Practical Philosophy and Rational Religionpracticalphilosophy.in/.../2012/08/Drupal-6-Application-… · Web viewThe application would consist of various lists. Lists are implemented

Drupal 6 Web Application Development Tutorial

Table of ContentsWelcome to the world of Drupal !!!.........................................................................................2

Installation..............................................................................................................................3

Drupal’s Model of a Web Application......................................................................................8

Application Development......................................................................................................11

Library System Example.........................................................................................................12

Going Further........................................................................................................................31

Document Version ControlAuthor Date CommentsGokulmuthu 24-Aug-2012 First published versionGokulmuthu 28-Aug-2012 Added more features to the example.

Gokulmuthu Narayanaswamyhttp://www.practicalphilosophy.in/drupal

http://www.practicalphilosophy.in/drupal

Drupal 6 Web Application Development Tutorial 28-Aug-2012

Welcome to the world of Drupal !!!Gone are the days when you need to write tons and tons of code to develop web applications. With the advent of Drupal, almost the entire application development can be done without writing a single line of code. If you are looking towards using Drupal merely as a CMS, then this is tutorial is not for you. If you are planning to use Drupal to develop a web application, or if you want to just try to get a taste of Drupal based web application development, then you can use this tutorial to kickstart your development.

The strength and weakness of Drupal is that the development environment is built piece by piece by the community around the core. So to be able to get a good feature set, you need to download quite a number of modules and install into the Drupal framework. To make this step easy, I have already collected a good collection of modules that I have used in my applications and packaged them. You can download my Drupal Application Development Base and other software to run Drupal from my Drupal site at http://www.practicalphilosophy.in/drupal. If you are following through this tutorial, you can download the components as and when they are mentioned.

VersionsAs of when I am writing this tutorial, the most popular Drupal version is 6. Drupal 5 started the revolution. Though there are a number of sites still running Drupal 5, for all new development, Drupal 6 is recommended. Drupal 7 is coming up well. Still there are not as much contributed modules for Drupal 7 as for Drupal 6. So, I have decided to stick to Drupal 6 for now.

CautionThis tutorial is only for starting off learning Drupal. So the passwords mentioned are very trivial. You should use much stronger passwords in your final deployment. Also, as this tutorial is designed for people to try out Drupal, I have assumed that you are doing this on Windows machine. Finally you may want to deploy it on a Linux machine or on a cloud service. It is very easy to move a Drupal installation from one server to another, provided the versions of Apache, PHP and MySQL used are compatible.

Please use this tutorial at your own risk. I am not responsible for any damage caused by your following or not following any steps mentioned in this tutorial. I am not obliged to support you if you get stuck. Please use the Drupal support forums for help or seek professional assistance.

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Installation

DependenciesDrupal needs PHP and MySql. PHP needs to be hosted on a HTTP server like Apache or Lighttpd. If you are developing on a Linux machine, most probably the entire development environment is present. If you want to try it out on a Windows machine, which I assume you are doing it here, WAMP is an excellent choice of platform. You can download WAMP here. http://download.cnet.com/WampServer/3000-10248_4-10797035.html This 2.2e version of WAMP comes with Apache 2.2.21, Php 5.3.10 and Mysql 5.5.20, which are suitable for running Drupal 6.

Installing WAMP serverDownload and install the WAMP server on your Windows machine. It is possible that there is already another HTTP server running on your machine. To be on the safer side, let us change the port to run HTTP server.

To do this, click on the SysTray icon and select Apache > httpd.conf. This will open the HTTP server configuration file in a text editor. Find the line which says Listen 80. Change the 80 to 8080, save the file and click on the SysTray icon and select Restart All Services. (There are more efficient ways to do this. But let us keep things simple for now.) If the icon is still not green, possibly the port 8080 is also being used. Try some other port number like 9090. This value can be between 1024 and 65535. When the icon is green, if you open http://localhost:8080/ (where 8080 is the number that you entered in the httpd.conf) in a web browser, you should see the home page of the local WAMP server.

Installing DrupalDownload the Drupal 6 Application Development Base from http://www.practicalphilosophy.in/drupal. Note that some modules in this version are slightly enhanced to extend their features. Extract the zip file in the WAMP server’s www directory. To open this directory, click on the SysTray icon and select www directory. You should have a directory named drupal6, which contains folders and files like below.

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http://localhost:8080/

http://download.cnet.com/WampServer/3000-10248_4-10797035.html


Download the Drupal 6 Application Development Base database from http://www.practicalphilosophy.in/drupal. You will get a file named drupal6.mysql_.zip. Rename it to drupal6.mysql.zip.

Open the home page of the local WAMP server. Under the heading Tools, you can find a link to phpmyadmin. Click on that. The phpMyAdmin page will open. At the center, you can find a link called Users.

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Click on that. In the next screen, you can find a link called Add user.

In the pop up dialog, enter drupal6 as the User name. Select Local as the Host. Enter password as drupal6 in both the password fields. Select Create database with same name and grant all privileges. Click on Add user below the form.

You can find that database is created. Click on drupal6 in the list of databases on the left.

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Click on the link Import.

Use the Browse button to select the file drupal6.mysql.zip that you had downloaded. Click on the button Go at the bottom. Wait for some time. When the database is imported, it will show Import has been successfully finished.

Edit the file drupal6\sites\default\settings.php in the www directory. Make sure that the $db_url is set like this:

$db_url = 'mysql://drupal6:drupal6@localhost/drupal6';

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Make sure that the $base_url is set like this:

$base_url = 'http://localhost:8080/drupal6'; // NO trailing slash!

If you are running the HTTP server on a port different from 8080, you need to mention that number instead of 8080.

Save the file and close the editor.

Now, open the home page of the local WAMP server. Under the heading Your Projects, you should see drupal6. Click on that. You should see the local Drupal 6 Development Base website.

This is the start of your unforgettable journey.

Be ready to be amazed!!!

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Drupal’s Model of a Web ApplicationBefore we start developing a web application, we need to understand Drupal’s model of a web application. Here, you can find the vocabulary and the model introduced. (These are based on Drupal 6. Drupal 7 has a different vocabulary.)

RoleThere would be several people using the application. Each person would want to do several things with the application. For example, a library system would be used by the stock manager, librarian and member. An online test system would be used by the question bank manager, examinee and examiner. A project management system would be used by the project manager, software developer and test engineer. Each type of people who use the application is called a role. The role of the user who has not logged into the application is called anonymous user. The general role of all users who have logged in to the application is called authenticated user. All other roles are various types of authenticated users.

UserUsers can be allowed to register themselves or can be allowed to be created only by some role. If users are allowed to register themselves, approval can be enforced or can be automatically approved based on email validation. Users can be allowed to change their password, email address and login name.

Content typeThe application would manage several types of contents. Instances of these content types can be created, updated, retrieved (or viewed) and deleted (CURD). An instance of a content type is called content or a node. For example, a library system would manage books, reservations, new book requests and delivery requests. An online test system would manage courses, questions, question sets and tests. A project management system would manage projects, requirements, test cases, releases, defects and documents.

Basic information like creation date, user who created the content and last updated date is maintained automatically for every content. Optionally, content revisions can be maintained to keep track of changes to the content.

FieldA content type would have several fields. Fields can be of types like integer, floating point, date, single line text, multiline text, reference to a user of a particular role, reference to a content of a particular type, email address and image. The fields can have single or multiple values. They may be mandatory or optional. Depending on the field type, they can be presented for entry or editing in several ways. For example, an integer field can be presented for entry or editing as a simple entry box, as a selection list or as a series of radio buttons.

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By default, every content has a mandatory field called Title. This can be auto-generated if required. This field is displayed when showing this content in a list. This is usually shown as a link to a page with all the fields in the content.

Fields can also be automatically computed based on the values of other fields or by a PHP code snippet.

Also, though Drupal allows using the same field in multiple contents, it makes the database queries less efficient in Drupal 6. It is advisable not to use existing fields in contents.

ViewThe application would consist of various lists. Lists are implemented using Views. For example, a library system would involve list of books rented by a member, list of delivery requests for an area and list of members whose subscription would expire in the next 15 days. An online test system would involve list of examinees for a course, list of questions for a course, list of questions for a test, list of answers by an examinee in a test, list of marks of an examinee in all tests of a course and list of marks of an examinee in all courses. A project management system would involve list of requirements of a project, list of test cases for a requirement, list of defects in a release and list of releases of a project.

PermissionsIn an application, each content type would be allowed to be created, updated, retrieved or deleted only by specific roles. The person who created a particular content is called the author of the content. The permissions to update, retrieve and delete operations would apply at two levels – own or any. Some roles would be allowed to update only the contents of which the person trying to update is the author (own content). Some roles would be allowed to update the contents which were not created by them also (any content).

Permissions can also be applied at field level. For example, even if a role is allowed to view all content of a content type, some fields in the content type can be denied permission to be viewed. Permissions can also be transitive. For example, if a content type has a field which is a reference to another content, permissions can be transferred like, “anyone who is able to edit the referenced content can view this content”. Or, for example, if a content type has a field which is a reference to a user, permissions can be granted to the user who is referenced.

RulesRules are actions to be taken upon various events. The events can be like creation of a content, updation of a content, deletion of a content, change of a field in a content and setting the value of a field in a content to a particular value. Actions can be like sending mail to some people, changing permission of a content and setting the field of a content to particular value.

Pages and blocksIn any page, there would be a primary node, form or view shown. In addition to that, there can be several blocks with nodes, forms and views shown in each of them. Depending on the theme, blocks can

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be presented in the header, left column, right column, content (center column) or footer. The first page that is shown when a user logs in is called the front page.

Menu and navigationYou can show a block of navigation tree at the left or right column to help the user find the way to do what he wants to do. You can also show a list of links at the top right. The links shown at the top right are usually called Primary links.

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Application DevelopmentBefore you start developing your web application, you should have a clear picture of the roles, content types, fields, views and permissions in your application. You can do a lot of tuning easily as you develop the application. But it helps to think on these lines well before starting to develop. Then you can add the rules, blocks and menus. Then you can tune the look and feel of your site for various roles.

Drupal allows integrating user login with various systems like OpenID (users can login using their Yahoo id and password), LDAP (users can login using existing login on a Windows or Linux server), etc. There are modules that can be installed for other login systems.

Drupal has modules to do e-commerce. There are also modules and features which implement a lot of functionality like shopping carts, project management, defect tracking, etc. Those are not included in this development base. You can install later if needed. Once you are familiar with the basic application development, you can search in the Drupal website for various contributed modules.

The login which is allowed to do the development and management of the website is called the administrator. In the system that you have installed in this tutorial, the administrator account has login as admin and password as admin. The top black bar has drop-down links to almost all development and administration actions.

To continually test the application as you develop, you will have to login as people of different roles. So it is better to have different browsers installed on your system. You can do the development from one browser and do the testing from another browser.

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Library System Example

DesignLet us design a library system. We will first create the basic features and then add more. We can create several applications that will interact on the same website. So, the keys should have the name of the application so that they do not clash.

RolesRole name Key CapabilitiesUnauthorized user unauthorized user Can browse booksMember library_member Can browse books

Can view history of borrowed booksLibrarian library_librarian Can browse books

Can issue booksStock manager library_stk_mgr Can create/edit/browse books

UsersUsers can be created only by the librarian.

Content typesContent type name Key DescriptionLibrary book library_book A book in the libraryBook issue library_issue An instance of an issue of a book

FieldsHere we design the fields for each content type.

Book

Field name Key Type Multiple values?

Mandatory? Default value

Description

Title title Text Not applicable

Yes None Title of the book

Author book_author Text Yes Yes None Author(s) of the book

Id book_id Serial number

No Yes Auto generated serial number

Unique number of the book

Status book_status Integer from a list

No Yes 0-Available 0-Available1-In circulation2-Under repair

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3-Lost4-Removed

Genre book_genre Text from a list

Yes Yes None GeneralFictionNon-fictionSelf-helpChildrenAdventureTravelHobbyActivitySportsClassic

Book issue

Field name Key Type Multiple values?

Mandatory? Default value

Description

Title title Text Not applicable

Yes Auto generated based on date and book id

Book issue_book Node reference to book

No Yes None Book being issued

Member issue_member User reference to member

No Yes None Member to whom the book is being issued to

Status issue_status Integer from a list

No Yes 0-Issued 0-Issued1-Returned2-Lost

Date of return

issue_return Date No No None Date of return, if applicable

ViewsView Key Arguments DescriptionList of books all_books None List of all books with

filtersBook borrow history all_ issues Member List of books borrowed

with filters

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PermissionsUnauthorized user Member Librarian Stock manager

Create book No No No YesEdit book No No No YesDelete book No No No NoView book Yes Yes Yes YesCreate issue No No Yes NoEdit issue No No Yes NoDelete issue No No No NoView issue No Where member is

the borrowerYes No

RulesWhen we issue a book, we should change its status to “In circulation”. When a book is returned, the status should be changed back to “Available”.

Pages and blocksUnauthorized users should see the list of books.

When member logs in, the issue history should be displayed in reverse chronological order.

When librarian logs in, the issue form should be displayed.

When stock manager logs in, the book add form should be displayed.

Menu and navigationExtra menus at the top:

Unauthorized user Member Librarian Stock managerBook list No Yes Yes YesIssue history No Yes Yes NoCreate book No No No YesIssue book No No Yes NoManage users No No Yes No

ImplementationOnce you have the design of the application done, implementation is merely transferring it on to the system.

On one browser, login as admin with password as admin. On another browser we need to login as different roles for testing.

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RolesWe need to create the roles. Select User management > Roles from the admin bar on the top. The two default roles are already present. Create the other roles - library_member, library_librarian and library_stk_mgr.

UsersWe need to give librarian the permission to create users. Select User management > Permissions from the admin bar. This is the master table for permissions. Scroll to the bottom. Under user module, you can find the various actions on users. Select the check box for administer users for librarian. Click Save permissions at the bottom of the page.

This is the time to create some test users. Select User management > Users > Add user from the admin bar. Create test users as below:

Username Email address Password Rolesm1 [email protected] 123 library_memberm2 [email protected] 123 library_memberl1 [email protected] 123 library_librarians1 [email protected] 123 library_stk_mgr

Click on the List tab or select User management > Users > List from the admin bar to see the list of users.

On the other browser, login as l1. Open the URL http://localhost:8080/drupal6/?q=admin/user/user/list. You should see the user list. Logout and login as m1. Open the URL http://localhost:8080/drupal6/?q=admin/user/user/list. You should see Access denied.

Content types and fieldsNext we need to create our content types with the fields that we designed.

Select Content management > Content types > Add content type from the admin bar. Enter the details as:

Name: Library book Type: library_book Description: A book in the library

Click on Submission form settings. As we do not want a body for the book, remove the text Body from the Body field label.

Click on Save content type at the bottom of the form.

Select Content management > Content types > Edit Library book > Manage fields from the admin bar. Enter the details as below and click Save.

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http://localhost:8080/drupal6/?q=admin/user/user/list




In the Help text, type in Please enter the full name of one author of the book. Check the box Required. Change the Number of values to Unlimited. Click on Save field settings at the bottom of the page.

Enter the details as below and click Save.


In the Help text, type in Current status of the book. Check the box Required. In the Allowed values list, enter as below:

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Click on Save field settings at the bottom of the page.

To set the default value, click on the configure link of the Status field. Click on Default value. Select Available.



In the Help text, type in Genre of the book. Check the box Required. Change the Number of values to Unlimited. In the Allowed values list, enter as below:


Select Content management > Content types > Add content type from the admin bar. Enter the details as:

Name: Book issue Type: library_issue Description: An issue of a book in the library

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Click on Submission form settings. As we do not want a body for the book, remove the text Body from the Body field label.

Click on Automatic title generation. Select Automatically generate the title and hide the title field. Leave the Pattern for the title blank. We need to come back after creating the fields.

Click on Save content type at the bottom of the form.

Select Content management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields from the admin bar. Enter the details as below and click Save.

Check the boxes Create Book and Edit Book, regardless of the node author, because we do not want to allow editing this field after issuing a book. Check the box Required. Select Library book as the Content types that can be referenced as shown below.

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Check the boxes Create Member and Edit Member, regardless of the node author. Check the box Required. Select library_member as the User roles that can be referenced. Select Active users as the User status that can be referenced. Click on Save field settings at the bottom of the page.

Create the Status field of issue as an integer that will take values and default value as mentioned in the design.


Change the Input format to something that is closer to the convention that is used in your country. In the Help text, type in To be filled when the book is returned. Change the Granularity to have only year, month and day. Change Time zone handling to No time zone conversion. Click on Save field settings at the bottom of the page.

Now select Content management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields from the admin bar. Select Automatic title generation. Type in [field_issue_member-name]-[yyyy]-[mm]-[dd] in the Pattern for title . If you click on the Replacement patterns link, you can see the list of patterns allowed. Click on Save content type at the bottom of the page.

PermissionsNext we need to set the permissions. Select User management > Permissions from the admin bar. Scroll down to the section node module. Set the permissions for library_librarian to create library_issue content and for library_stk_mgr to create library_book content.

Also, give permission to libray_librarian to create field_issue_book and create field_issue_member.

The other permissions can be set in the content type pages. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on Save permissions.

Now select Content management > Content types > Edit Library book > Access control from the admin bar. Set the access permissions as below:

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Click on Submit at the bottom of the page.

Now select Content management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Access control from the admin bar. Set the access permissions as below:

Click on Submit at the bottom of the page.

Now select Content management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields > Member from the admin bar. In Node access user reference, under Grants for referenced users, enable View.


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Menu and navigationLet us now create the menu links for the actions possible so far. Select Site building > Menus > List menus from the admin bar. Click on Primary links.

First let us add a link for library_stk_mgr to create a book. Select Add item tab. On the admin bar, move the mouse over Content management > Create content > Library book. Right click and copy the link address. Paste it in the Path entry field. Remove all the text before node. Type in Create book in the Menu link title. In the Description, type in Add a new book to the library.

Click on Restrict item visibility. Select only library_stk_mgr.

Click on Save at the bottom of the page.

Similarly, add a menu link to issue a book for the librarian. You can enter details like this:

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Set permissions like this:

Click on Save at the bottom of the page.

Now we need to rearrange the order of the links. Drag the menu items to order them like this:

Click on Save configuration at the bottom of the page.

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TestNow that we have created the content types, created some menu links and set permissions, login in the second browser as m1, l1 and s1, and see how the menu items appear for each login.

Login as s1. Create these 5 books using the Create book link on the top.

Title Author(s) Genre(s)The Alchemist Paulo Coelho AdventureTuesdays with Morrie Mitch Albom Non-fiction7 Habits of Highly Effective People Stephen R. Covey Non-fiction, Self helpThe One Minute Manager Ken Blanchard , Spencer

JohnsonNon-fiction, Self help

Who Moved My Cheese? Spencer Johnson Non-fiction, Self help

Login as l1. Issue these 3 books using the Issue book link on the top.

Title MemberThe Alchemist m1Tuesdays with Morrie m27 Habits of Highly Effective People m2

ViewsNow, let us create the lists to show to various users.

Select Site building > Views > List from the admin bar. Click the Add tab. Enter View name as all_books. Enter View description as List of books. Click on Next at the bottom of the page.

This shows the Views configuration page. Click on the + sign next to Filters. Select Node as the Groups. Select Node: Type and click on Add. Select the Operator as Is one of and the Node type as Library book. Click Update.

Click on the + sign next to Fields. Select the following fields:

Content: Author (field_book_author) Content: Genre (field_book_genre) Content: Id (field_book_id) Content: Status (field_book_status) Node: Title

Click on Add. When asks details for each field, just scroll down and click on Update.

Click on the link Unformatted against the Style: in the Basic settings. Select Table as the style and click on Update. Select Title as the Default sort and click on Update. Now you can see the table in the preview.

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Click on the double arrow next to Fields. Rearrange the order as below:

Click on Update.

In the Basic settings, change the Use pager to Full pager. Click on Update.

Click on Save.

Keeping the type of view below the Defaults as Page, click on Add display. Keeping the Page tab selected at the left, click on the link None next to Path: in the Page settings. Type in all_books in the URL entry box. Click on Update. Click on the link No menu next to Menu: in the Page settings. Enter the details as below.

Click on Update. Click on Save.

Select Site building > Menus > List menus in the admin bar. Select Primary links. Drag the Books menu item to the top. Click on Save configuration. You can see the Book menu item at the top of the page. Click on that. You can see the book list displayed.

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Select Site building > Views > List from the admin bar. Click the Add tab. Enter View name as all_issues. Enter View description as List of books issued. Click on Next at the bottom of the page.

This shows the Views configuration page. Click on the + sign next to Filters. Select Node as the Groups. Select Node: Type and click on Add. Select the Operator as Is one of and the Node type as Book issue. Click Update.

Click on the + sign next to Fields. Select the following fields:

Content: Book (field_issue_book) Content: Date of return (field_issue_return) Content: Member (field_issue_member) Content: Status (field_issue_status) Node: Post date

Click on Add. When asks details for each field, just scroll down and click on Update.

Click on the link Unformatted against the Style: in the Basic settings. Select Table as the style and click on Update. Select Post date as the Default sort, change the Default sort order to Descending and click on Update. Now you can see the table in the preview.

Click on the double arrow next to Fields. Rearrange the order as below:

Click on Update.

In Fields, click on the link Node: Post date. Change the Label to Issued date. Click on Update.

In the Basic settings, change the Use pager to Full pager. Click on Update.

Click on Save.

Keeping the type of view below the Defaults as Page, click on Add display. Keeping the Page tab selected at the left, click on the link None next to Path: in the Page settings. Type in all_issues in the URL entry box. Click on Update. Click on the link No menu next to Menu: in the Page settings. Enter the

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Type as Normal menu entry, Title as Issued books, Description as List of all book issues. Click on Update. Click on Save.

Select Site building > Menus > List menus in the admin bar. Select Primary links. Drag the Issued books menu item to below the Books menu item. Click on Save configuration. Click on edit link on the row of Issued books. Click on Restrict item visibility. Select only library_librarian. Click on Save.

Select Site building > Views > List from the admin bar. Click on the Edit link on the row of all_issues. Keeping the type of view below the Defaults as Page, click on Add display. Keeping the Page tab selected at the left, click on the link None next to Path: in the Page settings. Type in my_issues in the URL entry box. Click on Update. Click on the link No menu next to Menu: in the Page settings. Enter the Type as Normal menu entry, Title as Issue history, Description as History of all my book issues. Click on Update. Click on Save.

Click on the second Page in the vertical tabs in the left. Ensure that the Path is displayed as my_issues. Click on Content: Member in the Fields. Scroll down and click on Remove. Click on Save.

Select Site building > Menus > List menus in the admin bar. Select Primary links. Drag the Issue history menu item to below the Books menu item. Click on Save configuration. Click on edit link on the row of Issued books. Click on Restrict item visibility. Select only library_member. Click on Save.

TestLogin as m1. Click on Issue history at the top. Only the book issued to m1 should be displayed. Login as m2. Click on Issue history at the top. Only the books issued to m2 should be displayed. Login as l1. Click on Issued books on the top. All the books issued should be displayed.

RulesIf you had noticed, the status of all the books are shown as Available, even though we have issued some books. When we issue a book, we should change the status of the book to “In circulation”. Similarly, when the book is returned, we should change the status of the book back to “Available”. Is the book is lost, we should change the status of the book to lost.

Select Rules > Triggered rules > Add a new rule in the admin bar. Set the Label as Change status of book during issue. Select Event as After saving new content. Click on Save changes. Click on Add a condition. Select the condition as Content has type. Click on Next. Select Content types as Book issue. Click on Save. Click on Add an action. Select the action as Load a referenced node. Click on Next. Select the Field as field_issue_book. Change the Label as Issued book. Change the Machine readable variable name as issued_book. Click on Save. Click on Add an action. Select the action as Populate a field. Click on Next. Select Content as Issued book. Select the field as field_book_status. Click on Continue. Change the Status to In circulation. Click on Save.

Select Rules > Triggered rules > Add a new rule in the admin bar. Set the Label as Change status of book during return. Select Event as After updating existing content. Click on Save changes. Click on Add a condition. Select the condition as Content has type. Click on Next. Select Content types as Book issue.

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Click on Save. Click on Add a condition. Select the condition as Field has value. Click on Next. Select Field as field_issue_status. Select Status as Returned. Click on Save. Click on Add an action. Select the action as Load a referenced node. Click on Next. Select the Field as field_issue_book. Change the Label as Issued book. Change the Machine readable variable name as issued_book. Click on Save. Click on Add an action. Select the action as Populate a field. Click on Next. Select Content as Issued book. Select the field as field_book_status. Click on Continue. Change the Status to Available. Click on Save.

Select Rules > Triggered rules > Overview in the admin bar. Click on the link clone on the row Change status of book during return. Change the Label to Change status of book when lost during return. Click on Save changes. Click on the condition Updated content’s field ‘field_issue_status’ has value. Change the Status to Lost. Click on Save. Click on the action Populate Issued book’s field ‘field_book_status’. Change the Status to Lost. Click on Save.

TestSelect Content management > Content > List from the admin menu bar. Select Update options as Delete. Select the three contents of type Book issue. Click Update. Select Delete all.

Login as l1. Issue these 3 books using the Issue book link on the top.

Title MemberThe Alchemist m1Tuesdays with Morrie m27 Habits of Highly Effective People m2

Click on Issued books link to see the books issued. Click on Books to see the updated status of the books.

Adjustment to viewsWe need to do more to the Issued books view for the librarian to work further.

Select Site building > Views > List on the admin bar. Edit all_issues. Select the page which has path as all_issues. Add the Node: Edit link as a field to be displayed with label as Edit. Click Update and override. Select the + next to Filters. Select Content: Member (field_issue_member). Click on Add. Click on Expose. Change the Label to Member. Click Update and override. Select the + next to Filters. Select Content: Status (field_issue_status) - Allowed values. Click on Add. Click on Expose. Change the Label to Status. Click Update and override. Click Save.

TestLogin as l1. Click on Issued books link to see the books issued. Click on the edit link of the row 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Change the Status to Returned and set today as the date of return. Click Save. Click on the edit link of the row The Alchemist. Change the Status to Lost and set today as the date of return. Click Save. You can test the filters now. Click on Books link at the top to see the status various books.

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EnhancementBook issue records which are in Returned state should not be editable. We should remove the default permission to edit. We will give special permission only for issue records which are in Lost or Issued.

Select Content Management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Access control from the admin menu bar. Remove the Edit permission for library_librarian. Select Enable per content node access control settings. Click Submit.

Select Rules > Triggered rules > Add a new rule from the admin menu bar. Enter Label as Grant permission to edit issue when creating, and Event as After saving new content. Click on Save changes. Add a condition to apply this rule only to created content of type Book issue. Add a condition to apply this rule only if field_issue_status field does not have value Returned. Add an action to Grant content permission by role. Here give Edit permission to library_librarian.

Select Rules > Triggered rules > Overview from the admin menu bar. Click Change status of book during return. Click on Rule settings. Change the label to Change status of book during return and reset permission of issue. Click on Save changes. Add an action to Reset content permissions.

TestIn admin login, click on Issued books link at the top. Edit the Issued and Lost books one by one. Click on the Access control tab. Grant Edit permission to library_librarian. Actually this would have happened automatically if we had the rules in place earlier. We can manually fix these now to make the state correct.

Now login as l1. Click on Issued books link. You will find that the edit link is shown only for Issued and Lost books. Edit the book The One Minute Manager and change the status to Returned. Set today’s date as the date of return. Now you can find that edit link has vanished for that book.

Show only available books for issueWhen you click on Issue book, all the books are shown, including those in circulation and lost. We should see only books that are in Available state.

Select Site building > Views > List on the admin bar. Click on the Add tab. Type in books_of_status as the View name. Type in List of all books with the given status as the Views description. Click on Next. Select Content: Status (field_book_status) as Argument and Node: Type as filter. Select Is one of and Library book as the criteria for node type. Change the order of filters to have node type as the first filter. Add Node: Title as the Field with Label as empty. Click Save.

Select Content Management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields > Book from the admin menu bar. Click on Advanced – Nodes that can be referenced (View). In View used to select the nodes, select books_of_status. Enter this in the PHP Code block:

$uri = $_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];if(strstr($uri, /edit') == FALSE)

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return array(0 => 0);else return array();

Click Save field settings.

TestLogin as l1. Click on Issue book. You can see that only books that are available are listed. Issue the book The One Minute Manager to m1. Click on Issue book again. You can find that the issued book is not listed. You can click on Issued books to see it listed there.

EnhancementSelecting return date every time is a pain. If the librarian has not set a return date, we should set it to today.

Select Rules > Triggered rules > Add a new rule from the admin menu bar. Enter Label as When returning book, set date if not already set, and Event as After updating existing content. Click on Save changes. Add a condition to apply this rule only to content of type Book issue. Add a condition to apply this rule only if field_issue_status field does not have value Issued. Add a condition to apply this rule only if field_issue_return field has empty value. Click on Advanced: Specify the fields value with PHP code. Type in return array(0 => array('value' => NULL)); in the box. Click Save. Add an action to populate the field_issue_return field. Click on Advanced: Specify the fields value with PHP code. Type in return array(0 => array('value' =>time())); in the box. Click Save.

Select Content Management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields > Date of return from the admin menu bar. Change the Help text to To be filled if this needs to be a different date than today. Click Save field settings.

TestNow login as l1. Click on Issued books link. Edit the Issued book Tuesdays with Morrie. Change the Status to Returned. Do not fill the Date of return. Click Save. You can see that the current date is taken as the Date of return.

EnhancementStatus and Date of return fields need not be shown when issuing a book.

Select Content Management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields > Book from the admin menu bar. In Field permissions section, select Create Date of return (edit on node creation) and Edit Date of return, regardless of node author. Click Save.

Select Content Management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields > Status from the admin menu bar. In Field permissions section, select Create Date of return (edit on node creation) and Edit Date of return, regardless of node author. Click Save.

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Select User management > Permissions from the admin menu bar. In field_permissions_module, enable edit field_issue_return and edit field_issue_status for library_librarian. Click Save permissions.

TestNow login as l1 and issue a book and return the book, to verify the change in the form and confirm that everything works fine.

EnhancementAs the librarian will mostly be issuing and returning books, we can make the Issued books page as the default page. Members and stock manager can have the list of all books as the default page. Also, we can add the Book issue form to all the pages for librarian.

Select User management > Permissions from the admin menu bar. In front_page_module section, enable access frontpage for library_librarian. Click Save permissions. Select Site configuration > Front page. Click Front Page for authenticated user. Select type as redirect. Type in all_books in the Redirect to box. Click Front Page for library_librarian. Select type as redirect. Type in all_issues in the Redirect to box. Click Save configuration. Note that you should never redirect the Front page for anonymous user.

Select Content management > Content types > Edit Book issue from the admin menu bar. Change Enable data entry from a block to Enabled. Click on Save content type. Select Site building > Blocks > List. On the row of Book issue form block, change the region to Left sidebar. Click on Save blocks.

As the logic that we have used to select the list of books depends on the URI, we can show this block on all pages except the Edit issue page. Click on the configure link on the row of Book issue form block. Select only library_librarian as the role to show the block to. Type in node/*/edit in the pages to skip. Click on Save block.

Also, we can remove the menu item to issue book. Select Site building > Menus > List menus from the admin menu bar. Click on the link Primary links. Click on the delete link on the row of Issue book and confirm.

TestLogin as m1. You can see the list of books as the default page. Login as l1. You can see the list of issues as the default page. Also, see that the Book issue page is shown in a block in the left.

EnhancementIf there are a large number of books, the selection list will not be convenient to use. Also, the librarian will have the book in his hand when issuing. So he can type in the title of the book. Select Content management > Content types > Edit Book issue > Manage fields > Book from the admin menu bar. Click on Change basic information. Change the Widget type to Autocomplete text field. Click on Continue and click on Save field settings. Rebuild the permissions whenever it asks to.

TestLogin as l1 and play around with the book titles. This is a very neat feature of Drupal.

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EnhancementLet us add images to books. Go to some website where the books are listed with images like flipkart.com, amazon.com or mylib.in. Go to Manage fields of Library book content type. Add new field called Cover with the field name as field_book_cover. Select type as File. Select Form element to edit the data as Image. Click on Save. Leave everything as it is and click on Save field settings.

TestLogin as s1. Click on Books link. Click on each book, edit, upload its image and save.

EnhancementNow, let us improve the listing. Open the Views of all_books. Edit the page view. Add another page view with the path all_books_compact. Save the views. Now select the views with path all_books. Add the cover as a field. Select Label as None. Select Format as Image linked to node. Click on Update and override. Change the Style in Basic settings to Grid. Remove Content: Id from the fields to display. Move the Cover to the top of the list of fields. Make sure to always edit the page with path to all_books and whenever provided with choice, choose Update and override. Save the view. In the header and footer of the page with path as all_books, type in <a href="?q=all_books_compact">Click here for compact view</a> and save. In the header and footer of the page with path as all_books_compact, type in <a href="?q=all_books ">Click here for detailed view</a> and save. Make sure to always choose Update and override.

Select Content management > Content types > Edit Library book > Display fields > Basic. Set the Label to Inline for all the fields. Click Save. This will make the fields with a single value align with the label and look better.

TestLogin as any user and see the book list. Try both the views.

EnhancementLet us add review for books.

Enable the features of the Voting module at the end of the modules list. Enable URL Fill module. Add a new content type called book_review. Title label can be changed to One-line summary. The body label can be changed to Comments. Have field_review_book as a node reference to the Library book with autocomplete text field as the widget. In the URL Fill section, enable it. Select Hide field. Have field_review_rating as a type Fivestar rating and widget as Stars. Uncheck Allow user to clear value. Set the default rating as 3. Set the voting target as the node reference to field_review_book. Mark it as required.

Go to Manage fields of Library book content type. Add a new field field_add_review_link with Add review as label, type as Computed and widget as Computed. In the Display format, type in $display = "<a href='?q=node/add/book-review&field_review_book=".$node->nid."'>Click here to add a review to this book</a>"; Uncheck Store using the … Click on Save field settings.

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Select User management > Permissions. Select authenticated user for create book_review content, delete own book_review content and edit own book_review content. Select library_stk_mgr for delete any book_review content and edit any book_review content. Save permissions.

TestLogin as m1. Create a review for the book The Alchemist. Login as m2. Create another review for the same book.

EnhancementWe need to add the list of reviews to the corresponding books. Enable the features View Reference and Viewfield in the modules list. Create a view called reviews_for_book. Add a filter to restrict to type book_review. Add an argument with field_review_book. Add fields title, body and field_review_rating. Set all labels to None. Rearrange the fields to have title, rating and then body. Save the view. Go to Manage fields of Library book content type. Add a new field field_book_reviews. Select Views as the type. Select Always use default value. Click on Default value. Select reviews_for_book – Defaults as the Reviews and %nid as the Arguments. Select Required and reviews_for_book as the Allowed values. Save the field settings.

TestLogin as m1. Click on the book The Alchemist. You can see the reviews.

Site look and feelTo change the name of the site, go to Site configuration > Site information from the admin menu bar.

To change the icon, colors and theme, go to Site building > Themes. You try various themes.

To remove the Submitted by … from the book pages, disable it at Site building > Themes > Configure > Global settings.

Further enhancementsYou can try these enhancements to hone your Drupal skills:

Add reservation capability Add delivery request management

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Going FurtherI hope this tutorial gave you an idea of Drupal’s capabilities as a Web Application Development framework.

As you might have seen, there are tons and tons of options available in whatever you have done in this tutorial. You can explore the options which you have not used to get familiar with the capabilities. The starter package that you have used in the tutorial is almost sufficient to develop very powerful web applications. There are some modules which are packaged but not enabled. You can explore some of them.

There are tons of contributed modules to do almost everything that you would want to do. If you do not find a suitable module, you can easily write a module to do what you want to do. If you know some PHP programming, you can easily write modules. There are a lot of tutorials available on writing Drupal modules.

If you want to customize the look and feel, you can do by writing some PHP and CSS code. You can even develop your own themes easily. There are a number of tutorials on theme development for Drupal.

Drupal comes with built in tools to do performance tuning of the website. There is a lot of information on the internet on Drupal performance tuning. There are also a number of professional consultants who do Drupal performance tuning.

Welcome to the World of Drupal !!!

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