[development] Forms API newbie guide?

[Jeremy Epstein]

On 6/19/06, Shawn <sgrover at open2space.com> wrote:
> For instance, in my case, I don't really want a new node type.  But I
> want some of the features a new node buys (like a known fixed path when
> working with the module).  Of course you do this with the menu methods.
>   But how would that be obvious to someone who has not done enough work
> to figure this out by trial and error?  The detail is hinted at in a few
> places, but it is subtle enough to be overlooked easily.  (of course now
> I'm doing a merge of node_hooks, page_hooks, menu_hooks, and form_hooks).
>
> Don't get me wrong - what documentation does exist is great, and thanks
> are given to all the contributors.  What is lacking (unless I haven't
> found it yet) is what I consider the "hand holding" type of documents to
> get from zero knowledge about Drupal code to creating the average types
> of modules.  An average module would have database tables and forms to
> create/update data, as well as pure content management type routines.
> The current Module Developers Guide is a great start.  But misses some
> of the details that make everything "click" for a new Drupal coder.

In the Drupal handbook, there is a great resource called "Creating
modules - a tutorial":

http://drupal.org/node/17914

Needs to be updated in places (was written for 4.5), but despite this,
it still does an excellent job of teaching you the basics of Drupal
module development. Grokking the menu callback system, and its central
role as the foundation of almost any page request in Drupal, is
probably the biggest challenge for new developers. Also a challenge is
getting your head around the "hook magic", and how all of that
actually works, and then understanding a few of the more important
hooks in detail (e.g. hook_block, hook_help, hook_nodeapi). This
tutorial will help you to at least begin to overcome these challenges.
:-)

Cheers,
Jaza.