November 2009 - Development - lists.drupal.org

Can the new D7 database api handle ER_LOCK_DEADLOCK?
by Jonathan Brown 10 Nov '09

10 Nov '09

Database transactions are always susceptible to deadlock: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/innodb-deadlocks.html Looking at the last example on this page: http://api.drupal.org/api/group/database/7 Surely in catch{}, the exception should be examined for ER_LOCK_DEADLOCK? The entire transaction could be in a do-while loop, so it is continually reattempted until the transaction does not deadlock. ER_LOCK_DEADLOCK is mysql specific. Does the new db layer have an abstraction for this? -- Jonathan Brown Blue Droplet Media http://bluedroplet.com/

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CVS Outage For Upgrade
by Narayan Newton 09 Nov '09

09 Nov '09

There will be a 30 min CVS outage at 1PM Pacific Time Today. After which CVS will be on a much more powerful server. I apologize for any inconvenience. 30 Min Outage 1PM Pacific/2000 UTC -- Narayan Newton GA Member Drupal Association Tag1Consulting

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Views and Rules
by Steven Jones 09 Nov '09

09 Nov '09

Hi, Most of us know that the project_issue module automatically closes fixed issues after two weeks of inactivity, this is done with a fairly simple SQL query run on cron. The casetracker modules that are bundled with open atrium lack such a feature, and I'm trying to add one. Now I know that I could add a simple SQL query on cron, and add the feature, but I think closing fixed cases after two weeks is a specific example of a more general feature. That is: doing some actions to a bunch of stuff. I think the 'some actions' can be provided by actions, or even rule sets from the rules module, but it seems that the only way to invoke actions at the moment is from an event driven perspective, and although there is a 'cron' event in rules, it seems you can't then iterate over nodes matching certain conditions. So I'd still need to code a way to build the 'bunch of stuff'. One of my first thoughts was: 'can I use views for this?' My idea is to add a display plugin that 'renders' a view 'into actions', the providing module can execute the view on cron. Is there something similar out there that already does this? Does it sound like even a vaguely sensible idea? Regards Steven Jones ComputerMinds ltd - Perfect Drupal Websites Phone : 024 7666 7277 Mobile : 07702 131 576 Twitter : darthsteven http://www.computerminds.co.uk

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Announcing DRUPAL-7-0-UNSTABLE-10
by Angela Byron 09 Nov '09

09 Nov '09

Today I committed the last of the straggler RTBC API changes from code freeze week (see http://drupal.org/node/578446 for the D7 development schedule), and have just rolled DRUPAL-7-0-UNSTABLE-10. There are / lots/ of changes in this one, since it embodies the entire "code slush" phase of release, and the community really rallied (especially towards the end) to cram lots of awesome stuff in! The full commit log is attached; this e-mail contains some of the highlights. We're now API frozen, except for any API changes necesary to fix critical, release-blocking issues. So it "should" be safe to start porting your modules, if you haven't already begun. I'll announce via the devel list and Twitter (http://twitter.com/webchick) about any major API changes that are particularly gnarly, but hopefully, most of the worst is behind us now. I'm also hoping that this will be one of the last unstable releases, and that we can start heading into alpha/ beta territory in the new year. To help make Drupal 7 the best release possible, please help out in one or more of the following areas, which are the focus until 12/1: * ¡¡PERFORMANCE!! (seriously, we need help! ;)) Meta issue where efforts are being coordinated: http://drupal.org/node/615822 http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?issue_tags=Performance * Usability improvements: "Hit list" from UX team: http://www.bojhan.nl/drupal-7-ux-last-phase/ http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?issue_tags=Usability http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?issue_tags=D7UX Overlays: http://drupal.org/node/610234 Note that a lot of these usability patches are relatively easy to create for developers, but the UX team is in a lot of cases blocked by lack of people assisting. So if you're looking for a spot to jump in, let the folks in #drupal-usability know! * Accessibility improvements: http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?issue_tags=accessibility * Documentation/Text improvements: http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?component[]=user +interface+text http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal?component[]=documentation And, if /none/ of those floats your boat, there's always the critical queue: http://drupal.org/project/issues/search/drupal? version [0 ]= 156281 &status [0 ]= 1 &status [1 ]= 8 &status [2]=13&status[3]=14&priorities[0]=1&categories[0]=bug&categories[1]=task So, what's new in DRUPAL-7-0-UNSTABLE-10? I'm so glad you asked! Feature exceptions ================== The first topic to cover is that of our 10 feature exceptions. As mentioned in the last unstable release announcement at http://lists.drupal.org/pipermail/development/2009-September/033741.html , the "code slush" period leading from Oct. 15 -> Nov. 15 established was to get these in, along with any required API clean-ups. The community rallied in a *huge* way, and we were able to get 8 of the 10 feature exceptions in, including such awesomeness as: * Image Field: The default "Article" content type even ships with an image field utilizing image styles to auto-resize pictures to show off this awesome functionality. * Contextual links: If you install D7, you'll notice that there are now edit, configure, etc. links everywhere; new functionality that's baked into the menu system. Now, instead of this having to be implemented separately by certain modules and themes, it comes by default in core. Yay! (Note: The styling and interaction of these links is being handled as a separate clean-up issue to keep bikeshedding to a minimum. If you're design/UX-savvy and want to help out, see http://drupal.org/node/601150.) * Customizable admin shortcuts: A dedicated menu that appears underneath the toolbar for frequently-accessed tasks. As an administrator, you establish "sets" of shortcuts which can then be allocated on a per-user or per-role basis. Handy! * Customizable administrative dashboard: Drupal now comes by default with a drag-and-drop Dashboard screen for arranging blocks to give a "bird's eye view" of the site's activity. We're hoping that this addition will cause module developers to design blocks specifically for the dashboard that would be of general use to site administrators and content editors. (Note: The UX team needs some hands on building out some default Dashboard blocks to ship with core; see http://drupal.org/node/614410 if you want to lend a hand.) * Update manager: Now, Drupal provides a web interface for installing and updating your modules and themes! HUZZAH!! It prompts for a URL or file upload of the module, your FTP password, and then fetches and auto-extracts it. See http://3281d.com/2009/11/03/d7-update-manager for more information on this totally kick-ass new feature, and for a list of issues where you can lend a hand! * Native RDFa support. This involves a new hook, hook_rdf_mapping() and allows you to map your modules' data to an namespace. This involves a few changes to theme templates as well, to print out the necessary attributes. Really proud to see Drupal leading the way on the semantic web! * Taxonomy -> Field API translation: Now, not only are terms fieldable, they're also fields themselves! How meta. Yay! That's all great news. So what /didn't/ get in? Unfortunately, Profile => Field API conversion. :( It turns out there's quite a bit more to this conversion than initially meets the eye, so the effort didn't get off the ground in time. This also means that Drupal 7 core will be shipping with the same Profile module as Drupal 6, sadly... But the good news is that a renewed effort for building a full Field API-utilizing Profile module replacement has begin in contrib as the "Profile2" module, in an effort to rectify this situation in Drupal 8. See http://drupal.org/node/623210 for the gory details and to help push this forward. Administrative overlays also didn't make it, though it got around 80-90% working, and all required API changes were ready to go by code freeze. Therefore, Dries and I have decided to treat this as a user interface improvement, which can still be focused on during the "polish" phase. So please pitch in at http://drupal.org/node/610234. The latest screencast at http://drupal.org/node/610234#comment-2233140 is looking /damn/ sexy. Finally, while all of the required API changes for translatable fields were added, the UI unfortunately didn't make it. There is ongoing work on this at http://drupal.org/node/539110. As for everything else... Changes for developers: ======================= * There's a new hook_username_alter() which enables contrib modules to override the display of a username everywhere. This is an important shift, since in Drupal 6 the only option was overriding theme_username(), which is not called consistently everywhere. * In other user-related news, there's a spiffy new user role/ permission API, with actual functions like user_role_grant_permissions() and so on. No more downloading Install Profile API module to deal with basic user operations. w00t! We also removed hook_user_form() and hook_user_register() in favour of just using standard hook_form_alter() constructs like every other form. * There are new hooks for menu operations: update, insert, delete for both links and menus themselves. This should enable some interesting new things in contrib during the Drupal 7 release cycle. * Huge overhaul of the actions/triggers API so that they now map directly to hooks and generalize out some stuff like the 'prepare' property changes from node/comment. * Pluggable field API storage engines are now per-field, rather than per-entity. This allows a single field to pull in data from Amazon Web Services, for example. * Core now allows <head> metadata to be alterable via hook_html_head_alter(), and implements the rel="canonical" and rel="shortcut" standards out of the box. * A few selected queries in core have been flagged as slave-safe. This will help those sites running master/slave replication. We also removed the last remnants of the old database system; DBTNG all the way, baby... * Links are altogether far more flexible now. "Operations" links are now renderable properties which can be altered, we got rid of the completely obtuse and befuddling custom_url_rewrite "magic" functions in favour of good ol' fashioned hook_url_alter(), and we added a new theme_link() function. * There was a browser.inc we'd committed earlier in the cycle; the intention was to use it as a general tool to replace SimpleTest's browser, drupal_http_request(), etc. However, the necessary follow-up work was not completed, and in talking to Jimmy, he stated that he could handle this better in contrib. Therefore, this was rolled back, in favour of http://drupal.org/project/browser, in case anyone /was/ using it (or wants to help improve it). * Speaking of things we changed our minds about, remember how horrible it was back in D5 and below where we had sequences? Well. They're back. ;) Sorta. We added a sequences API which can be used for selected tables that needs them. The good news is you can now import/ export a Drupal 7 DB in PHPMyAdmin without it crying. * A /fantastic/ new JavaScript "states" system was added, which lets module developers easily create UIs like "show this text field when that checkbox is checked" or "populate this list of options based on the selection from that list of options." In other JS-related news, we also unified the page, AJAX 'path', and AJAX 'callback' callbacks. Changes for themers: ==================== * Page.tpl.php has now been split into html.tpl.php (for <html>, <head>, and <body>) and page.tpl.php (for page content). This was a contentious change, but is necessary to ensure that all template files dealing with user-facing markup can consistently benefit from the new, powerful render()-enabled theming system in D7. * There's a new region.tpl.php to handle changes to block regions. * Themes can now implement *_alter() hooks. hook_form_alter(), hook_page_alter(), etc. Yet another contentious change. ;) However, it was deemed necessary to let themers take full advantage of the render API, otherwise they'd need to create modules for doing what is clearly presentation layer logic. Please, <em>please</em> do not do evil things with this that make me regret comitting it and cause it to get rolled back in D8. ;P * The search box is no longer a theme variable; you now treat it as a normal block. * Core ships with three image style presets: thumbnail, medium, and large. You can now depend on those being there (though not their exact formatting/size size) in your themes. * All theme functions now take a single $variables array. This is so that preprocessing between template files and theme functions is consistent. Changes for site builders: ========================== * You can now choose default input formats (now called "Text formats") per role. Text formats are weightable, and whichever is the lowest- weighted format your role has access to becomes your default. No more cursing yourself for forgetting to flip to "Full HTML" for that cursed image tag! ;) * RSS now outputs to "Full node" by default, to conform with recommended good netizen practices. As always, this is configurable if you like to force people to come to your site to read your stuff. * Password checker now has more sexy, with a longer bar that indicates relative password strength. Better for accessibility, too. * Creating a menu link from a node is a simple checkbox, which as an added bonus pre-populates the title field with the node title. Very slick usability improvement! Another nice one is you can limit the parent menus that can be selected on the form; for example, to just "Main menu" so you don't have to scroll through the 4,000 links in "Navigation." :) * We took out the confusing behaviour of the theme auto-switching when you're on the blocks page. There's now a preview link if you want to see what it looks like.

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Dispay profile category in right order
by Belyaev Anatoly 07 Nov '09

07 Nov '09

Hi. I have some problem with sorting out which category of profile(core module) to show on user page first if i have more then one of it. ex:. I create 2 category on administrator page with some fields on each. category A field A_A filed A_B category B field B_A field B_B Then user fil in this field with data and try to review it on his page aka ( example.com/user/3) And it displays the category "B" before "A" which is not good. I discover that it gets it from database with query "SELECT * FROM profile_fields WHERE visibility != 4 ORDER BY category, weight." So there is all good. Then it construct the array of this fields. And Dev_render page show me that all good with order there too. But still on page it on wrong order. I find the work around that if i add DESC to query on category the display will be ok. Any idea why it happened? PS. Tested on all default theme. -- With best wishes, Anatoly Belyaev

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creating a file - path problems
by Jeff Greenberg 06 Nov '09

06 Nov '09

I've run into a problem that I can't resolve with the docs because there's no usage examples (I know, I know...but I can't write it if I don't know it). D6. I need to create a file. Seems simple. But I can't determine what combination of variables give me a good path. $file_directory_path gives me sites/default/files which is great if I have something to append it to, such as /users/myusername/public_html/mydomain.com/drupal but in looking at the descriptions of the various file api functions/vars, I don't seem to see one that does that as opposed to checking this, verifying that, etc.

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hostmonster
by Jeff Greenberg 06 Nov '09

06 Nov '09

I figure others like me use shared hosting for their test and/or development servers. Thought you'd like to know that what I found out midstream in a project, with Views tossing errors at me with the Ubercart views. HostMonster doesn't support mysql views. I asked why they feel they support Drupal, and they said that they do, just not views. I said that's like saying they support it, just not php. Their response was, "Actually its like saying we support a Car being in our garage.. thats not saying the Doors on the car will open" So if you need a garage for your Drupal sites...there ya go...just don't plan on doing any meaningful views and e-commerce.

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auto deployment in drupal
by vishnu vardhan 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

Hi all , I am newbie in drupal.I have started to learn how to code in drupal. I have configured my eclipse with drupal but everytime i make a change in my workspace i have to copy the entire thing in xampp\htdocs folder is there any way to directly deploy it with eclipse. Help me Vishnu

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error in AHAH for CCK fields
by chakrapani reddivari 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

Hi I have added ahah to cck fields through form_alter. Its working fine until form validation occurs.It fails after form validation, i.e the ahah no more exists with the fields[doesnt change anything if we click]. any help is appreciated Thank you chakrapani.

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Distributed Pairprogramming for Drupal
by Eike Starkmann 05 Nov '09

05 Nov '09

Dear Drupal Team, My name is Eike Starkmann and I'm working working as part of the Saros Team at the Freie University in Berlin. Saros is an Eclipse plugin for collaborative text editing and distributed pair programming, i.e. it allows two or more developers to work together in real-time on the same files. It is similar to Gobby, SubEthaEdit or Google Docs but focuses on programming in Eclipse. It is my master thesis to figure out whether Saros is useful when developing Free/Open Source Software. I already was in contact with to other projects, for example Typo3 and got some good response. In my opinion Drupal can benefit from Saros because I think it brings many advantages to Open Source Software development: * Distributed Pair Programming is like a live peer review. This should help with finding good design, get rid of bugs, increase readability, etc. * Transferring knowledge should be easier to do when more than one person look at and work with the same code. This should also help to give new developers an introduction to the code. * In contrast to screen sharing, Saros only shares your actions inside of Eclipse with regards to the project you are both working on (think privacy) and you are still independent to explore the project on your own. Saros can be useful in the following contexts: * Working on complicated problems in the code * Performing code reviews * Debugging * Code presentation * Code sprints * Introducing new developers to the project * ... What do you think? Could you and Drupal benefit from doing pair programming using Saros? If you are interested in Saros but still curious about how it works please visit our website or feel free to contact me. I hope you will find Saros useful and give me feedback. Kind regards, Eike Starkmann Website: https://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/w/SE/DPP Update Site: http://dpp.sf.net/update Saros @ SF: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dpp/ Programming Languages Supported by Saros : https://www.inf.fu-berlin.de/w/SE/DPPCompatiblePlugin -- Eike Starkmann This message is part of my Master thesis research. Feel free to contact my advisors in case of inappropriate behavior on my side: christopher.oezbek(a)fu-berlin.de and stephan.salinger(a)fu-berlin.de

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