal_execute('demexp_question_node_form', $values, $node); but drupal_execute fails. I get: "This content has been modified by another user, changes cannot be saved." which comes from here: if (isset($node->nid) && (node_last_changed($node->nid) > $_POST['changed'])) { form_set_error('changed', t('This content has been modified by another user, changes cannot be saved.')); } now, with the FAPI push method, $_POST is not set, is it? so the check above always fail. Is this another bug? I've tried setting $values['changed'] but to no avail. If it's a bug, I can submit a report. Also, what would be the difference of using FAPI2 to programmatically update a node, compared to using node_load/edit/node_save? Augustin. p.s., yes, I do review a few bug patches, too, though not as many as others. -- http://www.wechange.org/ Because we and the world need to change. http://www.reuniting.info/ Intimate Relationships, peace and harmony in the couple.

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Can this be committed?
by Augustin (Beginner) 08 Sep '06

08 Sep '06

Hi, Can this be committed? http://drupal.org/node/78549 The patch is ready, everyone is for it, few modules use this hook and probably none have started to upgrade to head, and it may prevent some headaches. so? A. -- http://www.wechange.org/ Because we and the world need to change. http://www.reuniting.info/ Intimate Relationships, peace and harmony in the couple.

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