Tools, tips and tricks

Handy modules

The Devel, Devel_FormInspect, and Coder modules are great tools to help with development work.

Develop on a Page

If I'm adding something very new to my module, I often develop it first in a PHP page on one of my test sites - it's just easier and potentially less disruptive. I still follow the same development "rules" - only the environment is different. If it doesn't work out, it's much easier, emotionally, to throw away a single page than stuff that's already in a module.

Package

In the early stages of development, I find it useful to include a line in the ".info" file that reads:

This puts my module at the very end of the modules list where I can reach it quickly (CTRL+END) to enable/disable it.

hook_enable / hook_disable

These hooks are often overlooked but I find them useful:

1. Set/reset all your variables to their defaults in this function for an easy way back to an almost-virgin state and to make sure the defaults only have to be correct in one place.
2. Provide a message that will direct your users to the settings page.
3. Log the userid of the enabling/disabling user.

hook_help

It's always a good idea to help the end-user, so I at least start with a skeleton hook_help. It can be filled in more completely as you go along.

hook_menu

It's a rare module that doesn't have at least one menu item, so go ahead and start with a skeleton for this.

hook_uninstall

Even if you didn't create any tables or content types that should be cleaned up, I can pretty much guarantee that you used some variables (i.e. variable_get, variable_set). Delete them. If you created blocks, it's a good idea to clean those up too. Don't forget to test it.

To do list

Invariably you will think of something that needs to be done sooner or later. Put a small comment section at the top of your module for including these notes.