I am just wondering if there is any hook to integrate WHMCS database with my existing Drupal site.
WHMCS has its own CMS and so as Drupal. I have used the same html twice for WHM and also for Drupal hence the problem is that I have to change twice if there is any design update.
The answer is no, there is no such thing.
A hook, in Drupal is not something magically to integrate anything. A hook is merely a architectual concept to allow code being ran on several occasions. A hook is not what you are looking for.
You will need to implement each and every piece of integration with Create, Read, Update, Delete synchronisation. A user in Drupal gets updated, that should fire code wich updates the data in your other CMS's database. A piece of content is created in your WHCMS, then it needs to become available in Drupal too. And so on and so on.
So, you will first need to define very clearly what you want to integrate and share between both. If it is only the session (single sign on) there are several solutions ready to use. But if you need all content, their comments, search-results and so on to be shared, you have a long way to go.
The reailty with integrating two CMS's entirely, is that you often need more then the sum of the codebase of both CMSs as gluecode: it needs such great amounts of complex integration and synchronisation-code, that in the same time you had probably written both Drupal and WHCMS from ground up. My advice: don't even try.
Hooks are mainly for CMS operations (creating/updating/deleting content). Sounds like you just need to share the theming from the CSS and header/footer HTML across both systems.
You can switch Drupal to use the Smarty template engine: http://drupal.org/project/smarty
You may then be able to create a Drupal theme that imports the header.tpl.php and footer.tpl.php from the WHMCS theme.
You may need to remove some of the Smarty markup and variables from the WHMCS side to simplify the header and footer to the point they can be used with Drupal (if you can make the header and the footer pure HTML, you may not even need to use Smarty on the Drupal side), or write a lot of preprocessing code on the Drupal side you may be able to populate the template variables with values from the WHMCS database.
Related
I have a website (www.easterisland.travel) that I'm considering converting into a Wordpress site. Why? Basically for the following reasons:
1: To use a CMS, so that I can teach others to further add content to the website without having programming knowledge. I would built the advanced pages myself though, and the pages that others would manage would be simple information pages.
2: Access to all of these great plugins, for example the "similar pages" plugin at the bottom of each page (which I haven't found as a independent solution for raw webpages), which is just fantastic to keep people reading.
At my site I have lots of custom stuff like booking systems that I've created. There's an AngularJS shopping cart (www.easterisland.travel/tours/), instant online booking and payment (using PayPal's Express Checkout) etc. There's a page for cruise ship shore excursions (www.easterisland.travel/cruise-ship/) that's automatically generated from database data, and I've created a system where I can add cruise ships and shore excursions (adding correct itinerary, price, info etc). Passengers can also log in and communicate to other future fellow travelers within the same group, and get organized for meeting up on the tour day. I have many more plans to go as well, for example showing hotel info, displaying TripAdvisor data (using TripAdvisor API) etc.
The million dollar questions are:
1) Can all of this be achieved in a Wordpress site? Can I add all of these systems using this platform? What are the limitations?
2) Would it make sense to change to Wordpress?
3) What implementation should be used? I don't want my code to be removed or altered when Wordpress is automatically updated.
Thank you!
Wordpress doesn't have any limitations, you can extend its default functionality if it can't accomplish what you need with either plugins or custom code. and having a framework is always better than building from scratch in many ways.
HOWEVER, wordpress was originally design as blogging platform, and if you plan on extending its simple functionality you should take some time to understand how it works to properly integrate your custom needs or things could get ugly,
If you know how to interact with the database, you can easily do what you want, there are built-in functions you can use according to your needs for database interactions or just create your own if it doesn't fit well very much.
just a quick overview with wordpress database.
wp_posts - where sites main front-end data are stored, like posts, pages,
wp_postmeta - storage for additional data that are stored on wp_posts
wp_comments - storage for user interaction data for wp_posts like comments, I've also used these before to store user/admin messages.
wp_terms - use for dividing/categorizing wp_posts data, like categories and tags,
wp_options - use for back-end storage data and configuration.
You'd need to check out these functions as you're probably will encounter them in the future
https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/add_post_meta
https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/get_post_meta/
https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/update_post_meta
https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_post_type
https://codex.wordpress.org/Function_Reference/register_taxonomy
https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_Query
If you also need database interaction, check out https://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/wpdb
and for front-end implementation, check this out https://developer.wordpress.org/themes/basics/template-hierarchy/, though I never used any other wordpress theme except Genesis Framework for these past 5 years as I never had to mess too much with HTML codes and almost everything can be customize using actions & filters. I advise you to use Theme Framework (and remember to always use CHILD THEME to be safe from Main Theme upgrade)
You might also want to check -> https://github.com/WebDevStudios/CMB2 (I prefer to use this than Advance Custom Fields plugins.)
Booking system in wordpress is a bit complex, I've successfully use gravity form as booking system with AngularJS + Ajax, but never tried a custom one from scratch and don't have a chance to use booking plugin as never encountered a cleint that wants a simple booking system.
Just to answer your question.
Yes, It can, for comparison, take a look at woocommerce plugin functionality and features, I believe thats more complex than what you need.
It would make sense to convert a site built from scratch to any CMS (wordpress is an option), the CMS is up to you, though its better to use the one that you know more for easier integration and customization.
You can use your child theme "functions.php" for extending your custom functionality, like create a folder in your theme for all your custom code and include/require it on your child theme functions.php or better create your own plugin to properly integrate them, you can divide the functionality in plugins, like plugin for booking system and plugin for payment functionality. check this out https://github.com/hlashbrooke/WordPress-Plugin-Template
I hope this would give you an idea.
Yes you can do all that. You will need someone with knowledge in wordpress themes and plugins but it is possible. The beauty of wordpress is, that you can write "bare" php code, and the small amount of functions to interact with wordpress are well documented.
Wordpress itself, is structured "simple" (compared to fancy tools like magento for example). So all it manages, are posts / pages / ... which, more or less derive from the same database object. You can add functionality to those things (for example, make posts cruise ships and other posts to shore excursions) or you can add your own database structure on top.
The theme system is bare php code, so you dont have to crawl through a thousand lines of xml codes to adjust little things.
Wordpress power derives from its simplicity of the "core wordpress" and the feature volume based on all those plugins. I believe alot of people would say, that you should go for a custom solution (based on symfony for example), or a CMS that already comes with more of your desired functions (like magento which has the checkout / paypal included), but I (as a wordpress fan) would see no problem to take wordpress.
I have never failed to find a plug-in to do what I needed! I manage three WordPress sites - although none of them is commercial. (Yacht Club, Cycling Club and Political Party EDA).
There is a plug in that allows PHP on any WordPress page, but it means that the Editors all have to write using the text (HTML) view rather than Visual tab. I found that useful for some of my pages - and I'm the only "Editor."
There's also a plug-in that allows you to code PHP in Widget. That doesn't have the above disadvantage.
I would like to build a CMS/backend in PHP for my websites to manage different things like photos, albums, news and in general creating dynamic content.
For example I would like to make a website where the owner can create a list of all his products with different attributes (text, images etc).
I know I could make my own CMS with an admin panel and I will have all the problems like users manage, CRUD functions for objects etc.
What I'm looking for is something between a CMS (like drupal or Wordpress) and Yii or Zend Framework.
I don't want to use this (CMS) to build frontend pages in total, like how drupal and wordpress do, because when i will create the frontend i just want to include my cms and use his functions like include_once(cms.php) and then use objects created by this CMS like echo $object->title etc.
What is the best and fastest way to create this?
I like how drupal creates content types where you can choose how to build this content like insert an image field or a text field etc but I think I can't just include Drupal in my frontend and use echo $object->title and also I like how Yii creates modules with CRUD functions.
What do you suggest?
Should I start from Yii or Zend and then use this as an admin panel or should I start from drupal and then try to include and use its functions in "external" pages?
IMHO Fastest way is to get a working system and try to manipulate to make act like you want, add code to your needs. this way you don't have to worry about some common tasks but there is a little learning of how that system works part.
but if you have time, you can always start from the ground up and make your own, just add what you need is making a faster system, but there is a difference between a system that has small team of developers (or you alone), and a system that has large number of users and a community of developers behind it.
for starters I would suggest to work on a reliable system, and build on top of that.
(I've posted this on the drupal forum too btw)
I'm converting the company websites to use Drupal, or at least trying to check that its going to be the best way forward. I have a background in PHP development, and I'm currently using the CakePHP framwork. I've built this site (not my design) and I can see how to replicate most of the functionality using Drupal, most likely using the CCK module.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/yk6u8mt
As you can see from the homepage:
A user chooses a country.
The country is passed using an ajax call to a script that decides which phone is best based on 'in country' network coverage.
A div is shown recommending the visitor the best phone for that country.
I'm wondering how to go about this in Drupal, I'm definitely not after a step by step guide, I just want to know if this kind of thing is possible with Drupal, and what approach to use.
If someone can help that would be superb. Thanks.
Okay, so you've got a path you're defining in hook_menu, which is where your form is being presented - or else you've got it set up as a webform in a node, that could work too.
Either way, in your form you're going to be using AHAH - check out http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/developer--topics--forms_api_reference.html/6#ahah and http://drupal.org/node/348475 .
Basically, you're going to define another path in hook_menu that's of type MENU_CALLBACK, and which will receive the country as input, and then will return the div that you'll display on the screen.
One core example of AHAH that may be useful to you is where you're entering a password and it lets you know if the password is secure enough - check that out.
Edit: There's also some good examples at http://drupal.org/project/examples.
I would look into using CCK and views. you can set up filters for the views. If filters don't work, you have the ability to include php code. I have also successfully added jquery code in the header of a view through which I was then able to have my view filtered by what is typed in a text box.
Coming from CakePHP using Drupal is a pain in the a** - even more for developers.
It's application structure might be designed to ease extensibility but this only means you have a system to enable your own plugins and themes.
While modules are basically the M+C-part the themes are the V-part of an MVC-application. The problem is that this seperation is not very strict in Drupal - in fact you have to break it sometimes in order to make things work (e.g. you have to include a theme_mymodule_myfunction() into your module as default output which you then can override with your theme using mytheme_mymodule_myfunction() ) And don't even bother looking for classes ( see http://drupal.org/node/547518 ).
Also there is no real link from a module to a theme. On many occations this is a good thing as you can switch modules and themes seperatly without creating a problem. For application builders coming from CakePHP (or any other framework) you often feel a lack of "wholesomeness" - you create parts for a base software and have to live with it's drawbacks.
IMHO I wouldn't recommend this step. Drupal is fine if you have to manage a website and might add a few modules to add neccessary value (image gallery etc.) but I definetly don't recommend it as a base for a customized web-app.
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I'm trying to write out a list of key Drupal competencies, mainly so I can confirm what I know, don't know and don't know I don't know. (Thanks D. Rumsfeld for that quote!)
I think some of these are really broad, for instance there's quite a difference between making a functional theme and creating a theme with good SEO, load times and so on, but I'm hoping you could assume that a half decent web developer would look after that anyway.
Just interested to see what people here feel is also important. I've edited the suggestions so far into this list.
Languages
PHP
MYSQL
Query
Drupal Skills
Research and install modules to meet project requirements
Configure the basic modules and core settings to get a site running
Drush command line tool
Create a custom Theme from scratch which validates with good HTML/CSS.
Able to customise forms, core, themes without altering core files but by using template.php or custom modules.
Can make forms from scratch using the API - with validation and posting back to the DB/email
Can create custom modules from scratch utilising core hooks and module hooks.
Be involved with the community, understand the naming conventions, CVS system and ideally have submitted some code or revisions.
Modules
It's not easy to make a must know module list, as not only is the modules you use very dependent on the site, but also how you use them. However the following are widely used:
Views
Know how to make basic views and blocks.
Know how to make more complex views with relationships and terms.
Know how to use hook_views_query_alter, to make complex queries.
Know how to use hook_views_default_views, to create specific views.
CCK
Know how to setup content - what field types to use.
Know how to create your own field_formatters - the foundation for theming CCK fields.
Hooks
The most important hooks to learn, to create a basic module are probably:
hook_form_alter() - change forms without changing code.
hook_menu()
hook_theme()
hook_nodeapi() - almost anything regarding nodes
hook_schema() - create tables
hook_install() / hook_uninstall() - create tables and clean up.
hook_perm() - when you need special access control.
hook_init() - things to want always to happen.
hook_user() - if you need to tap into user actions or modify the user object.
I good understanding of client-server architecture, how servers and browsers works. And knowledge of php and mysql, templates engines. And of course, you should also read Drupal documentations.
Able to create a custom Theme from scratch which validates with good HTML/CSS and also pays attention to usability and accessibility. (Whilst still looking kick-ass).
You usually don't want to create themes from scratch but from a starter theme like Zen instead.
For Drupal you will need:
PHP, it's a PHP framework, so to really understand and use it, you need to understand PHP.
SQL, the list of SQL serves that Drupal can use is growing, but you will need to understand * SQL, relational database and how to setup some basic architecture.
Javascript (and jQuery). Drupal uses the jQuery js library, so it will be a lot easier if you not only, know how yo use javascript, but also understand how to use jQuery and some of it concepts.
The hook system and how you can alter Drupal core and modules implementing hooks.
The naming convention for hooks, theme functions etc.
Modules
It's not easy to make a must know module list, as not only is the modules you use very dependent on the site, but also how you use them. The two top modules in Drupal is.
Views
Know how to make basic views and blocks.
Know how to make more complex views with relationships and terms.
Know how to use hook_views_query_alter, to make complex queries.
Know how to use hook_views_default_views, to create specific views.
CCK
Know how to setup content - what field types to use.
Know how to create your own field_formatters - the foundation for theming CCK fields.
Another module that I find very powerfull once mastered is Panels. It allows you to do a lot of complex and difficult things with very little and simple code. There is a lot of hooks you need to learn, and not much documentation. But once you understand Panels, you find that you time has been well spent.
Hooks
The most important hooks to learn, to create a basic module is probably:
hook_form_alter() - change forms without changing code.
hook_menu()
hook_theme()
hook_nodeapi() - almost anything regarding nodes
hook_schema() - create tables
hook_install() / hook_uninstall() - create tables and clean up.
hook_perm() - when you need special access control.
hook_init() - things to want always to happen.
hook_user() - if you need to tap into user actions or modify the user object.
You don't need to use all of these hooks all of the time, but they are some of the most used ones.
Great list so far! Some others for consideration:
Ability to use Drush to update or setup a site
Strong understanding of good best practices configuration for performance, security and SEO of a Drupal site (think launch checklists)
Having submitted a module to Drupal.org (however simple) or submitted a patch (the process of getting a CVS account and getting your first code in is instructive to the community and to standards)
You don't need SEO skills for templates, drupal usually helps with SEO alot. Ofcourse a developer who will slice a design must know that all headings must be done with h1,h2,h3,h4 tags. that's really basic one. everything all is up to drupal..
as for my opinion to be a drupal "developer", you need some very basic skills in PHP. Because drupal is really written without object-oriented programing, and without DESIGN PATTERNS, so these are two things is really makes you a programmer.. without them it just [sorry for this word] bullshit not a programming.
I think anybody can install drupal or wordpress or some cms-made-simple, systems if you have at least once connected to ftp in your life... to develop plugins for them is a requires basic skills of php. Ofcourse if you'll find skillfull developer then he will know oop basic, and will write plugins with OOP and that code will be really NiCE! =)
Being able to edit existing functionality (core or module) without touching the core or module and knowing whether to put it in template or a custom module.
As we anything web related these days, you really must have a good understanding of the HTTP protocol. You also need a good understanding of JavaScript, the DOM, CSS and HTML5. Knowing a bit of jQuery is not enough for a developer, you need to understand what your are doing with the DOM, HTML5 APIs and CSS in order to build features and behaviours into the browser. You also need to understand the Drupal JavaScript APIs, both on the server side (hook_library(), #attached, etc.) and the client side (Drupal.behaviors, etc.)
You also need to known the various APIs of Drupal. The Form API is not the only one. You need to understand the Menu system (page, access, title and delivery callbacks, how to pass parameters to them, etc.), the Queue API for asynchronous operations, Batch API for long running operations, Entities and Field APIs for user editable structured data, Theme API and Render Arrays for anything presentation, Cache API, Schema and Database APIs, File API, Cache API and the Localization API.
I have a few forms who's data needs to be written to the main database in their own tables. Just simple name-email collection forms, that are part of regular pages in drupal. I suspect the right way to do this would be to write a module that would have the query in a function, but this is just a guess. I've never written a module before, and don't know how the form would be processed that way.
It's also a guess that to perform the db query within a node would be insecure?
The only other idea I have would be to use a php file on the server to do the form processing, with the db query written there, but that seems very non-drupal, as far as I can tell.
How to??
http://drupal.org/node/508 is Drupal's info on module development
You'll be wanting to use the function "db_query()"
You can use Drupal's built in methods to build forms though that will save the data for you. Have a look at the module developers guide though and you should be able to figure it out. Module development sounds intimidating but it's not as hectic as it seems once you actually know what's going on with Drupal (hence, read the guide).
Have you checked what's already out there? Webform may be able to solve your needs without any custom code.
Also, I highly recommend the book Pro Drupal Development if you want to learn more about Drupal and basic module development.
I'd second the Webform module. Create a really simple webform with name and email (results can be emailed or stored automatically in the DB, and can be exported easily in several formats). Then check out the Webform Block module to put that webform in a block and place wherever you need it on your site. No custom coding required!
Here is an excerpt from the Webform Block project page:
Allows embedding a webform node into a block which can be positioned in any block region (theme space permitting).
Handles redirecting back to the current page on validation errors.
A good use for this is to add a site wide contact form inline on your pages, such as in the footer or sidebar.
Multiple webforms can appear on the same page. The contents of the block is simply a node, so theme work can be done in the node-webform.tpl.php file as usual.