Novice contributing: Additional resources

Last updated May 13, 2013.

See also: Setting up a test environment to review patches.

Coder

Coder is a module that will perform a basic code review on a module. Before submitting a patch, make sure that any affected modules are run through Coder first. http://drupal.org/project/coder

Dreditor

When reviewing patches in the issue queue, Dreditor is a must have. Dreditor is a (greasemonkey) browser script to help developers easily see and review patches on http://drupal.org. (if you are using Chrome just click install). http://drupal.org/project/dreditor

This image shows the “REVIEW” link button which is injected into the page with the Dreditor browser script.

Drupal API

The source documentation for Drupal is located here.

Simpletest

Automated testing within Drupal is done with Simpletest.

TestBot/QA

After submitting a patch, the patch will be queued and run by the QA Testbot. Information about the queue and the Testbot is located here: http://qa.drupal.org/ In core, the testbot will take a while to run. If there are problems, ask in #drupal-contribute IRC and someone can take a look.

DEVELOPER BASICS:

PHP

• -WEBSITE: http://php.net
• -CLASSES: Community College Class on php

Drupal see: drupal.org
-BOOK: Pro Drupal 7 Development
SQL - would help

• -WEBSITE:
• -LINK: http://www.w3schools.com/sql/default.asp

Git - version control

• http://drupal.org/documentation/git
• http://GitHub.com

NOVICE GLOSSARY:

The main Drupal Glossary can be found here: http://drupal.org/glossary. Some key terms related to #novice contributing code are defined here:

#NOVICE

- A new contributor to Drupal

KCCC:

Keep Calm Clear Cache, often heard in IRC. Many problems are just the result of cached data.

Patch

- A small piece of software designed to update or fix problems with a computer program or its supporting data. This includes fixing bugs, replacing graphics and improving the usability or performance. For more information, see the patch documentation.

Reroll

- If a patch exists and needs to be updated to work, it is re-rolled. Rerolling is often needed if the code has changed significantly since the original patch (and just needs to be re-applied to the latest code base).

RTBC

- Reviewed and tested by the community. RTBC is one of the statuses given to issues in the issue queue.

More information:

Contributing to Drupal Documentation (Seattle, 2009)

Applying a Patch to a Module

Drupal Quickstart