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Contributions: what they are and how to find them

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Pedro Cambra
Pedro Cambra

Contributed modules extend Drupal's functionality without code changes. The main source is Drupal.org, which hosts thousands of free, GPL-licensed modules. Modules should be chosen based on usage stats, issues, and reviews. They are installed by downloading, extracting, and placing them in sites/all/modules. Enabling modules on the Modules page activates their functionality. Popular modules include Views for listings, Rules for workflows, Pathauto/Token for SEO-friendly URLs, and Panels for custom page structures.

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Contributions What are they & how to find them
Contributed modules Contributed or third party modules extend Drupal features without the need of altering any code. It is possible to code new modules following the guidelines to achieve (almost) any feature needed. There are thousands of contributed modules distributed under GPL license available in Drupal.org and other sources that can be used and adapt.
Where to find contrib modules The vast majority of the Drupal community is in drupal.org, that's the main source of modules and themes for extending your Drupal sites. There are few exceptions, and very few non-free modules distributed. A very useful resource is drupalmodules.com which is fed by drupal main repository and provides a friendlier interface for finding contributions.
How to choose contributed modules Occasionally you will find modules that apparently look the same or cover the same needs. Usage stats: http://drupal.org/project/usage/views Issue queues: http://drupal.org/project/issues/views?status=All&categories=All Similar Module Review: http://groups.drupal.org/similar-module-review
Installing contributed modules Download from the official page. Uncompress Copy the directory in our application folder, for example sites/all/modules
Enabling contributed modules Access with a privileged user to the site, and go to the Modules page. Select the module or modules to enable. Save configuration.
Main contributed modules Views Views provides a flexible and powerful interface to display information listings to the users. Allows site builders to generate listings of content, users, image galleries, custom searches and many more without changing a single line of code. 601,638 sites can't be wrong
Views use cases Any kind of content listing, dynamic or static, of any kind of entity and might or might no need sorting and filtering capabilities. Image galleries, carousels, slideshows, rotating banners... Custom searches. Content export in RSS, XML, JSON, etc. Many more: maps, graphs, web services...
Why you should use Views Generate listings easily without coding, black box effect. Reuse of Views, completely or partially. Out of the box full integration with fields, panels, and almost any other component. Exposed filters. Diferent display types for different content typologoies. Documentation and support.
Reasons to NOT use Views Projects in high demand of absolute contol of the data retrieved and code executed. Query optimization. Version control, auditory... Hard to use
Views extensions Views provides a complete API which facilitates an massive ecosystem of modules extending Views features such as extra display options, data structure modifications, etc. Views Bonus, Views Tabs, Views 際際滷show, Views Accordion, Views attach, Views Datasource, Views Popup
Main contributed modules Rules Rules provides a way for site builders to build actions and conditions to react on a given set of events. Allows to configure and change business workflows with less effort. Rules can be encapsulated and embedded so they could be reused by others.
Main contributed modules Pathauto & Token Pathauto is used for generating semantic urls automatically. It uses replacement rules based in tokens. Token provides the replacement chains for replacing path values but also to generate any kind of string based in system variables and many other context information such as fields, taxonomies...
Main contributed modules Entity Reference Entity Reference provides a way to relate entities (i.e. Users with Content) creating a bridge field to store the information. It provides out of the box integration with Views, Rules and many more. Other alternatives to relate content and entities are Relation or References.
Main contributed modules: Panels Panels enables the creation of page structures from the user inteface. You can include a wide range of elements inside panels, such as views, fields, blocks... Eases the design of pages with complex structures and allows building prototypes in a faster way.
Main contributed modules SEO Drupal tends to be SEO friendly by default, but there are a number of modules that enhace and improve this capabilities: Xmlsitemap Provides a XML map for search engines. MetaTags Allows to add meta tags to content. Redirect Helps to create redirections from the interface
Main contrib modules W YSIW YG Drupal doesn't ship with a visual editor for content out of the box so every site must decide their preference (if any). WYSIWYG module provides a standard way to integrate a high number of editors. Supported editors: CKEditor, FCKeditor, jWysiwyg, markItUp, NicEdit, openWYSIWYG, TinyMCE, Whizzywig, WYMeditor, YUI editor and many more.
Other contributed modules Devel helps development Internationalization Multilingual support Flag 'flags' content Backup and Migrate Multimedia Media Embedded media field

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Contributions: what they are and how to find them

  • 1. Contributions What are they & how to find them
  • 2. Contributed modules Contributed or third party modules extend Drupal features without the need of altering any code. It is possible to code new modules following the guidelines to achieve (almost) any feature needed. There are thousands of contributed modules distributed under GPL license available in Drupal.org and other sources that can be used and adapt.
  • 3. Where to find contrib modules The vast majority of the Drupal community is in drupal.org, that's the main source of modules and themes for extending your Drupal sites. There are few exceptions, and very few non-free modules distributed. A very useful resource is drupalmodules.com which is fed by drupal main repository and provides a friendlier interface for finding contributions.
  • 4. How to choose contributed modules Occasionally you will find modules that apparently look the same or cover the same needs. Usage stats: http://drupal.org/project/usage/views Issue queues: http://drupal.org/project/issues/views?status=All&categories=All Similar Module Review: http://groups.drupal.org/similar-module-review
  • 5. Installing contributed modules Download from the official page. Uncompress Copy the directory in our application folder, for example sites/all/modules
  • 6. Enabling contributed modules Access with a privileged user to the site, and go to the Modules page. Select the module or modules to enable. Save configuration.
  • 7. Main contributed modules Views Views provides a flexible and powerful interface to display information listings to the users. Allows site builders to generate listings of content, users, image galleries, custom searches and many more without changing a single line of code. 601,638 sites can't be wrong
  • 8. Views use cases Any kind of content listing, dynamic or static, of any kind of entity and might or might no need sorting and filtering capabilities. Image galleries, carousels, slideshows, rotating banners... Custom searches. Content export in RSS, XML, JSON, etc. Many more: maps, graphs, web services...
  • 9. Why you should use Views Generate listings easily without coding, black box effect. Reuse of Views, completely or partially. Out of the box full integration with fields, panels, and almost any other component. Exposed filters. Diferent display types for different content typologoies. Documentation and support.
  • 10. Reasons to NOT use Views Projects in high demand of absolute contol of the data retrieved and code executed. Query optimization. Version control, auditory... Hard to use
  • 11. Views extensions Views provides a complete API which facilitates an massive ecosystem of modules extending Views features such as extra display options, data structure modifications, etc. Views Bonus, Views Tabs, Views 際際滷show, Views Accordion, Views attach, Views Datasource, Views Popup
  • 12. Main contributed modules Rules Rules provides a way for site builders to build actions and conditions to react on a given set of events. Allows to configure and change business workflows with less effort. Rules can be encapsulated and embedded so they could be reused by others.
  • 13. Main contributed modules Pathauto & Token Pathauto is used for generating semantic urls automatically. It uses replacement rules based in tokens. Token provides the replacement chains for replacing path values but also to generate any kind of string based in system variables and many other context information such as fields, taxonomies...
  • 14. Main contributed modules Entity Reference Entity Reference provides a way to relate entities (i.e. Users with Content) creating a bridge field to store the information. It provides out of the box integration with Views, Rules and many more. Other alternatives to relate content and entities are Relation or References.
  • 15. Main contributed modules: Panels Panels enables the creation of page structures from the user inteface. You can include a wide range of elements inside panels, such as views, fields, blocks... Eases the design of pages with complex structures and allows building prototypes in a faster way.
  • 16. Main contributed modules SEO Drupal tends to be SEO friendly by default, but there are a number of modules that enhace and improve this capabilities: Xmlsitemap Provides a XML map for search engines. MetaTags Allows to add meta tags to content. Redirect Helps to create redirections from the interface
  • 17. Main contrib modules W YSIW YG Drupal doesn't ship with a visual editor for content out of the box so every site must decide their preference (if any). WYSIWYG module provides a standard way to integrate a high number of editors. Supported editors: CKEditor, FCKeditor, jWysiwyg, markItUp, NicEdit, openWYSIWYG, TinyMCE, Whizzywig, WYMeditor, YUI editor and many more.
  • 18. Other contributed modules Devel helps development Internationalization Multilingual support Flag 'flags' content Backup and Migrate Multimedia Media Embedded media field