GotDrupal.com | Drupal Tutorial Site - Beginner

Drupal Menu System Demystified

SiteAdmin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:58:27 +0000

There's a mistake I've made which a few others have made too. The mistake is rushing into your new Drupal site and populating your menu right away. You simply add new menu items as placeholders until you can create or add the data. You set the menu path to something like <front>, and populate away.

The frustrating part about this, is that your menus may not work as expected - at least when expecting cascading menus using the Primary links (or any other menu) as a hierarchy. Drupal needs to have something to point to in order to build it's internal menu.

There is an option within the Devel module to flush the menu (internally known as the menu router and menu links), and this is great to know, but won't help unless the menus are linked to actual content.

This video will walk you through the 'know-how' about how the menu works internally, and how to avoid the pitfalls of making your menus do what you want. I cover three other add on modules which you can use to make your Drupal serve up the order you've placed for it (did you catch that one? - if not, do you need a Menu? - being addicted keeps you crazy.)

Modules referenced

Sites referenced

Lullabot Menu's Video

How To: Leverage Drupal Taxonomy

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:59:09 +0000

While trying to think of what to write, regarding Drupal taxonomy, it was my kids’ story
last night that inspired this posting about this video covering how the taxonomy module works and what it means to your Drupal site.

Taxonomy, taxidermy, category, road kill
let’s play a matching game,
and then increase our Drupal skill.

Spend some time with synonyms,
take a break, eat M-n-M’s,
return to Content Taxonomy,
help Drupal fix the economy.

We want a killer Drupal site,
without the pain and UI blight
of something ugly, hard to use,
so let’s all learn Taxonomy and Views!

I’ve got this video
right here for you,
it covers Vocabularies
and then Terms too.

It’s great to learn what can be done,
now let’s all go and have some fun,
being addicted to Drupal stuff,
which really isn’t all that tough.

Wow! that’s not something I normally do when writing about some silly Drupal video tutorial designed to help you learn more about Drupal and how Drupal Taxonomy works. But, hey, it was fun!

Drupal 7 Tutorial Preview

Matt Petrowsky — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 18:41:21 +0000

Drupal 7 is bound to be one of the most anticipated releases in all of Drupal's history. Not simply because it's the next release, but rather it's "new lease on life" with regards to usability, interface and interaction.

Drupal has long had this "stigma" about it regarding its learning curve. This stigma, however, is there for good reason. Drupal is, for anyone brand new to Drupal, hard to learn because it doesn't attempt to be all things to all people. It's the starter kit to your Lego collection or the concrete foundation to your digital house.

You really can't install a fresh Drupal (and this will include Drupal 7) and expect it to do exactly what you want -- "a fresh Drupal? [sounds like a good fruit, a blue one]".

However, through the addition of key modules, you end up with something far more powerful than what many other content management systems can offer.

In this video I walk through a preview of what is coming in Drupal 7. This tutorial will serve as the starting point for future Drupal 7 tutorials about how to use, configure and leverage this powerful open source content management system.

How To: Drupal SEO using Nodewords for Meta tags

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 21:58:00 +0000

SEO is one of the more critical aspects for any web site - at least if you want to be found in the search engines. The fact that Drupal is capable of being super SEO friendly is a great benefit. However, it doesn't do you much good to simply know that Drupal is SEO friendly. With modules like SEO Checklist from Volacci you can certainly walk through the myriad of possible SEO options.

In this video, I simply walk through one of the more powerful Drupal SEO modules. The Nodewords module is what allows you to communicate, to your prospective visitors, what your content actually is and why they should visit your site - specfically, via the Description meta tag. If you only get two things from this video; 1) know that you absolutely need to use the Description meta tag and probably Keywords too and 2) use Nodewords to make it happen!

How To: Embedding media using SWF Tools module

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 19:37:28 +0000

Yep, we're living in a media rich world (just in case you didn't notice the video on this web page <wink>). In fact, what's the second most popular search engine? Is it Bing? Nope, it's YouTube of all things (last I heard).

So, all you really need to know, is how to bring your Drupal site up to the media rich standards of the new web and activate some media modules. Personally, I've used a number of them, and I'm quite comfortable digging around with Javascript and jQuery, however, there's something to be said for the easy route.

I'm using the Flowplayer module on this site now (as of posting date), and previously, I used jQuery Media.

It wasn't until recently, where I was avoiding an upgrade to one of my podcast sites, that I decided to try out SWF Tools module. I had tried it out in the past, but found it lacking. BUT, not these days.

For audio, I like using the 1pixelout player, and seeing support for Flowplayer too, "forced" me to try it out.

While it really depends on preference, for whether to use Flowplayer proper or SWF Tools, it sure is nice to have all media managed by one module.

The trick is understanding how to get it working - and that's what this video will help you with!

How To: Using Drupal Webform for useful feedback

Matt Petrowsky — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 17:33:40 +0000

The Drupal Webform module is both a popular and useful module for collecting information from web site visitors.

For the most part, you can install, activate and start to create your own webforms right away. The module is pretty easy to use, well crafted and created by one of my most favorite Drupal developers.

Using webform is great when collecting valuable information, but what happens when you need a bit more. Is it possible to know where a site visitor was when they clicked on a response form? Can you determine what browser they are using, and if they use Macintosh or Windows? You sure can, and it's VERY helpful! Take a few minutes to watch this video and start collecting even more useful information.

Modules referenced

Webform [issues] - [usage]

UPDATE: 11/3/09 Unfortunately, the Webform module was updated, and some of the tips in this video no longer work as expected. Here is the reasoning and also some suggestions about how to regain some of the functionality within this Drupal support issue related to webform and SERVER variables.

How To: Drupal Panels

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 01:34:11 +0000

Like many other content management systems, Drupal is built on PHP. With PHP, you can dig in and make it do whatever you want. Likewise, you can dig into Drupal and make it do most everything you want - well, almost. If you're not afraid of writing PHP code, then the sky's the limit. If you're limited by the time and desire to learn PHP, then Panels is likely the way to go!

If you're seeking a high degree of control, regarding the individual building blocks which make up the output of your Drupal site, you can choose one or more of the following. In order of complexity (and decreasing silliness) you can A) generate an XSLT parsing system to re-render what was already rendered by Drupal from your own custom module built to output custom XML code, B) become a Drupal theming master (a topic for another video series) or C) use Panels and be done with it.

My suggestion is to go with 'C' and be done with it. Hopefully, this video will provide you with the head start you're looking for when working with the Panels module.

Preview: Open Atrium

Matt Petrowsky — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 00:12:31 +0000

I recently received a direct tweet from the folks at Development Seed with notice about the beta release of Open Atrium. Having been quite interested in seeing what they've got, I quickly downloaded a copy and got it up and running.

I decided to record the process and provide my first impressions. Bear in mind, these are first impressions and I'm not an expert (by any means) about their system. I dug into the system as a developer and skimmed through it.

If you're interested in finding out more about the actual feature set, they've got a video on this page.

Feel free to leave related comments below.

How To: Finding Drupal Modules

Matt Petrowsky — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 19:59:47 +0000

Maybe your experience was similar. You learned about Drupal, you thought it was great (still is) and you wanted to make it do more.

Of course, you knew about adding modules. There's a whole section on Drupal.org. You visit the site and WOW! Get ready to surf through over 4,000 modules. You'd have to spend enough time with at least 10-a-day to know what each one does.

Discovering if a) there's a module that does what you want, and b) if its name may transalte into the feature you seek (try to guess what Eldorado Superfly does without reading the description), can be an exercise in exploratory determination - determined to keep exploring that is.

So, here's a video with a few of my tips for making the search process a bit more comfortable. If you've got a helpful tip about searching for and reseaching modules, then, by all means, leave a comment on this site!

How To: Edit a Drupal Blog via Blog API using blogging software

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 08 May 2009 06:53:08 +0000

Whether you're an avid blogger or you simply make the occasional post, there's just something uncomfortable about editing long posts and working with pictures when you're in a web browser. If you've heard of Ecto (mac), MarsEdit (mac), ScribeFire (firefox) or any of the other popular desktop blogging clients, then chances are you'll want to use one of those tools to access and edit your Drupal blog.

Here's where the gotcha shows up. Getting things set up right!

While I love what Drupal can do, it's lacking in the area of "Where's my 'use blogging software' checkbox?". I came across this issue the other day when messing around on my personal domain. I wanted to setup Blog API and get started making some posts. On top of that, I wanted the easiest way possible to get multiple pictures into a post. Using a blogging client is the best way (read easiest) to do that - as far as I know.

So, what's the result? Well, it's the video you'll find here on this page, which walks you through most all the steps you need to know for making your Drupal blog happy with your desktop blogging client of choice. Whether you want to support a multi-user blog or just set things up for yourself.

Outside of remembering your blogging api url is http://example.com/xmlrpc.php (replace example.com with your own domain name) and that Drupal uses the Movable Type setting for connecting, there are a slew of permissions and settings to make sure you get it right before you can use that client. Fortunately, I think I've covered most everything you need to know to get things going.

HEY DRUPAL BLOGGER - SPECIAL NOTICE! I'd like to make an open invitation to other Drupal users and developers who might want to start blogging on this very site. If you'd like to blog about your Drupal experiences, and you've got a good head for writing about technical topics, then send me an email.

Drupal Module: Google Analytics Module

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 05:33:25 +0000

Metrics: Boy, do we like measuring things! Most everything in our lives is captured all around us, from the very day we are born. The very first thing they took from me was my lbs and inches and the time I popped out. This was before I even had a name.

So, I guess, it goes without saying (watch, I'll say it). We like to measure things (there, I said it). How about web traffic? Well, we'll capture that too! It used to be that you needed to install your own scripts - and - in 'em pioneering days of the 'ole web, you'd write your own Perl script to parse the 'ole web log.

Welp, them days are gone. You still might parse your own web logs (if you can access them) to get a different perspective of what your server is serving, but tracking your traffic is actually quite easy. With cloud computing and shared hosts being all the rage, the tracking you'll likely end up using is something like Google's Analytics.

If you haven't given it a try, then this video will give you a great introduction to using Drupal's Google Analytics module. Knowing who's coming to your web site, how they're finding you, what they're doing while they're there and many other juicy tidbits it one of the key motivations for running a web site. If you don't have any tracking on your Drupal site now then watch this video and get set up within a very short time!

How To: Using Drupal Views module

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 22:28:04 +0000

Your task, should you attempt it without the help of Views (and likely fail - unless you're willing to write your own SQL), is to create a front page listing of content where the top-most item is less than 2 weeks old and has an average star rating of 4.5 or higher. This is what is presented in this video - using Views, of course.

So, maybe you're like me, and you've waited and waited until you think you absolutely have to start using Views before you take that first step.

Well, here's a great chance. In this Drupal video about the Views module, I've opted not to create a new custom view from scratch. I won't insult your intelligence by assuming you don't know what Fields are in a database. Rather, I walk through the various settings which Views provides and attempt to help you get familiar with its various pieces.

There are simply so many things you can do with Views, that it pays to know how things go together. If there's one thing you take from this video, I hope it's the knowledge that your imagination may be the only limiting factor.

The video covers the various settings for a 'view' and introduces what I think of as 'subviews' (officially called displays - think, "display's of a view"). I cover the various display types, highlight 'view display styles' and end up with a front page which has more character than what comes with your standard Drupal. Views is definitely a module you want to know about!

In the video I made reference to a few other resources. Here they are.

FileField Podcaster module [issues] - [usage] for making iTunes compatible feeds using Views
Lullabot Video about Fivestar and VotingAPI
Another Views 2 Video on MasteringDrupal.com which may help you out.

Basics: Understanding Drupal's Block System

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 23:56:30 +0000

Drupal's Blocks System is the partner to your site's content. Of everyting you see on a Drupal page, it's either content or something from a block. With the introduction of Views, you can pretty much say most every Drupal page is Content (nodes) and Blocks or a View (which is content itself) with - again - blocks.

What may be confusing is the "Blocks" area of Drupal is actually the management of the available blocks within the defined Regions (Drupal 6 or Drupal 5) of the current Theme.

Quite simply, it goes like this.

Theme > Regions > Blocks > Content

Where content can come from a Module, an Embedded View or your own custom content.

You get to control which blocks show, who gets to see them and on which pages. Knowing the difference between blocks supplied by modules, and what you can do with your own blocks is one of the keys to making your Drupal site do what you want it to do.

How To: Drupal Setup - First Steps

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 03:16:48 +0000

Setup for a new Drupal site can be as simple as changing the site name - if you want a really plain and boring site that is. Otherwise, there are a number of steps and areas to cover when first emerging from behind the installation process.

One of the more confusing things about Drupal is the setup process itself. There are so many modules which contribute to the setup, that things seem a bit spread all over the place - because of how Drupal modularizes things.

There is no one single place to head into and step through setup in a 1, 2, 3 fashion. (Hey, there's a module idea in there somewhere.)

So, it's a matter of hitting all the areas that count when first setting things up. Of course, you must also realize, there is a degree of setup to most every module you add to your Drupal install.

This video walks through the primary areas of setup, just after installation, and also covers some of your additional options.

Basics: Understanding Drupal's Content Types (CCK)

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 00:53:03 +0000

"What's a node?" I asked myself when first using Drupal. "Isn't that the taxi station they drop passengers off in some sci-fi novel?". Well, close, but not in Drupal-speak. A node is the "techie terminology" used by Drupal (and Drupal developers) behind the scenes.

The easier term to understand is Content Type. It all started back in the days of Drupal 4.7 with a module called CCK. Drupal 5 was the version which saw more adoption of CCK than 4.7 and future versions of Drupal will likely eleminate the need for a separate module. Although, you'll always have the option to extend what type of content you can manage within your defined Content Types - using add-on modules.

Still confused about Nodes, Content, Content Types and Modules which enhance your Content Types? Hopefully, this video will shed some light on the subject, and you'll be off to the {content} races in no time!

How To: Installing Acquia Drupal

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:57:56 +0000

In most every Drupal installation, there are a few (if not more) modules you inevitably end up installing and using.

Two of these are likely CCK and Views*. Then, all the other, shall we say, essential modules you end up hearing about, and installing as well.

So, your next question may be, "What's the fastest way to get started with Drupal?". If you know CVS then that may be a good way to go (it's the method I use). If you don't, then...

Why not get going quickly by trusting in some of the minds behind Drupal itself? Acquia Drupal is the "commercialized" version of Drupal. Although there is a free version too! It comes with a pre-installed collection of modules which all pretty much fall within the essential category. I just wonder why they didn't include Global Redirect if they're including Pathauto.

Using the Acquia Network, you'll get some monitoring which you would normally have to set up on your own by install other tools. Watch this video for an overview of the installation process for Acquia Drupal.

* According to usage statistics on Drupal.org

Module Review: Comment Notify

Matt Petrowsky — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 23:30:32 +0000

How do you keep anonymous visitors coming back to your Drupal site? In the ideal world, everyone who visits your site should join in and become a member right? Unlikely. In the world of Internet Marketing, you capture their email address so you can email them. But then you have that whole spam issue and that scares some people off - although, opt-in email is a great way to go!

One of the best ways to keep someone interested, is to keep the conversation going. In this new age of social media and social networks you need to offer the bells and whistles that most everyone else is - otherwise your site may be perceived as being "less than". Now, you many not expect yourself to run a Facebook within Drupal (although I'm sure someone somewhere is), but the Drupal module you may want to consider is Comment Notify

In this video, I offer a review of the use, setup and wishes for the Comment Notify module. It's a great way to keep people coming back to your Drupal site.

Special Note: In the video, I make mention of a public unsubscribe feature via something like http://example.com/comments/unsubscribe. After my own review of the video, it seems like I'm talking about the feature from the standpoint of unsubscribing from individual nodes. What I was trying to suggest (albeit poorly) was a universal unsubscribe for a given email address across all nodes (site wide unsubscribe from all comments). Comment Notify does offer the feature to unsubscribe via the email which is sent out as notification. It was just an idea.

Also, the suggestion about using a user specific block for user-based settings (which may seem hidden), is something which is a bit more complex than simply creating your own block. Further research will be required (and probably a dedicated module - which probably exists).

Now come on! Leave a comment, I dare you (just make it worth while).

Basics: Understanding Drupal's Permissions

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 01:13:07 +0000

The Situation - You've just started your new Drupal site, and you're wondering how you'll manage those thousands (hopefully hundreds of thousands) of users and what they can and can't do.

You've entered the realm of Permissions. You click on the link titled Permissions, in the Users area, and I'd like to welcome you to the "Checkbox Maze Game". You proceed to create all your roles according to the people who will be using your site. This includes your Assistant, your Junior Admin, some Moderators and various other roles. But wait...!!! Stop! Don't check that box!

There may be a better way to manage permissions which will be more flexible in the long run. I personally remember my first try at the Checkbox Maze Game and it's through my experience that I present this video about understanding Drupal's permissions and how it's much more straight forward when someone just tells you how it works.

To get you started, did you know the only role that needs the checkbox 'post comments' checked is authenticated user?*

*(unless you're going for something much more complex)

Quick Tip: Allowing JavaScript in Blocks

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:52:02 +0000

There are those few times when you want or need JavaScript to be allowed within blocks or nodes. The trick is simply to create a new Input Filter which does not use the HTML Filter.

Designate the filter for use by specific roles, and you're ready to rock and roll!

You just want to make sure only trusted users can use this input format. Most of the time, only the Admin user will be able to use it.

NOTE: the default Full HTML filter does allow you to post JavaScript. Creating your own additional filter with a unique name is simply be nice way to clearly identify what that filter does.

Module Review: Mollom

Matt Petrowsky — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 00:51:29 +0000

"What's the quickest way to get anonymous commenting my Drupal website?" you ask?

Why by using Mollom, of course - or so I hear. In the past, I've only used Spam module and modules like Captcha.

Today was a new day, and while setting up this site, I wanted to get anonymous comments going quickly. After about a half an hour of messing around (watching this video will make it faster for you) I had Mollom up and running and ready to go.

We'll see how things turn out as people like yourself start to leave comments on this site!

Module Review: Pathauto

Matt Petrowsky — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:00:08 +0000

One of the first modules you'll want to install into ANY drupal site is Pathauto. This essential module will convert the somewhat ugly url path of "node/123" into the much more SEO friendly versions of "content/relevant-url-name-here".

If you've been mystified by how this module works then this video may provide the guidance you need.

Note: You'll need to install the Token module as well, in order for Pathauto to function properly!