April 2010 - Development - lists.drupal.org

Re: [development] Getting rid of core hacks for drupal upgrade to happen. Need tips on the process.
by Yuval Hager 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

On Thursday 01 April 2010 17:35:52 Laura wrote: > So consider wiping the code base entirely (not the database, though) and > re-implementing in Drupal 6. If your D5 hacks did not result in > alterations to the database structure, you can simply perform a stock D6 > upgrade process and then implement through contributed modules and a new > or refactored theme the various end results those hacks were trying to > achieve. This way you can embrace what D6 offers first before resorting to > coding up custom module implementations. This is really the only viable option. I have been "burned" on such a project just recently. We quite quickly understood (and communicated to the client) that a complete wipe and re-implementation would be around the same price for the client, but will create a beyond compare higher quality product. However, the client have invested a lot of money in the D5 hacks crapware, that they were having a hard time deciding to wipe that completely. It was pure politics based decision, but c'est la vie. The approach we took was to diff the whole thing, as you suggested ('diff - aurwp drupal-5.2 drupal-5.2-hacked' if you are on linux) and study carefully all the differences. It is quite reasonable that core tables where hacked too (they were in my case), some even beyond any chance of cleaning up. That project went on for 7 months. The goals to stabilize the site (it crashed every two hours), make response time reasonable, and clean up the code base. The last task was the least important, and sometimes, I just had to keep the hacks in there, for reasons of cost vs. gain. At project end, the client received a bit less of what he should have had 7 months ago - a (mostly clean) Drupal 5.x install, with clean CCK, views, panels and a few other central modules. With this, the client could work further and start building features on top of that - but I am not involved any more there. So before you dive in, if you are in position to, consider to make this a make D6 or break decision to the customer. Depending on the amount of hacking done, but you'll probably spend hours on hours just to bring stuff to work as it should have in the first place. If you can't make it a clean D6, then good luck - you'll need all the luck you can get. Don't forget the other parts of core that do not ship with it - views and CCK were probably hacked too - as well as any other module in your project. From looking at the code I found that hacking core is a bit like stealing. If you don't get caught in the first time, you are tempted to continue on and on, until you really can't stop. --yuval

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Is their a way within Drupal to connect to a Java servlet or Java Server Page (JSP)?
by John Mitchell 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

Hi, Is their a way within Drupal to connect to a Java servlet or Java Server Page (JSP)? Thanks, John -- John J. Mitchell

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Re: [development] Is their a way within Drupal to connect to a Java servlet or Java Server Page (JSP)?
by Nyk Cowham 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

> > Is their a way within Drupal to connect to a Java servlet or Java > Server Page (JSP)? > > Thanks, > -- > John J. Mitchell 1. What do you mean by 'connect'? 2. Which is the server and which the client. Does Drupal (PHP) need to consume information provided by the J2EE app, or the other way around? 3. Is the J2EE application something you have control over or is it a closed proprietary product? In other words are you free to modify the J2EE app in any way? 4. Is the J2EE app architecture logically separated; via a MVC pattern for example? 5. What is it you are trying to achieve, exactly? 6. Are Drupal and the J2EE container hosted on the same host? There are many different ways to integrate a J2EE (or any) application technology with PHP (and Drupal). However, the constraints of the J2EE application, and how much freedom you have over both applications will determine how this can be best achieved. As a broad generality: If you are free to modify both systems (or the service provider of one exposes an API already) you can integrate any web application with any other web application using standard web service strategies (XMLRPC, SOAP, REST/JSON, etc.) In essence this would be the same as connecting to an existing web API (like Google Maps), the only difference being is they you have to write both the service provider code as well as the client/consumer code. If you don't have freedom to modify the J2EE code then there may be some other options available: e.g. using a PHP/Java bridge ( http://php-java-bridge.sourceforge.net/pjb/) -- Nyk Cowham Ashlin Interactive Strategy http://ashlinstrategy.com

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Implementing a user deletion policy
by Steve Yelvington 06 Apr '10

06 Apr '10

We ran into a problem involving deleted accounts, so I'm looking into implementing some tighter controls. However, it doesn't appear that user_delete() is a hook, so I can't intercept it. I suppose I can filter out the "delete" button, but are there any other obvious solutions? I don't want to kill any kittens. Also, Watchdog logs the deletion but not the ID of the user who deleted the account. Seems like an oversight.

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Question on AHAH
by nitin gupta 05 Apr '10

05 Apr '10

Hi, I have been scratching my head for long, looks like cant figure it out. If I add elements to the form on an AHAH refresh, let us say a submit button with AHAH properties, this button will not be submitted using AHAH. Anyone know about this? any pointers to resources? any work around? function test_form($form_state) { $form['open'] = array('#value' => '<div id="test_replace">'); dpm($form_state); if($form_state['test'] == 1) { $form['test']['share'] = array( '#type' => 'submit', '#value' => 'share', '#submit' => array('test_form_js_submit'), '#ahah' => array( 'path' => 'test/js', 'wrapper' => 'test_replace' )); } else { $form['test']['share2'] = array( '#type' => 'submit', '#value' => 'share2', '#submit' => array('test_form_js_submit'), '#ahah' => array( 'path' => 'test/js', 'wrapper' => 'test_replace' )); } $form['close'] = array('#value' => '</div>'); return $form; } function test_form_js_submit(&$form, &$form_state) { $form_state['test'] = 1 ; $form_state['rebuild'] = TRUE; } function test_form_js() { $form_state = array('submitted' => FALSE); $form_build_id = $_POST['form_build_id']; $form = form_get_cache($form_build_id, $form_state); $form_state['post'] = $form['#post'] = $_POST; $form['#programmed'] = $form['#redirect'] = FALSE; $args = $form['#parameters']; $form_id = array_shift($args); drupal_process_form($form_id, $form, $form_state); $form = drupal_rebuild_form($form_id, $form_state, $args, $form_build_id); //Get HTML for the replacement form. Only these elements will be AHAH-refreshed. test_add_children($new_form['test'], $form['test']); $output = theme('status_messages') . drupal_render($new_form); drupal_json(array('status' => TRUE, 'data' => $output)); } function test_add_children(&$new_form, $form) { foreach (element_children($form) as $child) { $new_form[$child] = $form[$child]; test_add_children($new_form[$child], $form[$child]); } } function test_menu() { $items = array(); $items['test'] = array( $items['test/js'] = array( 'page callback' => 'test_form_js', 'type' => MENU_CALLBACK, ); return $items; } In the above code, when 'share2' is clicked it submits perfectly using ahah, and converts to 'share' but this button does not have ahah properties. -- Regards, Nitin Kumar Gupta http://publicmind.in/blog/

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GPL
by Cameron Eagans 02 Apr '10

02 Apr '10

Hi Drupalistas! This question has come up a couple of times in our local Drupal user group meetings, but the answer that was given didn't sound quite right to me: If I code a module for Drupal, does it -have- to be GPL? That is, is a module considered a 'derivative work' of Drupal? Or is a module considered it's own entity from an intellectual property standpoint (that is, can I use something like http://www.raizlabs.com/software/phpobfuscator/ to obfuscate my source code and sell my module without licensing it as GPL?) Because a module executes as a part of Drupal, must it be GPL? Taking that further, can we apply the same question to things like the Linux kernel? Is a kernel module required to be GPL? Can I sell a proprietary kernel extension? Thanks, Cameron Eagans

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Ubercart Issue
by Gastón Pablo Pérez 01 Apr '10

01 Apr '10

Hi all: I have a site in which I offer some products and I use Ubercart (Drupal 6). I'll present an example to show my need... All products have a price, for example the product A costs 1 dollar, so, this price is for unit but if the client buy 10 units of the same product then the costs would be 9 dollars per unit... How can I set up the price of a product basing in the quantity purchased by the client? thanks in advance. Gastón Pablo Perez Email: gpperez(a)gmail.com Web: http://cv.gpperez.com.ar Ubuntu User #30611

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Getting rid of core hacks for drupal upgrade to happen. Need tips on the process.
by Dipen 01 Apr '10

01 Apr '10

Hi, I have started working on a large code base built using drupal 5.2 and now there is a requirement to upgrade it to 5.22 and eventually 6. The problem is that lot of core files (modules, include folder) was hacked over a period of last 1 year to make drupal work according to req, and things were obviously not done drupal way. I am working on identifying changes that were made to core and then would attempt on implementing those changes from a custom module, reverting the core to 5.2 clean state. The job would have been easier if source control management was used from start in the project, but that did not happen and hacks were made before SCM started recording them and hence I can not rely on svn history. What I am doing right now is the following: 1> I have downloaded drupal 5.2 for reference. 2> Have trunk of tainted project checked out. 3> Diffing module files one by one ( against 5.2 download in step 1, so diffing hacked node.module against 5.2 node.module) and recording changes to find out what changes were intended when the developer hacked the core (eg. node module file) For 3 to happen, I can write a script to get diff of all files in say includes folder, but that would give me just the diff file and it would be hard to study why were the changes done. But I am sure I can use it as a starting tool to find out which files have changed in core when measured against cleand drupal 5.2 and then focus on those files. I wanted suggestions and tips on: 1> Apart from svn history, diffing files one by one, does any one have suggestions to find out changes between hacked and clean file? Maybe at a folder level? Like diff the whole include folder or diff the whole modules folder. (I know about beyond compare, anything else?) 2> Any tips, experiences, suggestions on the process of removing core hacks and implementing them outside of core. 3> Any suggestions on the whole approach? If it can be made more efficient. I would like opinion of anyone who has dealt with core hacks and removed them to clear upgrade path. Thanks Dipen

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