[drupal-devel] [feature] Enhance hook_settings - add an optional 'advanced' tab

[moshe weitzman]

Issue status update for 
http://drupal.org/node/30515
Post a follow up: 
http://drupal.org/project/comments/add/30515

 Project:      Drupal
 Version:      cvs
 Component:    system.module
 Category:     feature requests
 Priority:     normal
 Assigned to:  moshe weitzman
 Reported by:  moshe weitzman
 Updated by:   moshe weitzman
 Status:       patch (code needs review)

i'd like to hear some comments from CVS review team on this. If not
desired, alternatives are appreciated.




moshe weitzman



Previous comments:
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Tue, 06 Sep 2005 16:05:53 +0000 : moshe weitzman

Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/hook_settings.patch (25.19 KB)

This patch opens the door for advanced preferences in Drupal. If you
have sufficient permissions, you will see an *advanced* tab on settings
pages when a module chooses to put stuff there. The permission is global
across all Drupal - 'access advanced functionality'.


This patch enhances hook_settings so that it accepts a $type parameter.
By default, $type='simple' and everything works as today. If modules
return HTML when $type=advanced, a new tab appears on the settings
page. To see this in action, visit admin/settings/aggregator applying
the patch and after giving yourself the permission above. The patch
appears long only because of whitespace changes. It is a minor change
to all hook_settings() implementations.


This 'advanced tab' paradigm can be used outside hook_settings as well.
Just protect your tab/feature with the permission above. 


Contrib modules will continue to work without patching but will show an
duplicate tab called 'advanced'. To fix, just add an if($type ==
'simple') block in hook_settings(). I will add upgrading instructions
to drupal.org and update hook_settings() docs if this is committed. 


I feel that this is a good balance between those who repeatedly yell
for 'fewer settings' and those who want their site to work a specific
way but are uneager to hack the source code. This 'advanced settings'
paradigm has worked well for Mozilla project (about:config) and many
others. If these advanced features clutter and bother you, don't enable
this permission or don't click on the advanced tab. There is no way that
Drupal becomes a cluttering steaming pile of configuration options - our
culture precludes this. Lighten up, and give the people what they want.
We can't expect everyone to hack the source to get commonly requested
behavior.


I also simplified upload config by renaming upload_admin() to
upload_settings() and removing an unneeded menu entry.