Slides and notes from: How custom is too custom?

Hi all, I am attaching the slides to the talk I gave today about custom code.

Also, I mentioned "drush make" and promised to post some example code. The following is an example of a section from a drush make file showing the version and patches for a couple of media-related modules. This shows how the drush make file can be useful to "lock down" a particular version/patch combination:

projects[media][download][type] = git
projects[media][download][revision] = 89287f76df1ff24409b3ec474c59218929385733
projects[media][download][branch] = 7.x-2.x
projects[media][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/wysiwyg_alt_and_title-2416701-30.patch
projects[media][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/view_mode_classes-2422153-9.patch
projects[media][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/remove_references_to-2714581-2.patch
projects[media][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/cannot_put_link_on_an-2707107-4.patch
 
projects[media_ckeditor][download][type] = git
projects[media_ckeditor][download][revision] = 7409f2c0923f7bd81e91303a9d6032505d89d1cf
projects[media_ckeditor][download][branch] = 7.x-2.x
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/ckeditor_converting-2707177-2.patch
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/media-insert_widget-2451959-7.patch
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/add_entry_in_ckeditor_s-2711129-2.patch
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/the_toolbar_button_does-2710841-2.patch
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/2455557-4.patch
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/open_media_popup_on-2713757-2.patch
projects[media_ckeditor][patch][] = https://www.drupal.org/files/issues/add_classes_to_the-2712923-5.patch
 
On the other hand, if you simply need to use a specific stable version of a module, the syntax is much simpler. For example:
 
projects[pathologic][version] = 2.12
projects[plupload][version] = 1.6
 
I highly recommend, whenever possible, maintaining your contrib code in this way. It does take some discipline, since "drush dl" is so quick and easy, but it pays off in the long run. Here is a blog post with details about this approach: https://www.phase2technology.com/blog/creating-maintainable-sites-with-d...
Feel free to send any questions my way!

 

Last modified: 
Wed, 05/04/2016 - 4:51pm
Submitted by bfanning on Wed, 05/04/2016 - 4:42pm.

May4 Drupal User's Group: How custom is too custom? Tips for coding (and when not to)

Topic: 
How custom is too custom? Tips for coding (and when not to).
Date: 
Wed, 05/04/2016 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
2115 Tawes Hall (English Department Lounge)
Presenter(s): 
bfanning
Level: 
Intermediate
Back-End, Site Building, Project Management

This month we are joined by Brock Fanning with the College of Arts and Humanities.

Title: How custom is too custom? Tips for coding (and when not to).

This presentation is about making the call between writing custom code and using contributed modules. There will be no code snippets; it is more of a high-level look at Drupal customization and its pros and cons.

The material will be most useful to developers and project managers. This presentation will address questions like:

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No Meeting 04/06, Pending Rescheduling

Our regular Drupal User Group meeting will not be held on Wednesday, April 6, 2016, due to a water leak in Tawes Hall.  We are working to reschedule this session, when we'll be joined by Jeffrey Brainard of the Maryland Sea Grant College to discuss their redesign process.

Last modified: 
Tue, 04/05/2016 - 10:52pm
Submitted by remmell on Tue, 04/05/2016 - 10:48pm.

UMD Drupal Dim Sum Luncheon

Date: 
Fri, 03/25/2016 - 11:30am to 1:00pm
Location: 
Orient East Restaurant

Join us for the first UMD Drupal Dim Sum Party on Friday, March 25, 2016! Several of you have expressed interests in a Dim Sum get together. Oriental East Restaurant in Silver Spring is one of the most popular Dim Sum restaurants in this area. It is usually a long line, so it's best we be there around 11:30 to beat the crowd.

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No Meeting on 3/2/2016

There were scheduling conflicts for this month's meeting, so we will not have a meeting today, 3/2/2016.

We will instead have an open forum on Wednesday, 3/9/16.  Information will be posted shortly.

Last modified: 
Wed, 03/02/2016 - 10:57am
Submitted by remmell on Wed, 03/02/2016 - 10:57am.

DUG Meeting 03/09/16, Open Forum

Date: 
Wed, 03/09/2016 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Location: 
2119D Tawes Hall (MEO Conference Room)
Presenter(s): 
remmell
sweng
Level: 
Beginner
Front-End, Theming, Design, Back-End, DevOps, Site Building, Project Management, Business and Strategy, Marketing and Communications

This meeting has been moved to 2119D Tawes Hall.

The Drupal User’s Group meeting this month will be held on Wednesday, March 9 at 12 noon (not the first Wednesday).

The meeting will be an open forum, led by Megan Weng, Suran De Silva, and Kevin Nesline, where we’ll discuss items of interest or challenges we’re experiencing.  This is a chance to bring your Drupal questions and projects to the table to get input from your peers. 

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Job Annoucement: Web Services Developer

The Front-End Web Developer is a position in the Office of Marketing Communications that will support online marketing communications efforts for the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. The Front-End Web Developer will report to the Director of Online Strategy as part of the online marketing communications team and will work closely with the Office of Smith IT on back-end updates. The ideal candidate will have strong experience with Drupal, as well as HTML and CSS, and should be able to efficiently and independently troubleshoot coding issues. The position works with designers and marketing team members and other internal stakeholders to ensure that all websites deliver an excellent user experience. In addition, this position works closely with the Senior Applications Developer in Smith IT to transfer content and code between local, test and production environments. All Smith School websites are hosted in-house.

View the job posting
suran's picture

Job Annoucement: Senior Web Developer

The College of Arts & Humanities at University of Maryland, College Park, is seeking a web application developer to join the Web and Application Services Group. This position serves as the lead developer for the team. Please see the job posting for details and to apply for the position. 

View the job posting
sweng's picture

Development Workflow with Drush+Git - Quick Reference

Quick Reference

Last modified: 
Thu, 02/11/2016 - 3:34pm
Submitted by mmazzott on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:17pm.

Development Workflow with Drush+Git

Presentation

Last modified: 
Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:15pm
Submitted by mmazzott on Mon, 02/08/2016 - 2:15pm.