Posted by GregoryHeller on January 21, 2011 at 6:27pm
Start:
2011-02-17 18:00 - 19:30 America/Los_Angeles Organizers:
Event type:
User group meeting
Amazon South Lake Union Campus 421 Boren Ave N Seattle, WA 98109
421 Boren Ave N/426 Terry Ave N, Seattle, WA 98109
Learn about Drupal and meet local Drupal enthusiasts. We meet from 6 pm until 7:30 pm, then reserve the last half-hour for proper socializing, snacking, and further discussion at a local pub. Last month we went to the Southlake Grill (near REI) which as a block further than Patty Coynes, but I think we all enjoyed it more, so we will plan on that.
Coworking will be a block away at Moka Coffee around 3:30pm.
Agenda
- Brief One Breath introductions
- Lightning talks
- problem/solution breakout session: 30 minutes. Please post your problem in the comments below before the meeting.
If you want to add items to the agenda, please leave a comment.
Comments
Breakout - Make a Module
I have an idea for a small module that I need help writing to help themers avoid using display:none in their CSS
-jared
Breakout Idea - Newsletter Generation
Interested in exploring methods for generating a newsletter. I want to take various existing node types, that have a flag set ("include in newsletter"), so compile, style and send out via html mail to users who have opted in to newsletter list.
Currently looking at using SimpleNews and Mime Mail, but open to other suggestions, and potential pitfalls to avoid.
Sounds Interesting
That sounds interesting, and I'd be curious to know what you have already developed. I just finished the Packt Module Dev book that had a similar module, but involved hooks within specific node type code. Your idea makes much more sense.
RSVP?
Do I need to RSVP to come to the group meetings? I want to invite a couple of people.
RSVP is not required
RSVP is not required. If you signup for the event, you will get a reminder via email a day before the event. Guests are welcome. Meetings usually have some extra seating space.
- John
Open Data Integration
I would love to explore Drupal integration with open civic data, like that found at http://data.seattle.gov. Having looked into this a bit, it seems like the best approach in D7 is to utilize the new entity model, but I have little no experience with it. So, I would to get a hand in this if there are people that know the new API in D7.
--
zzolo
I'm also interested in how to
I'm also interested in how to handle external data sets within Drupal 7, whether to use the entity model or some other solution.
Also, I just started signing up for a data.seattle.gov acct, and whoa... Socrata's terms of service seem kind of restrictive.
Here are the links I
Here are the links I mentioned during the conversation last night about entities/data/fields:
Field API tutorial: http://drupal.org/node/707832
Cassandra vs MongoDB vs CouchDB vs Redis vs Riak vs HBase comparison: http://kkovacs.eu/cassandra-vs-mongodb-vs-couchdb-vs-redis
Thanks
Hey Scott. Thanks for the links. Also, thanks to everyone that talked out the idea of data import at the SeaDUG. I feel a lot more confident about going forward with the project. Also, just overall awesomeness at SeaDUG; thanks for having us.
--
zzolo
Hope to make it this month
I'm sure most people know about boost; I would like to talk about my 3 other modules that are quite helpful in the performance arena.
http://drupal.org/project/dbtuner
http://drupal.org/project/imageinfo_cache
http://drupal.org/project/views_javascript_random
imageinfo_cache has been getting a lot of my attention in the last 2 weeks. Because our files dir is an S3 mount this module has dramatically sped up our Drupal install. Main advantage for everyone is it generates all image cache presets the second after you upload an image (before you click save on the node edit form). Once you click save on the node edit form, odds are all the images will be there; no need to wait for imagecache to generate them when viewing the node.
dbtuner will help speed up your views queries.
views_javascript_random will allow you to have a random view be random on a cached page with zero server interaction.
We use all modules mentioned here (including boost) in our production environment.
issue follow up
Mike, it would be great to see you there again, it has been a while. If you are able to make it would you be interested a little breakout around this: http://drupal.org/node/361832#comment-1863052 ? I am having this theme switching problem with caching enabled and would love to hear more about this as a possible solution.
Thanks
-jared
FYI
Currently building this in the 7.x version of boost: a theme variant for the cache. Also doing role and i18n_geo. If anyone can think of any other modifier/variant for a page cache let me know!
http://drupal.org/node/325813#comment-4087394
If you want this now, one needs to alter the URL so the theme name is in the query string of the url OR use a cache that supports variants. I wrote a patch for memcache so it can use a modifier/variant in the cache_page bin http://drupal.org/node/942914. One would then have to write some "glue" to tie the 2 together. It's not that hard. For one of our sites we use location by user selection OR a geoIP database to give users a different version of the site depending on their location. Works pretty well.
Doing it by theme shouldn't be that hard to do. Using a cookie with some code in settings.php is probably what your looking for as it allows for the same URL just a different theme. SEO wise this is better as well then the PURL way that was suggested in that thread.
Using the settings.php way you read the cookie and change $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] & $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] and add on the theme name to the end of the query string. This is where one sets the theme as well. All page cache get/set use request_uri so once you've changed those 2 variables then all page cache operations (if your not using boost) will work. On form submit set the cookie.
Example code in settings.php (untested but it should work right now)
<?php$custom_theme = isset($_SESSION['custom_theme']) ? $_SESSION['custom_theme'] : isset($_COOKIE['custom_theme']) ? $_COOKIE['custom_theme'] : FALSE;
$approved_themes = array(
'zen' => TRUE,
'garland' => TRUE,
);
if (!empty($custom_theme) && !empty($approved_themes[$custom_theme])) {
if (empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'])) {
$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] .= '?' . $custom_theme;
$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] .= $custom_theme;
}
else {
$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'] .= '&' . $custom_theme;
$_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] .= '&' . $custom_theme;
}
$conf['theme_default'] = $custom_theme;
}
?>
Pressflow doesn't cache pages if $_SESSION is set; that's why I'm going the cookie route here. If your not using pressflow the above code will probably work as is. If you are using pressflow, do a hook_form_alter to add in a call to setcookie and well set that cookie. See switchtheme_switch_form_submit for details.
cookie is required
been thinking about this & the $_SESSION variable is not initialized until after settings.php is loaded. thus $_COOKIE is the only way to do this
I'm coming
I'll be showing up around 4pm so we can work on getting this hammered out. We'll hack the module to get it working and then see if a patch is needed or if if can be done in a separate util module. Getting this working is a goal of mine.
fixed!
code from the lightning talk last night:
http://drupal.org/node/361832#comment-4110568
-jared
One more module
Still working on the finer points, but a new module that I call the Advanced Aggregation Module is currently in a working state. It was birthed out of this long (time frame) discussion: http://groups.drupal.org/node/53973
What this one does is fix drupal's css/js aggregation so the odds of a 404 is VERY small. It also doesn't change the aggregated name unless one of the files inside of it has changed. This will replace css_gzip, and boost will eventually rely on it; obsoleting the cache/perm dir. In fact I see this merging in a lot of css/js utility modules as sub modules.
And while we are here, we could talk about a nutty idea of mine that can technically work: Imagecache image sprites.
If I'm forced to pick one module I would talk about imageinfo_cache.
Thanks to Tom Geller and
Thanks to Tom Geller and Peachpit Press, we will have two copies of Drupal 7 Visual Quickstart Guide to Give away!
Oh, and as usual, we will have donuts, but this time from Top Pot (for a change of pace)
http://GregoryHeller.com
Agenda idea
Perhaps discuss ideas for:
http://groups.drupal.org/node/125854
Breakout - SGS Barn Raising + Kata-->Dojo
Breakout - SGS Barn Raising + Kata-->Dojo
-- Discuss requirements gathering progress
-- Verify meeting with SGS tech team
-- Discuss presentation to SGS tech team
See:
- Minutes Feb 12, 2011
See also:
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/120879
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/121624
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/121559
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/113974
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/108129
Hoping to attend 2/17 meeting
Just learning about Drupal - enrolled in Social Media Technologies & Implementation Certificate Progam at the U of W Extension. We just installed Drupal and created our first site. I have a lot to learn. Looking forward to meeting you all.
Maureen
Holy Crap some dude from Microsoft is showing up
Hey. My name is Mark Brown. I work at Microsoft on our Web Platform team. I'm one of the guys responsible for our strategy to help make Drupal on Windows and IIS a happier experience. I also own all our web platform marketing and do stuff like this http://web.ms/drupal and a bunch of other stuff around Drupal and our web platform.
Anyway, someone from your group sent me a note and said you're all meeting up. Figured since I live here I'd come hang out and say hi.
Looking forward to meeting you all.
While many open source and
While many open source and grass roots communities might respond that way--I would hope that that you never hear that from anyone in the Drupal community. My observation has been that Microsoft has embraced and supported the Drupal community and even sponsored Drupal events! I think that it is fantastic that Microsoft has recognized the growing interest in Drupal and the importance of the supporting Drupal users who are committed to Windows and IIS. Welcome Mark!
No I never see that here
No I've been interacted and worked with members of the Drupal community for a while now and I don't see bad vibes. I only wrote that as a jest :)
Thanks for the welcome.
IIS
Mind looking having someone look into converting boost rules from Apache to IIS? Serving a gzipped file is the big one. All other major web servers can do this (Apache, Nginx & Lighttpd) IIS can not.
http://drupal.org/node/615474
http://groups.drupal.org/node/60283
I don't have a set of rules and with dynamic rule generation being an important part of the up and coming D7 version being able to natively generate IIS rules would be nice.
BTW Drupal 7 now has css/js files gzipped so this will be an issue.
http://drupalcode.org/viewvc/drupal/drupal/.htaccess?view=markup&pathrev...
Taking a look at this.
I'm taking a look at this Boost issue now. Will talk to a couple of engineers on the IIS team tomorrow as well, get their thoughts on this. Not sure I'll have a resolution by tomorrow night but will give it a try.
With dynamic rule generation it is possible to write to web.config dynamically. Not sure if anyone has done this from PHP. Might be some work involved there. Will take a closer look at all this and let you know.
thanks.
Business uses for Drupal
Drupal is a great web platform. It is very mature and very capable. As a business platform, it could use a little help. Plenty of businesses like to use one web platform for both internet and intranet. I have seen many posts from people asking for reporting, editable datagrids etc. in Drupal. Views and CCK are the best things I have seen in a web platform but they can't do everything. Nor should they lest they become too complicated to use.
I think Microsoft is serious about addressing the needs of the business community through Drupal. How about silverlight line of business applications using the Drupal services module displaying updated Drupal content and sophisticated reports from SQL server? Was that a mouthful or what?
In this area, I think Microsoft has a lot of expertise and a lot to contribute.
Glad you're coming to visit Mark. You may get lot's of questions.
Phil
Funny you mention SQL and Silverlight
Yes, one of the things I've looking at trying to get built was a way to emit Silverlight XAML from Views. Another thing I was look at potentially was a way to integrate SQL Server Reporting Services into Drupal as well. More complicated but worth looking at as well.
Anyway you guys all sound like a pretty engaged bunch. Digging that for sure.
Happy to be meeting up with you guys tomorrow and always happy to get questions.