Now it’s (quite…) easy with EntityFieldQuery. But this is not much documented so I will provide some examples.

1. select the 50 latest news (that are node referenced)

Code block

$query = new EntityFieldQuery();
$result = $query->entityCondition('entity_type', 'node', '=') // select nodes
		          ->propertyCondition('type', 'news', '=') //type news
		          ->propertyCondition('status', '1') //published, you don't need to add '=' it's added by default
		          ->fieldCondition('field_newapp', 'nid', 0, '>') // node referenced so the 2nd parameter is nid
		          ->propertyOrderBy('created', 'desc') //most recent first
		          ->range(0,50) // limit
		          ->execute();

then you can retrieve formatted result by using

Code block

$news = node_view_multiple(node_load_multiple(array_keys($result['node'])), 'full');

2. select all documents with title beginning with Management report belonging to ‘int’ and ‘both’

Code block

$query = new EntityFieldQuery();
$query->entityCondition('entity_type', 'node') // the third '=' is not necessary
 ->propertyCondition('type', 'document')
 ->propertyCondition('title', 'Management report%', 'like') // here we use the 'like' operator
->fieldCondition('field_appintext', 'value', array('int','both'), 'IN') // 'in' operator
 ->execute();

3. check if 2 conditions are met (AND)

Code block

$query = new EntityFieldQuery();
$query->entityCondition('entity_type', 'node')
 ->propertyCondition('type', 'status')
 ->fieldCondition('field_selectlistreq', 'value', $env[$current]['type'], '!=') //note the 2nd parameter 'value'
 ->fieldCondition('field_appxmlid', 'value', $id)
->fieldOrderBy('field_appname', 'value') //sort on a field property
->execute();

4. 2 conditions with OR

or seems not to be supported

5. select users

Code block

$query = new EntityFieldQuery();
$query->entityCondition('entity_type', 'user')
 ->fieldCondition('field_postcode', 'value', $postcode);

then select them with

Code block

$napps = user_view_multiple(user_load_multiple(array_keys($result['user'])), 'full');

6. select terms (‘projects’ vocabulary for current user)

Code block

$result = $query->entityCondition('entity_type', 'taxonomy_term')
 ->entityCondition('bundle', 'projects')
 ->fieldCondition('field_relatedusers', 'uid', $GLOBALS['user']->uid)
 ->execute();
//select with
 $tids = taxonomy_term_load_multiple(array_keys($result['taxonomy_term']));

you can select files as well…

more technical info on Drupal API. some examples on the Drupal site

The trick is to load a css in a custom module and once your module will be enabled, the css will be integrated in the seven theme.
for instance:

Code block

function mymodule_init() {
 drupal_add_css(drupal_get_path('module', 'mymodule')."/css/myseven.css", array('group' => CSS_DEFAULT, 'every_page' => TRUE));
 }

Code block

.filter-wrapper {display: none;}

edit: sometimes, it’s not enough to only apply custom  css formatting to your admin theme, you need custom template files. The trick is to create a simple temlate with seven as base theme.

Create a new folder “myseven” with file myseven.info inside

Code block

core = "7.x"
 engine = phptemplate
name = My Seven
 description = seven customized
 base theme = seven

and you have a new fully functionnal theme, identical to seven but ready to be customized.

As result some modules may produce undefined variables that will be displayed as messages “Notice: Undefined index” or “Notice: Undefined variable” and your logs will grow insanely…

the solution is to add in your settings.php the line

Code block

ini_set('error_reporting', 'E_ALL ^ E_NOTICE');

Less options means easier management and happier client!

step 1 : install a dedicated administration theme

admin module
you can install the 6.x.1.0 .The theme will be set immediately after installation but you will have less control on it (it’s not really a new theme) and the admin menu items will be changed, so be warned if you plan to use the admin_menu module!
the 6.x.2.0 requires you to install the rubik theme and the tao . the rubik theme is a child of tao. You have to manually enable the 2 themes in admin/build/themes/select and choose rubik as admin theme in admin/settings/admin/theme.

You can also add the admin_theme module if you want your admin theme to be displayed on other pages than admin/* and check the box “Content editing” in admin/settings/admin/theme.
If you need extra controls over the theme, you can create a new one that will be a child of rubik (add the line base theme = “rubik” in the .info file). You will customize it by adding a template.php and other tpl files (and leave the tao files unchanged  – always better…).

do not forget to set the permission “access admin theme” to your client’s role.

step 2 : better formats

this module helps you to control the input formats by settings defaults (and removing the format chooser in node, blocks and comments management)
install the module go to admin/settings/filters/defaults and choose the default input formats. Then on admin/user/permissions uncheck the boxes to remove format selection, tips and links (they are checked by default…)

step 3 : Form filter

If you have granted your user the “administer nodes” permission, the node/add and node/edit forms will show revision information, authoring information and publishing options (and other options provided by additional modules). These options are not always useful so if you want to remove it you can do it by code (hook_form_alter – btw I didn’t find an easier way than hide by css with $form['my_element'][#prefix] = ‘<div style=”display:none”>’ and $form['my_element'][#suffix] = ‘</div>’).
But you can do it also with the form filter module. Enable both formfilter module and formfilter ui. As administrator, 2 links will appear on the bottom of the node/add and edit pages.
You can click on “Filter all node forms” and check the 3 boxes “Hide Revision information“, “Hide Authoring information” and “Hide Publishing options“.

you can also choose a role with “view forms without filtering” permission.

step 4 : Menu per role

This is a quick and dirty way to hide menu elements for specific role. Be aware that this only hide the menu entry! the functionality will remain accessible by the url.  So it can be a security flaw… anyway, install the extension and choose a menu entry to customize.
Useful if you want to hide some admin menu links but step 6 is a better alternative…

step 5 : create custom administration pages with views

if you want to separate some items from admin/content/node to highlight it, use a view with
– style : table (with sortable fields in the style options)
– fields node: edit and node: delete link + exposed filter(s)
– access to your specific user role.
– add page display and a menu entry

step 6 : create a specific menu for admin purposes

with a link to content/list, content/add … and all others site specific needs.
show it only for your role.
useful if you don’t want to grant the “administer nodes” permission.

1. installation

install drupal as usual

2. directory structure

inside site/ create a directory for each of your site named yoursitename.tld

inside yoursitename.tld create

• directories for the specific modules and themes (you can then split it in contrib/ and custom/) + files
• copy settings.php and adapt db site’s specific values
• put the modules used by every sites (cck, pathauto, devel, admin_menu, …) in site/all/modules

3. virtual host

• DocumentRoot is the same for every sites : that’s where your installation sits (/var/www/drupal6 for example)
• ServerName is the name of your site (!), drupal will use it to map the name of your site.tld with the site/ directory structure

4. pros

• update core / shared modules only once
  => you can create a script to run cron for all sites
• quick creation of new sites

5. cons

• on core issues, all sites are down…
• high load of the server
• you have to manually run update.php on every site (it can take times when a site may be + – down)

more info on drupal’s website

6. sharing databases / tables

it’s possible to share data between sites.

example: if you want sitea and siteb using the same users, but with different content, you will have

• 3 databases for the 2 sites, (1 for content sitea / siteb, 1 for shared tables)
• shared tables (users, sessions,…) must be have the prefix of the shared database in settings.php / Database area ( shared_db. with . for sql join)
• a default prefix (indicated only once) for other tables

$db_prefix = array( ‘default’ = ”, ‘users’ = ‘shared_db.’, ‘role’ = ‘shared_db.’, ‘sessions’ = ‘shared_db.’, );

• to permit a same user login on sitea AND siteb, install single sign on module

note : it’s also possible to have only 1 databases with same prefixes for common table and different prefixes for the other ones (this time prefix without . ’cause we use the same db)

more info on drupal website

note : you can also take a look, at this video with interesting server settings

=> an other interresting module (not tested yet) : Domain

edit : I’ve test it on several projects and Domain module is awesome !! nice documentation, incredible functionalities , powerful hooks… a really must have module for multisite management !!

public : /sites/default/files

every files are downloadable, they can be hidden via permissions but accessible through file system

private : /system/files

drupal control file download and show 403 if no permission

cck

imagefield D7core

Depends on filefield D7core :  ajax uploads

-> restriction on image : type / size / resolution
-> features : alt / title tags with tokens, default image
-> display : image, link, path, IMAGECACHE preset

further config / features

-> “full” gd library (not default on debian like)  or this link
-> uploadprogress install it with pear  [pecl install uploadprogress]
-> max file size (htaccess or php.ini) :  [post_max_size = 100M] and [upload_max_filesize = 2M] directive

imagecache D7core : presets on cck + views

Depends on imageapi D7core and gd library [aptitude install php5-gd]
call with [print theme('imagecache', 'imagecache_preset_name', 'original_image_filepath', "alt_tag", "title_tag", "custom_attributes_as_class_or_id"); ]

-> play with size, rotation, + effects – desaturate (bw conversion) – sharpening
-> create image on demand. if file doesn’t exist, image cache create it

imagecache_actions D7 ?

-> “layer style“  : Watermark (place an image over a source picture), Background, text overlay, canvas manipulation
-> colors : colorize image, invert, darken / lighten
-> feature : rounded corners, alpha blending, file format switcher

imagecache_profiles
imagecrop / imagefield_crop :  js resizing
imagefield_extended : Add additional data to images other than the default Description, Title and Alt.
image_fupload : upload multiple images with one simple click

bonus :

image integration with wysiwyg

wysiwyg D7ready + tinymce (see wysiwyg config) + imce D7ready + imce_wysiwyg bridge D7?
activate in “button and plugin” > imce (wysiwyg > tinymce config)

alternative to imce filefield_insert “use a cck filefield for uploading images and send the image to the RTE”

lightbox integration and plenty of gallery modules…

imagine we want to export our drupal users with their roles. if a user has 3 roles, the result of the join query will be 3 rows for him.

Using GROUP_CONCAT will give us all roles in one single row.

Code block

SELECT u.uid, u.name, u.mail,
 GROUP_CONCAT(DISTINCT r.name SEPARATOR '/') as roles
from users u
 inner join users_roles ur on ur.uid = u.uid
 inner join role r using(rid)
 GROUP BY u.uid

notice here the GROUP BY u.uid (otherwise all users will be concatenated in 1 row).

see the syntax of this function

imagine we have a table of animals, a field with the names and another with the type :  bird, dog and cat

in our result we want to see all cats at first then birds then dogs

we will use the ORDER BY FIELD(fieldname , ‘value1′, ‘value2′,…)

Code block

SELECT * FROM animals
 ORDER BY FIELD(type, 'cat',bird','dog')

ever wanted to sort your nodes by post or comment date like forums do ( last “action” first) ?

you can do that easily with mysql and greatest select

Code block

SELECT n.nid, title,
GREATEST(n.created, last_comment_timestamp) as dateup
 
FROM node n
INNER JOIN `node_comment_statistics` using(nid)
 
order by dateup desc