Prayer Journal?

We are in need of a prayer journal solution. Another Drupal developer gave me a rough Rx for how to do it. His comments were as follows:

Michael,

The advantage of using existing modules vs. building custom ones (or forking a core module, as you did with Blog), is that when the Drupal API changes (as it often does), you don't have to go back and recode your module... Let the project maintainers handle that, and you just upgrade when all the contrib modules you used are ready... And if you stick to widely used modules like Views and CCK, you'll have little reason to worry about the project maintainer abandoning the module and leaving you stuck. Come upgrade time, it's less headache for you, easier maintenance for your client. You also gain the advantage of using code that's been through the ringer by the Drupal community (and, more importantly, the Drupal Security team). My thinking is that Drupal core upgrades are complicated enough without having to port a bunch of custom code. But hey, if you like your approach, more power to you...

Anyway, to clarify, my approach to this problem would have been:

1) Take node_access_example.module and change its hook_form_alter to make the Private checkbox part of "Publishing options" instead of its own section. Install the module.
2) In Admin >> Content management >> Content types, add a new content type called "Journal." Under "Workflow" set the "Private" box (provided by your module) to be checked by default.
3) Grant users access to "create journal" and "edit own journal."
4) Install Views and create a view with these filters: node is published, node author is current user, node type is journal.
5) You're done.

This way, the only custom code is your little checkbox, which should be easy enough to maintain in future versions if the node_access API changes (given that its based on the example module from the docs). Everything else uses core functionality or the Views module (which, like I said, might as well be core for as many people as use it). You don't even have to worry about an admin permission, since the Private box is in a section of the form that only admins can override to begin with. And you get all the functionality of Views to apply elsewhere on your site as a bonus, which I can almost guarantee will save you code in the future.

That's my thinking at least. If you like your way better, go for it.

- Dan -

I have not dug into what happens to users content when the user is deleted from Drupal, and other such circumstances which come to mind. For now it stays in the "not now" bin.

Blessings,
Michael