This is a list of resources for the Features Module. That is articles, tutorials, documentation and similar.
Introducing Features
- Getting Started
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So, here's the thing: If someone asks you how to make a blog on a Drupal site, you don't tell them to activate the Blog module (which is ready for retirement). You tell them that a blog is easily made with CCK and Views – and some settings that would cover 2–3 pages of fine print.
- Features Module Abridged
Everyone who's spent hours doing the same site configurations over and over again, for one site and then another, knows how repetitive config tends to be. Install profiles have been the main tool for avoiding this work for the last couple years, but even with the (now defunct) install profile wizard, many people found them to be a bit overwhelming to figure out and start using at a production level. Yet install profiles have grown to be fairly well used, especially since they can be customized and reused for certain types of sites - sport teams, churches, radio stations, languages, etc. - there's a big list of them here.
- Kicking the Tires of the Features Module
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As noted in a previous blog entry, Quick look at the Package Builder module for Drupal, and prepackaged functionality, I'm associated with a gang of people thinking about creating a packaged Drupal distribution. In the previous blog entry I looked at Package Builder, and in this one I'm looking at the Features module. They provide similar featuritis but it is possibly true that Features has bigger mindshare in the Drupal community than Package Builder does. Something that has stood out however is a group of recent podcasts on the Lullabot site that make Features sound like it is the wave of the future.
Features and Version Control
- Version Control in Drupal 6 Using Features
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Fast forward to 2009, Drupal 6 (and other Content Mangement Systems, to be fair). It appears that in this new context young people are now making some noise about the SCM trap. Putting configuration items, such as Drupal CCK content types, views, permissions settings - just about anything - into a relational database reliably defeats traditional version control tools. It becomes as cumbersome to distribute and coordinate changes to these items as it used to be for source code changes pre-1972. Yet, luckily for everyone, approaches and tools for solving this age-old problem are also being (re-)invented. The unfortunately named features module for Drupal 6 (SEO, anyone?) provides a workable solution, which I elaborate in the rest of this article.
Tutorials
- Video Tutorial
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On this week's episode, Bob talks about the Features module. It's an amazing module to move full module recipes across sites and databases. Features integrates with views, CCK, context, imagecache, and much more. Check it out!