Twin Cities

July Happy Hour

zzolo — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 22:33:20 +0000

The first Thursday of the month has come up, so it's time to drink (or not drink) and talk Drupal at the Bedlam!

5:30PM at Bedlam on July 2, 2009.

1501 S. 6th St.
on the WEST BANK, MINNEAPOLIS
http://www.bedlamtheatre.org/
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1501+S.+6th+...

Also, if anyone wants to prose a different day or place, please let me know. It's nice to have consistency, but I like variety too. I am partial to Thursdays, but we can change it up.

Twin Cities

TC Ubercart Group startup

maryannking — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:28:06 +0000

Hi there!

I've mentioned this before - and had some responders and after a discussion at last nights TCDrupal Group meeting - I am going to just start this group -- Sharing all our experiences and knowledge has to be the best way to learn.

I'm looking at the 3rd Wednesday of the month, starting in July 22 -- 7pm-9pm, and Advantage Labs is very graciously said they would host it at their offices -

Does this time work for most? Let me know and we can make plans and move forward -- Thanks!

Twin Cities

July: drupalchix:msp chocolate cake meeting

chachasikes — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 05:27:29 +0000

It's about time the local drupalchix got together.

We'll be eating chocolate cake.

I'm proposing meeting at the Seward Pizza Luce because I think their cake is particularly great. Also, they have tiramisu. What more do you need? (Oh, right, wireless. I'm not sure about that.)

Anyways, besides chocolate cake - the few few few women who do Drupal in the Twin Cities should get together. Aside from just getting together to learn more about ourselves professionally, it might be nice to talk about doing things that would support ourselves as women who work in open source.

Twin Cities

St Cloud/Central MN Drupal Meetup

krazy17 — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:53:25 +0000

Hi Everybody,

I was hoping to have a meetup sometime over the summer in the St Cloud area. I know a few people using Drupal, but it would be cool to meet and share stories and strategies.

Post to this discussion if you are interested and we can figure something out.

-Karl

Twin Cities

Drupal | Rapid Application Deployment

Jade_Zavatkay — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:37:29 +0000

My client Is seeking a Minnesota-based Drupal programmer to join the team.
2 years + Exp with Drupal Ideal.

They work with the biggest names in the music industry, with major label artists, management and marketing firms.

Candidate needs to be very well versed in Drupal to assist our team in the build of strict Drupal-driven websites.

Our clients range from businesses such as Norman Mitchel International Real Estate Auctioneers to The Red Carpet Nightclub to Shiboleth Law Firm in NYC among others. Our clients in the music industry have ranged from Billy Idol to members of Kelly Clarkson & Shania Twain's bands to Zakk Wylde of Ozzy Osbourne and many more.

Candidate can be based anywhere in MN.
Telecommute optional.

6 month contract to hire/

Jade Zavatkay
Jade@rapiddeploy.com
Rapid Application Deployment
952-253-9445
http://www.linkedin.com/in/jadezavatkay

Twin Cities

Reminder: TC Documentation Sprint this Saturday

zzolo — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:10:48 +0000

This Saturday, June 20, 2009 is the Twin Cities Documentation Sprint from 10AM to 5PM at Advantage Labs. Come when you like. Tell your friends. We hope to see you there.

Twin Cities

June Drupal User Group

zzolo — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:09:03 +0000

Our monthly user group is June 24th, 2009 at Advantage Labs.

Since it is Geo June, I think we will be focusing on gis-related things in Drupal. I can give a short presentation/demo on OpenLayers module, given I can get it presentable. Advantage Labs talked about possibly demoing Geo module.

Twin Cities

Ubercart Help

maryannking — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:59:23 +0000

I'm looking for someone to sit with me (I will pay) to answer questions/train, fix some problems, etc. that I am trying to work through on an unbercart site I am working on. My timeframe would be within the next week (15th through 19th). My site has been created and I'm trying to get some items changed and hit a wall. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, anyone thought of starting ubercart user group meetings?

Twin Cities

Senior Developer | Mxapp LLC.

CitizenKane — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:28:12 +0000

Mxapp, LLC. is young and fast growing company located in Minneapolis, MN. We provide online and mobile ordering to the restaurant industry. We're looking for a senior developer to work on our backend systems. Good knowledge of PHP5 and Drupal 6 programming is a must. Knowledge of Apache, Solr, Mobile Programming and Linux is a definite plus.

If you're interested in working with Mxapp, LLC. or would like further information please call (612)326-4707 or contact me through my g.d.o contact form.

Twin Cities

Geo related documentation started on GeoJune.org

bmadore — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 21:34:33 +0000

As part of the Geo June activity, we've started a website to aggregate the work being done: http://www.geojune.org. We're aiming to provide documentation, demos of the developing modules, tutorials, etc.

To get the ball rolling on more formal documentation of all things geospatial in Drupal, we've started some Drupal books on geojune.org: http://www.geojune.org/documentation. The idea is to collaboratively work on documentation of not only the geo related contrib modules, but also deeper info about GIS and Drupal in general. The module documentation will be adapted to be included as d.o documentation pages; the deeper documentation, demos, examples will remain or be moved for potential permanent status for future development and reference.

Right now there are two upper-level books: One a getting started guide to mapping, the other a guide to geocoding Drupal data and storing geospatial data in Drupal. This division is loosely meant to divide the two types of contrib modules: display/mapping and geocoding/storage related to GIS work in Drupal. It is a suggested division at this point, open for discussion or further subdivision.

The mapping guide is empty right now. We'd love those involved in mapping modules (Openlayers, etc.) to start putting some pages here. The geocoding guide has some placeholder documentation related to the Geo and Geocode module as lifted from the documentation wiki page started here in the Location Mapping group by ultimike. We've started to break out that info into sub pages.

It's all rough right now. We need as many interested people as possible to weigh in and start documenting. Go to the site, get yourself a login, and contribute! Head into the #drupal-geo IRC channel for guidance or to ask maintainers/documenters for potential documentation assignments. We also hope to get a group from the Twin Cities Drupal Users Group Documentation Sprint on June 20 to take parts of this on as a project.

Thanks,

Barry Madore
Advantage Labs
(on behalf of the GeoJune #drupal-geo IRC participants)

Twin Cities

June Drupal Happy Hour

zzolo — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:38:27 +0000

Drupal Happy Hour is schedule for this Thursday.

5:30PM at Bedlam on May 7, 2009.

1501 S. 6th St.
on the WEST BANK, MINNEAPOLIS
http://www.bedlamtheatre.org/
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1501+S.+6th+...

Admittedly, I will be absence as I am making my way down to Drupal Camp Wisconsin (in Madison): http://drupalcampwi.com/

Twin Cities

Geo June Kickoff Barbecue

bmadore — Fri, 29 May 2009 20:42:33 +0000

Come help us kickoff Geo June with a barbecue. Partake in grilled goods aplenty and talk about all things Geo June.

Location:
Advantage Labs
2104 Stevens Ave South
Minneapolis, MN, 55404

If you've been to the Twin Cities Users Group meetings, this is the same location. We'll be out back.

We'll provide some meat items, some veggie alt items, some beverages. Bring anything special you'd like to consume or share if you wish.

Twin Cities

A Drupal Know it All | Tiger Oak Publishing

theoracleprodigy — Tue, 26 May 2009 16:38:41 +0000

We are looking for a short term contractor to help with a Drupal deployment. We have very tight deadlines and just need some help with the look and feel. We need someone to come in who has experience in creating a website that can look somewhat like: http://www.mnmeetingsmag.com/. Our need is very urgent so the faster you can work the better. Any knowledge with multiple websites, performance monitoring, and tuning would be a nice to have. If you have knowledge on how to tie a website into the google tools it would be good as well (google ads, maps, and analytics). Also some knowledge hand off would be preferred, so if you know how to train or have training experience it would be a plus. The more that you know about Drupal and modules would be a plus, these websites could really push the limits of Drupal.

Jonathan.Powell@tigeroak.com

Twin Cities

Drupal expert needed for project. Local preferred. | VERSA-LOK

mpekala — Thu, 21 May 2009 22:38:36 +0000

We're looking for a Drupal expert that can not only build a site from provided mockups but also provide few hours of on or off-site training.

Our initial site VillaLandscapes.com is the smallest of our 4 sites and the one that we're currently would like to focus on. Basically the site will be redesigned and a PSD layout provided to you. There will be 3 different PSD mockups provided: home, secondary page and a gallery page. The new site will not be much different in architecture than the current one www.villalandscapes.com except more content will be added additional gallery sections created. Gallery will either be built in flash or AJAX/Javascript. This will be provided.

We've obtained a Linux based Virtual Dedicated Server hosting and will have the basic version of Drupal installed.

We're looking for someone to take our design, apply the theme and configure Drupal to allow for additional sites in the future. Please allow for few hours of on-site training (if possible) of Drupal and collaboration with our designer and IT guy. For this proposal, Villa Landscapes will most likely use "out of the box" modules so no custom features needed for this site.

Please let me know if you need anything else answered before sending us an estimate.

Knowledge of integrating shopping cart within Drupal a plus! We have another site that we'd eventually would like to move to Drupal and integrate a cart as well. Few months from now.

Thank you.
mpekala@versa-lok.com

Twin Cities

Announcing Geo June

Allie Micka — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:50:29 +0000

Hi everyone!

At DrupalCON DC, we demoed some of the work we've been doing on Geo and related modules. We'd like to get these modules to a stable and dependable state so that other mapping solutions, such as GMAP and Openlayers can also be stable and well-supported.

All together, these solutions can make Drupal a true GeoCMS: Not only can you import and mash up freely-available data, you can participate in the dialog by collecting, filtering and publishing geospatial results and feeds of your own. Since Geo is friendly with Views and CCK, there's almost no limit to what you can do with it!

Developing an API that is flexible enough for a variety of solutions is more costly and time-consuming than building a one-off solution, but a lot more powerful and sustainable in the long run. Advantage Labs has provided the majority of support and development, but we're looking for help on the last mile, and thought we'd find a creative way to kickstart development that leverages small and large contributions of all kinds.

Throughout the month of June, we're hosting a series of fun online and offline events, and we're devoting as much time and resources as we can sustainably devote. By the end of the month, we hope to release 1.0 versions of Geo and Geocode.

We're seeking participation on all levels from anyone who's interested! Please check out our Official announcement or help get things started on the Use case Wiki

Twin Cities

May Meeting: Trick Out Your User Registration Page

bmadore — Fri, 08 May 2009 18:22:28 +0000

Theming forms seems to be a persistent challenge and ubiquitous need. We'll explore some form theming techniques by tricking out a Drupal User Registration Page. Come with questions, tips, tricks (and/or treats). As always, we'll also make sure there's plenty-o-time for networking, socializing, announcing and pizza eating.

Twin Cities

Workshop: Introduction to Views 2 in Drupal 6

bmadore — Fri, 08 May 2009 17:50:36 +0000

Join us for this introductory workshop which will provide an overview of the interface and functionality of Drupal's essential Views 2 module. Get an introduction to new features and leave with a head start toward understanding how to recreate and extend the Views you built in Drupal 5. For those without prior Views experience, this workshop will be valuable if you will be soon working with a Drupal 6 website.

Info and registration
Limit: 15 attendees
Location:
Advantage Labs, Inc
2104 Stevens Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55404
Cost:$60 ($45 for Advantage Labs hosting clients)

Twin Cities

Twin Cities Documentation Sprint

zzolo — Wed, 06 May 2009 02:13:20 +0000

People have spoken on when they can do a sprint and Advantage Labs has so graciously reserved us the conference room in the IATP building, so the Documentation Sprint is on June 20, 2009 from 10:00AM to 5:00PM!

Logistics

Place: 2104 Stevens Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55404
Day: June 20, 2009
Time: 10AM to 5PM, feel free to come and go as you please. There is no reason you have to be there the whole time though it is encouraged.
Who: Everyone! There is no skill level required. You just have to have a good attitude.

Goals

Our original discussion outlines some ideas. We don't necessarily need concrete goals, but some idea of larger tasks we want to accomplish would be great. Please comment on this post any ideas you have.

RSVP

It would be very helpful if people who can RSVP do, as we can start to gauge how many people and what kind of skill level we will have. This is an event type and there should be some sort of attend button on this page.

Support and Sponsorship

It would be really great if we can find someone or a company to sponsor lunch or maybe even drinks afterward. Let me know if you or some you know is able to.

Twin Cities

Happy Hour Bad Day? What day is bad for you to go to a Drupal Happy Hour each month? (Note this doesnt change upcoming one)

zzolo — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 06:08:11 +0000

Twin Cities

New TC Drupal User Group Page

zzolo — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 03:50:46 +0000

I made a new look for our Twin Cities Drupal User Group at groups.drupal.org. It is now utilizing the og_panels module. This is a very helpful screencast here on how it all works.

Let me know what you think.

Twin Cities

May Happy Hour

zzolo — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 16:12:55 +0000

We had lots of fun last week, so I think we'll make this Happy Hour a regular thing and see how it goes. I am designating the First Thursday of each Month. And for lack of creativity, I think I'll just say the Bedlam for now.

5:30PM at Bedlam on May 7, 2009.

1501 S. 6th St.
on the WEST BANK, MINNEAPOLIS
http://www.bedlamtheatre.org/
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1501+S.+6th+...

Twin Cities

TC Drupal Camp (The Possibility Of)

zzolo — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 17:28:57 +0000

The Drupal masses of the Twin Cities have spoken, and a close second to the documentation sprint, is a Drupal Camp. We have a great Drupal community here, and historically we have had some pretty successful Drupal events.

This is a much larger project. I see this happening in more of a six month time frame, so maybe some time in the fall. I was one of the main organizers of Drupal Daze last summer, which was a lot of fun and very successful. But it was a lot of work. For us to do this, we need to have a some committed people/organizations. But, I also think this is totally worth it and will be lots of fun.

Some major questions:

Who can commit some serious time to this?
When should we have it (something more specific than Fall)?
How long should it be (1, 2, 3 .. days)?
Financials and Sponsorship?
Where? (This is important, but can present itself as other things fall into place)

Some links:

Basic advice on camps: http://drupal.org/node/247972
Drupal Camp/Events groups: http://groups.drupal.org/drupal-camp
Acquia's Event Kit: http://acquia.com/drupal-event-organizer-kit
http://drupalcampla.com/
http://drupal-centroamerica.org/
http://badcamp07.org/
http://sandcamp.org/
Seems abandoned: http://drupal-camp.org/

Twin Cities

TC DUG Documentation Sprint (The Organizing Of)

zzolo — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:57:31 +0000

The Drupal masses of these fine cities have spoken, and apparently we want to do a documentation sprint! I hoping we can make this happen in the next couple months. A documentation sprint doesn't have to be fancy (but the documentation can be).

What is a Documentation Sprint?

A documentation sprint can encompass many distinct activities, but it is all about improving the Handbooks section of Drupal.org. This can encompass many things:

Read-through reviews: great for newbies to learn and help at the same time
Copy-editing: good old-fashioned text cleanup
Adding screenshots: find places where images would help and get them added to the page
Rolling comments: adding information from comments back into the parent page
Reviewing incomplete pages: fill out incomplete/stub pages
Code review: check for standards compliance and security on code samples
Testing: for both code and tutorials/howtos - do they actually work?
Version upgrades: tutorials, admin UI pages, as well as code
Issue queue maintenance: see if issues are still valid, review drafts, mark duplicates, etc.
Code for docs-related contrib modules (e.g. book access, term message, API modules, etc.)
Work on core patches that effect documentation

Some helpful links and examples:

http://drupal.org/node/424194 - Add1sun is working on this currently, so it should become even more helpful soon. It aims to be instructions on how do a documentation sprint. We should help this document specifically as we go through this process.
http://groups.drupal.org/node/16174
http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/documentation-sprint
http://www.grandjunctiondesign.com/news/2009-03-18_doc_sprint_success
http://drupal.org/node/394806

What do WE want to do?

We can narrow our focus, as well. Comment on this post to what you want to do at the documentation sprint!

Where?

I am pretty sure we want to do this in a physical place in the Twin Cities; the whole community thing. So, we need a place that has the following. It can be someone's house or office or (that knows we are coming and has great internet).

Can fit a dozen people in a collaborative manner (12 is just a wild estimate)
Good power options; power strips
Good internet access. We can't really do much of this work locally.
We can be there for an extended Saturday morning/afternoon

Please comment to this post or contact me, if you know of a place or can offer a place.

When?

This a tough one. trying to get a bunch of people together on a Saturday is difficult. Especially as the weather gets nicer. So, I have put together a Doodle to help us schedule. (Yes, I know its not Drupal; Drupal is not the only answer.)

http://doodle.com/f8y7imdxqxrhgwug

So, let us know what works for you. Please be honest and go fill it out now! Right now!

Help Me?

This is a fairly straightforward event, but I don't necessarily have the bandwidth to do all the organizing on this. Please feel free to take your ideas and run with it. It's all about open source and creating collaboratively.

Some Bling?

If we want to be ambitious, we could do the following:

Get sponsorship for some food or drinks.
Other ideas?

Twin Cities

A Twin Cities Drupal User Group Project

zzolo — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 12:00:57 +0000

So, last night at the Drupal Happy Hour (which was a blast), I brought up the idea of doing a discreet project as the Twin Cities Drupal User Group. The whole idea being that we pick a finite project that we are interested in that helps the Drupal community and do it as a group. So, below are the list of ideas that we came up with, and any notes about each idea. There is a number next to some that people supported.

Here's what you do. This is a wiki page, so, you can just edit it and add your +1 to as many ideas as you like. Please be honest. I know this is not the easiest way to do this, but I like keeping it on groups.drupal.org. Just by the numbers last night, I would say Documentation Sprint is in the lead.

Build a module.(1)
Solve a specific patch. (1)
Code sprint. (2)
Usability testing for D7. (3)
Funny Drupal cartoon or comic. (1)
Documentation sprint. (6)
Drupal sticker campaign.
Group bug hunt. (1)
Work through a module queue. (2)
TC Drupal Camp. (5)
Review books.
Screencasts for documentation.
Drupal kvetch (complaining) sessions.
Build a site for someone (and maintain it). (2)
A how-to and webcast on AJAX.(1)
Drinking beer. (2)

Twin Cities

Drupal Happy Hour

zzolo — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 20:10:16 +0000

Let's go out and drink at the Bedlam and talk about Drupal.

5:30PM on Thursday (02 April 2009)

Bedlam:
1501 S. 6th St.
on the WEST BANK, MINNEAPOLIS
http://www.bedlamtheatre.org/
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=1501+S.+6th+...

If you can't come right at 5:30, it's alright. I'll be there until 7PM (maybe later).

Twin Cities

April Meeting: Developing the OpenLayers Module

zzolo — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 02:13:56 +0000

I will do a presentation on Drupal "coding"! I would love to have some direction. Some ideas/questions:

Building a module
Drupal Coding standards
Creating a new module project on Drupal.org
Module building best practice and tips

Some assumptions I will make:

You know PHP (http://php.net)
You know how to build a site in Drupal (install modules, create content)

Twin Cities

Wellstone Action Case Study

dgorton@drupal.org — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 23:14:04 +0000

Hi All,

We've just posted a case study describing our work for Wellstone Action, an awesome local (Twin Cities, MN) organization serving the progressive movement. The case study is at http://drupal.org/node/413910 and covers the process we use to build websites with Drupal - and - as such - may be of interest to folks here.

Drew

Twin Cities

Drupal Jumpstart Training

bmadore — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 16:25:25 +0000

You understand how to work with Drupal, now you want to make it work for you.

Drupal is a powerful platform for building websites. But understanding how to manage that power to get the site you want can sometimes be daunting: Do I install a module to get that feature I need? What module should I use? How do I make my site NOT look like every other Drupal site? In this 2-day class we’ll cover these questions and more.

Come jumpstart your Drupal skills and leave with the confidence necessary to tackle your new or ongoing Drupal website projects. Full information and signup below or via the Drupal Jumpstart Training page on our site. Class size is limited. Sign up now!

You will learn to:

Create and manage content in Drupal
Build flexible content types using Drupal's CCK module
Generate powerful searches and dynamic lists using Views
Contextualize your information in interesting ways
Promote online user participation through advanced features
Choose the right modules to expand your site further
Customize the look of your Drupal site using basic to intermediate level theming techniques
Future proof your site with best practices

Who’s this for?

This class is ideal for web professionals with some Drupal or content management experience as well as community managers with existing or upcoming Drupal sites. You will emerge from this class knowing how to create, manage and extend a Drupal site with features that will draw people in, inform them, and keep them coming back!

Additional Information

The class will be two full days and include lunch. Due to the hands-on nature of the learning experience, we require you to bring a laptop to the class. And to make sure you get some follow-up assistance, all attendees are entitled to participate in four of our Lab Hours sessions following the completion of the class.

Feel you need some Drupal preparation for this class?

You're in luck! On April 10, 2009, one week before the Drupal Jumpstart Training, we're offering a 2-hour workshop called Introduction to the Drupal Experience which covers Drupal basics and would be an excellent preparation workshop for those with web design experience (especially if you've used another CMS) or some Drupal experience that need a formal refresher. Visit the Introduction to the Drupal Experience pageon our site for full info and signup.

Who we are

Advantage Labs has been a full-time Drupal development, hosting and training firm since 2005. We are committed open source advocates and active participants in the Drupal community. Our staff has developed over 20 widely used Drupal modules. Our mission is to share our knowledge and leverage our skills to help the local community achieve its goals.

Special Early-Bird Introductory price (limited to those who sign up before April 1, 2009)

$795 / $635 (Alliance & Catalyst Program members)

Full price (for all those who sign up April 1, 2009 and later)

$895 / $715 (Alliance & Catalyst Program members)

Twin Cities

Introduction to the Drupal Experience Workshop

bmadore — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:59:09 +0000

Coming up in April, Advantage Labs is launching a new round of Drupal training workshops and classes. Up first on April 10, 2009: Introduction to the Drupal Experience, a 2-hour workshop that can stand on its own or be great preparation for our 2-day Drupal Jumpstart Training class taking place the following week on April 16-17. Info about Introduction to the Drupal Experience and signup link below or visit the workshop's page on our site for full information and signup

Have you had some exploratory experience working with Drupal but have yet to plunge in fully? Are you a website developer (or developer to be) that has worked with online content management systems other than Drupal? Have you heard about Drupal but haven't been oriented to how Drupal works? This two-hour workshop is for you.

You will learn

Come learn the basics of Drupal website structure, terminology and usage. This can be viewed as an introduction to the uninitiated or a refresher for those that have had some exposure.

Prepare for advanced training

Taking this workshop would also be a great way to get up to speed to taking our
Drupal Jumpstart Training. If you sign up for both training opportunities, we'll let you take this workshop at a 50% discount.

Who we are

Cost

Cost: $60 / $45 for Advantage Labs hosting customers

Twin Cities

Conquering Media Mover

fr0st — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 03:22:03 +0000

The Media Mover suite of modules promises to do some amazing things. At this meetup, we'll put our heads together and unravel the mysteries of this complex system.

Goals:

Most of us are pretty green in this area, so additional organizers are more than welcome to help tackle this topic!

Twin Cities

Geographic information and Drupal

Allie Micka — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 17:57:40 +0000

When you hear about Geography on the web, you're likely to think of Google Maps. It's useful to see addresses, directions and other information in this format, but that's just one way to make use of the wealth of geographic information out there. Drupal has had mapping support for a long time, but recent work has allowed us to take it all a step further.

In this week's presentation, I will describe some of the projects we have been working on to support the management and analysis of Geographic information in Drupal. With these tools, you can:

Add CCK fields containing a variety of geographic formats including points, but also including complex information such as lines and areas.
Populate your data by geocoding an address, clicking on a map, or even uploading a file!
Import data from publicly-available sources such as the census or the DNR
Search your data using the all-powerful Views module, to narrow down your results by geographic relevance.
Present information in a variety of formats, including - of course - maps!

I'm hoping to speak with people of all skill levels here. I'll go over some definitions so you don't need to be a GIS expert, but I'd also enjoy input from other folks in town who have experience with this arena.

Twin Cities

CMS Expo Learning & Business Conference

slurpee — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:05:36 +0000

Come for two packed days of training on top CMS solutions Joomla, Drupal and Alfresco. With over 45 CMS Training Sessions in six Training Tracks, you can focus on your favorite core CMS for both days or jump tracks to explore other avenues. Created for all members of the content management team - administrators, businesspeople, content creators and developers - CMS Expo has a lot to offer people in the professional content management arena.

CMS Expo has many of the world's top professionals, coming to Chicago to instruct on Core-specific subjects such as: Web Theme & Template Creation, Site Building, Site Administration and Site Development. Plus, we've got an entire Training Track devoted to Business learning. Come learn about web based marketing, SEO, innovation, evaluating CMS solutions and more.

If you're new to the CMS world, we're also offering eight Training Sessions on CMS Foundations, such as PHP tips and Tricks, Linux fundamentals, MySQL, CSS Must-Know Techniques, Photoshop and more. There's also an optional 4-hour pre-conference KickStartTM Training Session, created just for beginners, so you can get up to speed, and get the most out of CMS Expo training on Thursday and Friday.

Finally, CMS Expo offers a whole track devoted to help you extend the power of your website with leading Power Partners, no matter what CMS you're driving. Come for cross training on WordPress blogging, Magento e-commerce, KickApps social media and more. See our full listing of all 46 Sessions for CMS Expo 2009.

Wisconsin

January Meeting! Come and explore the wondrous world of Views 2

jerdavis — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 19:17:23 +0000

zzolo will unfortunately not be able to attend, so I've decided to take on the task of presenting the wondrous world of Views 2! Described by some as a 'cockpit' the Views 2 interface is a bit daunting at first. However once you learn where the things you're used to are and start working with it a bit, you'll come to realize the tremendous power for good (and evil) it unlocks.

This will be a basic tour of the differences between Views one and Views 2, with some instruction on how to create both easy and and semi-complex views and a quick overview of some of the advanced features available to you.

Twin Cities

Can't make January Meeting

zzolo — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 23:30:12 +0000

I am really sorry, but I can't make it to the meeting this Wednesday and lead and participate in a discussion around Views2. I know it's short notice. I am by no means an expert on it, in the first place, and I would assume there are other folks who have enough experience to go through the basics. Again, sorry.

Twin Cities

Interest in mapping in Drupal for February?

gormsby — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:42:11 +0000

I'd like to float the topic of mapping in Drupal for the February meeting, and am curious to see who might be interested in presenting. Here are some thoughts:

I am embarking on a Drupal project involving local mapping, and as part of that am test-driving a few different mapping tools and learning more about what lies behind different approaches. By late February, I could have some impressions to share, and perhaps some examples.
Allie has been working on the geo module - a tool to provide more sophisticated geographic information to Drupal sites. Allie, would you be interested in presenting something this project?

Anyone else doing work with maps in Drupal that could contribute to a meeting on this topic?

Twin Cities

January Meeting? Topic?

zzolo — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:43:18 +0000

Hi all. I hope everyone had a good holiday season. I was just checking on the meeting for next week. See if its still going on and if there are any conversations planned.

I don't have tto much time to put towards preparation, but I can do a small talk on any of these topics:

Simple mapping and location (via MapShanty.com)
A small overview of Views 2 and how to use the "crazy" interface correctly.
Any other ideas.

Twin Cities

Drupalcon DC T-Shirt: Local Entry

dgorton@drupal.org — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:27:32 +0000

Hey Twin Cities,

After talking with a few of you at last meeting (thanks again Dave!), I realized there are probably quite a few of us that will be heading off to Drupalcon DC in March.

As such, we all have a chance to do some voting on the T-shirt contest. Erika Stenrick of our local community (and designer here at Gorton Studios) submitted this entry. We're, of course, big fans of Erika's work, and if any of you have seen some of our websites and liked them, you're been admiring her work as well.

So - if you're planning on going and/or voting in the T-Shirt contest - we'd encourage you give her entry a look and vote for it if you happen to like it, too!

That's it - just getting out the vote!
:-)

Drew

Twin Cities

Making Connections

lynnwinter — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 17:17:02 +0000

Hi Twin Cities! I’m a new face in the local Drupal community, having just joined Gorton Studios as their new Project Manager. Gorton Studios is currently working on a bunch of interesting projects and it just so happens that these projects are landing at the same time. So, we are currently looking for both freelance Drupal Programmers and Designers, as well as folks that we can outright refer work to. We are looking for people that are experienced in their field, are great communicators, are flexible, have integrity, and of course a sense of humor. If you fit this bill or if you know of someone that would be a great fit and they want to be part of building great websites, please send references and a resume to me, Lynn Winter, at lynn@gortonstudios.com.

Twin Cities

Expert Drupal Consultant | CaptionMax

jwyant@drupal.org — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 19:18:03 +0000

Drupal Genius Wanted - we're looking for someone who can:

provide fixes and tweaks as needed
has strong knowledge of drupal code including blocks, views, and related components.
strong knowledge of of php, mysql, and javascript preferred. If weak in those, then suggest how you'd address it
is prepared to help us efficiently migrate to a new hosting site and build a new dev server that is set up for easy, transparent migration to the live server
has a working knowledge of managing Flash, streamed media, and other graphical components within a Drupal/Apache environment

We will be updating the look and feel of several parts of our site soon, so the migration and dev server will need to be accomplished quickly, then the consultant will need to be available to help build the new page designs.

Preference will be given to applicants located in or about the Twin Cities of Minnesota

If interested, please contact Jay at jay@captionmax.com and include "Drupal" in your subject heading.

Twin Cities

Automatic Scheduled Loading of CCK Nodes

nihiliad — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:25:02 +0000

Special Scheduling for the Holidays: This is the only meeting for November & December!

Presentation slides on slideshare: Auto-loading of Drupal CCK Nodes

If you need to grab lots of records from disparate sources and load them into Drupal as CCK nodes, you need to either hire a small army for data entry, or you need to automate it. If you need to do this often, you need to schedule it. In this presentation, I will show how we at UMN Libraries did both with Drupal for ethicshare.org.

This is a common problem, which the IT industry usually calls Extract, Transform, and Load (ETL). Some people, like library geeks, like to call the extracting "harvesting" and the transforming "crosswalking", but they're peculiar. Anyway, an ETL system is exactly what we built for ethicshare.org. Such systems can be incredibly complex. Though we tried to keep ours as simple as possible, there's still much I could cover, including:

programmatically loading CCK nodes with drupal_execute
scheduling Drupal tasks with cron
executing Drupal tasks from the command line with drush
executing SimpleTest tests from the command line
putting non-Drupal-dependent code in separate modules so that it can be tested outside of Drupal
integrating OO PHP modules, including your own, with Drupal

I could go on. I'm still working on my slides, so any feedback on what you would like me to cover would be much appreciated!

Twin Cities

2-Day Concentrated Drupal Basic Training

bobbia — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 00:32:29 +0000

You say that all you want for the holidays is Drupal skills?

Advantage Labs to the rescue: we are conducting a concentrated 2-day Drupal training workshop where you will learn how to create, manage and extend a Drupal site, complete with functionality that will draw users in, keep them informed, and keep them coming back! Perfect for web professionals just getting into Drupal, and community managers with existing or upcoming sites.

Let us know if you have any questions.
Thanks!
Bobbi

Twin Cities

Next meeting: Wednesday, December 3rd

bobbia — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 18:59:05 +0000

Hi All - In our last meeting, we discovered that the November meeting was going to land the day before Thanksgiving, and that the December meeting was going to land the day before Christmas. Although our meetings are exciting, we just felt that we couldn't compete with these events.

Therefore, we decided that the next meeting will be Wednesday, December 3rd, same time (7-9 pm), same place (Advantage Labs' office: 2104 Stevens Avenue South). This meeting will replace the November and December meetings.

Stay tuned for the official announcement, complete with agenda.

Thanks!
Bobbi

Twin Cities

Web developer/programmer, PHP/MySQL, employee position | Supermega Design

greenmachine@drupal.org — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 04:01:38 +0000

Join the Supermega Design team!

IDC WebDev, LLC, a three-person firm experiencing strong growth, is shedding old skin and becoming Supermega Design, LLC. We're building capacity to meet the needs of our growing list of clients. SMD works with a variety of small-to-medium-enterprise entities, from startup non-profits and small businesses to statewide political campaigns and regional advocacy groups. Our development environment is primarily PHP/MySQL on linux, using the Drupal content management system as a base for most projects.

Learn more about us and our clients here: http://supermegadesign.com

We seek a developer who is self-motivated and enjoys the challenge of working directly with a diverse group of clients. As part of a small firm you will enjoy a great deal of freedom day-to-day to meet client expectations and improve the operations and direction of Supermega Design. We work from home and meet as necessary during the week to collaborate, set goals, and get work done. If that sort of independent work experience appeals to you, give us a call!

This is a full-time employee position. Salary depends on qualifications.

We're looking for:

Strong development skills with PHP, MySQL, javascript/DOM (other languages a plus)
Basic familiarity with HTML/CSS and good practices
Experience with Drupal or a similar CMS
Comfort with common Linux web server administration tasks: performance, logging/debugging, software intstallation. More advanced sysadmin experience is a plus.
Confidence in communicating directly with clients and providing technical support
Motivation and capability to work without a lot of pestering or oversight

Benefits:

Competitive salary
Work from home - no commute!
Collaborate within a small, independent team
Work with a variety of clients on sites big and small
Involvement in decisionmaking
We like it, and we think you will too

Would you like to apply? We are only seeking applicants who live in the Twin Cities metro area. Please submit a resume and a list of links to websites featuring your work (if a list of links is not possible, please include a description of recent web development work) to jobs_fall08@supermegadesign.com. If you have questions, please call Jesse at 651-442-5734.

People of all sorts are encouraged to apply - we're friendly.

Twin Cities

A couple of quick questions

wonderwhy — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 20:23:23 +0000

Hello All,

I installed Drupal a couple months back and have since updated to 6.5 and added several modules (AddThis, Avatar Selection, FCKEditor, CAPTCHA and Fivestar) on a test site. I've been very happy with its capability and ease of administration. I've needed help on occasion and have hit the Forum and have found the Forum.....challenging but helpful for the most part.

Some, hopefully, quick questions:

When and where is the next "gathering" whether formal or informal? I live in Minnetonka.
How do I get some "1 on 1" advice, guidance, assistance or mocking laughter (whichever is appropriate) on some things I want to do with Drupal? Not something I feel I can just post in the forum.

Thanks,

Twin Cities

Help With a Function/Hook

maher — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:53:47 +0000

Hi all,

Wondering if someone could take a look at the below function and provide feedback/critic.
My site allows guests to post forum questions. Spam is becoming a problem although I have the CAPTCHA module installed. What I’m trying to do is prevent guests from posting links to their questions (forum nodes). To do that, I’m developing a very simple custom module with the below function that Implements the hook_nodeapi().

<?php
function noguestlinks_nodeapi (&$node, $op, $a3 = NULL, $a4 = NULL) {

   global $user;
  switch ($op) {
     case "validate": 
     //check if anonymous user
      if (!$user->uid) {
         //the checks are derived from the filter module > <em>filter_url method
        if (preg_match("@(http://|https://|ftp://|mailto:|smb://|afp://|file://|gopher://|news://|ssl://|sslv2://|sslv3://|tls://|tcp://|udp://)+@se", $node->body) || preg_match("@(www.[a-zA-Z0-9\@:%</em>+<em>~#?&=.,/;-]</em>[a-zA-Z0-9\@:%_+~#\&=/;-])+@se", $node->body)) {
          form_set_error("node", t("You have to be logged in to post links. This is an anti-spam measure."));
      
      }
     
   }
   break;
     }
}
?>

Do you guys see a problem with the above code? Thanks in advance for your help.

Twin Cities

Drupal Camp Chicago 2008

slurpee — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 21:00:23 +0000

http://drupalcampchicago.org

Who/Why:

For over 2 years Chicago Drupal has truly highlighted the benefits of an open source initiative. We have built resourceful bridges between many local Chicago establishments including non-profits, entrepreneurs, Drupal development companies, independent consultants, hobbyist, and others in the mid-west. Our goal for this Drupal Camp is to bring everyone together for open communication, education, fun, and industry networking.

What:

An attendee-driven format with advanced resources available make this event truly unique. Need help with a problem, looking for work, or looking to hire Drupal talent? Someone can find a solution at Drupal Camp Chicago. Presentations for beginners and advanced topics will run simultaneously throughout both days. All skill levels are welcomed and laptops are encouraged. Seating is limited, register now - http://drupalcampchicago.org/user/register

Where/When:

UIC Innovation Center
1240 W. Harrison
Chicago, IL 60607
(312) 355-5567
October Friday 24 & Saturday 25th 9am-6pm
http://tinyurl.com/mapDCC

Pricing:

*Pre-Registration for 2-day event: $20
*Volunteering is fun! Contact us
*Exception: Participants can request (info@DrupalCampChicago.org) a scholarship and explain their circumstances.

Sponsor:

*Individual Support, $50
*Community Support, $200
*Professional Support, $500
*Event Sponsors, $1000
Contact us to let us know your level of commitment - http://drupalcampchicago.org/contact

Speaker:

*Interested in presenting? please submit a request - http://drupalcampchicago.org/wiki
*Highlight your Drupal knowledge to the mid-west
*Share your experience and contribute to the growth of Drupal

http://cdmug.org
http://drupalcampchicago.org

Wisconsin

Apache Solr Search Overview - ethicshare.org

libsys — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 02:40:07 +0000

This will be an informal discussion of the Apache Solr search platform and it's implementation on the http://ethicshare.org website. Discussion will also feature the Apache Solr Search Integration Module and our (unreleased) companion module, ApacheSolr Cite, which extends this module to provide scholarly research database functionality.

Post Presentation Follow-Up:
Thanks to the attendees for an engaging post-talk discussion.

I promised to post my slides: You can now view them on SlideShare (FYI: slideshare did /not/ like my font)

Twin Cities

TC Drupal September Meeting Tonight

bobbia — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 18:17:24 +0000

Hi All - the Twin Cities Drupal meeting is tonight (Thursday, September 24th). Since there were several members who went to Drupalcon, we can start the meeting with a review of Drupalcon - what it is, and what was learned.

Then - do you have any burning questions, such as:

what modules work, don't work
what is the best way to _______ (fill in the blank)
why doesn't a particular function work
should V5 or V6 be used - and why
what best-practices are people using
what is the best way to run a Drupal project

Bring those questions in, and we will have a brain-picking session. It will be a great time to learn from all those in the group.

And - Alan Palazzolo also mentioned that he can provide a review of his personal site. So - it will be a super learning session, all the way around!

See you tonight,
Thanks!
Bobbi

Twin Cities

Drupal Camp Chicago?

zzolo — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 21:26:32 +0000

Next month is the Drupal Camp Chicago. It is on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25, 2008. It should be pretty awesome, though there is not that much information up there now.

http://drupalcampchicago.org/
http://cdmug.org/node/198

So, I was wondering if anyone wanted to go and if I could catch a ride. I would of course share expenses (though I probably have my own lodging).

Twin Cities

September meeting

bobbia — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 21:01:17 +0000

Hi All - the September meeting for the TC Drupal group is next Wednesday, September 24th at 7PM. We were going to talk about search modules. However, Matt is not going to be able to make it to the meeting. So - we are currently presenter-less.

Suggestions anyone?? One of my thoughts is to have a quick Drupalcon update by those who went (or heard about) Drupalcon Szeged. We could then follow up with the question and answer session we had scheduled for last month.

What are your thoughts/ideas? Any ideas that we don't do this month can always go into the hat for presentations for the next few months - so the more ideas, the better!

Thanks much!
Bobbi

Twin Cities