8balldev

Drupal 7 Distro

Finally had some time to review a few of the sessions i missed at last years Drupalcon UK and in the process came across an excellent presentation on Drupal 7 Distributions and Features. Can’t recommend these guys enough - handy cheatsheet provided on their blog too!

As I start to migrate our sites to version 7 it seems the time is right to take the plunge into a full Distro for upcoming projects. 

Since my last foray into install profiles (nearly 2 years ago now), the use of Drush and Features has made for an excellent stable distribution & install profile platform.

Time permitting, I can see me building a collection of quickstart distributions which should ensure much quicker turn arounds on future builds!

2012 = year of the distribution? 

Veggie Christmas Dinner

Christmas is a weird time for a vegetarian, everyone is ranting about how awesome Turkey is and “don’t you miss pigs in blankets”. Well for me it’s all about the roast vegetables anyway but you do need that centre piece.

Found this recipe for Nut Roast last year and haven’t looked back:

Top & Bottom 

• 1 large onion
• 30ml vegetable oil
• 1 dessertspoon cornflour
• 150ml milk (dairy, oat or soya all work well)
• 200g mixed nuts, ground (e.g. almond, pine nuts, cashew, brazils, walnuts)
• ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• Salt & pepper

Filling

• 1 medium onion
• 4 tablespoons fresh parsley
• Juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
• 6 tablespoons olive oil (or other vegetable oil)
• 150g stale bread

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 C
   
   
2. Prepare a 1 lb loaf tin by lining it with greaseproof paper and oiling well. 
   
   
3. Make the top & bottom layer 
   
   • Peel the onion and chop finely
   • Heat the oil in a pan. Add the onion and saute for 10 minutes, until it softens, without browning
   • Add the cornflour. Mix well and cook for 2 minutes
   • Add the milk and mix well. Stir until it thickens
   • Mix in the nuts and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper to taste



4. Make the filling
   Method 1: using a food processor 
   
   • Put the bread in the food processor and ‘chop’ into crumbs. Put in a bowl on one side.
   • Peel the onion and chop it finely in the food processor.
   • Add the parsley and chop until fine.
   • Add the breadcrumbs and chop to mix well.
   • Add the oil and lemon juice and chop until it forms a paste.
   
   Method 2: by hand 
   
   • Grate the bread until it resembles rough breadcrumbs. Put in a bowl on one side.
   • Peel the onion and chop it finely.
   • Chop the parsley finely.
   • Mix the breadcrumbs, onion and parsley together.
   • Add the oil and lemon juice and mix until it forms a paste.



5. Put half of the white filling into the bottom of the loaf tin and press down well
   
   
6. Use your hands to mould the herb filling into layers and cover the bottom layer in the loaf tin
   
   
7. Use your hands to mould the final white mixture into a layer to cover the herb filling. Press down well.
   
   
8. Cook at 190 C for about 40 minutes, until the top feels firm 
   
   
9. Turn it out of the tin onto a plate and serve “upside down”

(Source: vegbox-recipes.co.uk)

php form builder class

Playing with php form builder class (PFBC) today - amazing resource and should save me a ton of time encoding forms! Reached a bit of wall when it comes to templating:

$form->addElement(new Element_HTMLExternal(‘<fieldset>));

…for wrapping form elements in html tags.

Having worked with Drupal’s phptemplate engine this seems rather clunky - might have to extend this somehow to incorporate template files?

iOS 5.0.1

Updating to iOS 5.0.1 wirelessly for the first time - will be interesting to see if it actually has a positive effect on the battery life. To be honest as a long time iphone owner I have resolved myself to never being too far from a charger/USB cable anyway. :)

Drupal 7 & LDAP

About to jump into the LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) module for Drupal 7. The idea being to create a seamless Active Directory company Intranet implementation.

Based on the module documentation and preliminary discussions regarding IP addresses and hosting situations this could be an out of the box scenario. Famous last words!

Absolutely love the fact that there is already something that can take you half way to what you need either way. Love Drupal!