New Drupal Book: Learning Drupal 6 Module Development

By mbutcher on 20 May 2008 at 22:17 UTC

Developing new modules for Drupal 6? Porting older modules? Packt Publishing has just released a new book, Learning Drupal 6 Module Development, by Matt Butcher. This book is targeted toward PHP programmers interested in Drupal 6 module development.

The book takes a hands-on approach. Each chapter walks through the development of a module, theme, or installation profile. As the reader progresses through the book, she or he will be able to create increasingly sophisticated Drupal modules.

If you're new to Drupal development (but have PHP development experience), this book will get you developing modules right away. Are you a more seasoned Drupal developer just looking to get some modules updated? This book focuses on many of the new features, changes, and improvements made in Drupal 6. Check out the sample chapter Creating Our First Module (1.3M PDF) to get a feel for how the book is written.

The book deals with numerous topics, and introduces the prominent Drupal APIs. Here are some of the major topics covered:

Creating new modules from scratch.
Using Drupal's JavaScript library and jQuery to add AJAX functionality.
Creating custom content types.
Working with hooks.
Handling forms with the Forms API.
Making use of common core Drupal functions.
Using the Drupal 6 menu subsystem.
Working with the database APIs (including the new Schema API).
Using the Theme API to add default theming into your modules.
Sending mail using the improved Drupal 6 mail API.
Using the Node API.
Working with actions and triggers.
Creating a custom installation profile to package your own Drupal suite.

Check out the book's main page for a more in-depth description of the book's contents.

The book is available in both softcover and downloadable eBook format. You can get it straight from Packt, or from Amazon and other tech book vendors.

Thanks to those I met at DrupalCon. This book was heavily influenced by conversations I had there. And a huge thanks (again) to those of you who were technical reviewers on the book. Your insights and suggestions were tremendous.

Best,

Matt Butcher
Book: http://www.packtpub.com/drupal-6-module-development/book
Author Profile: http://www.packtpub.com/author_view_profile/id/4

Comments

My copy arrived two days

superjacent commented 21 May 2008 at 00:49

My copy arrived two days ago.

___________________________

Steven Taylor
http://prime357.org

Good intro to Drupal 6 development

JohnForsythe commented 26 May 2008 at 09:45

I was one of the Technical Reviewers for this book, so I've had a (digital) copy for a while. Lots of good material in there, definitely worth picking up if you want to learn module development.

Update: I'm holding a contest where you can win a free copy of this book!

--
John Forsythe
Need reliable Drupal hosting?

I usually use online

pamphile commented 21 May 2008 at 20:24

I usually read online tutorials but I have to buy this book.

Marcel
Drupal Themes
PrewrittenContent.com
Writing Schedule

purchased

pamphile commented 3 June 2008 at 01:27

*purchased* - May 23, 2008 - 02:50
*received outside of the US* - April 2, 2008

Congratulations on the

rszrama commented 21 May 2008 at 01:26

Congratulations on the publication, Matt! Thanks for your time spent putting it all together.

----------------------
Drupal by Wombats | Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org

Looks interesting...

webchick

she/they

English

Vancouver 🇨🇦

commented 21 May 2008 at 14:45

Disclaimer: I haven't read this book yet, but a copy ended up in my mailbox for some reason (thanks, mystery kind person who keeps sending me Packt books! :)).

Flipping through, this book looks like it nicely fills a current gap in Drupal knowledge: while Pro Drupal Development is an invaluable "top-down" reference guide to Drupal and provides in-depth knowledge into Drupal's various sub-systems, this book fills a "bottom-up" need for people who want information about how to actually leverage that knowledge to do stuff in Drupal. Sort of like our existing Module developer's guide on steroids.

I don't know when I'll get a chance to actually read this, since I'm not traveling for awhile, but definitely looks worth checking out.

Who's Matt Butcher?

chesslife commented 21 May 2008 at 15:44

Who's Matt Butcher? There's a bio that mentions "Matt" (Butcher I'm assuming), but still doesn't say "who he is". Clicking on his un doesn't help either. I'm definitely interested in learning more about Drupal 6 module development, but I've never heard of Matt Butcher.

One of my professors always warned that "anyone can write a book". Before I buy this, I'd like to know that Matt Butcher isn't just anyone.

Matt's a busy bee when it

rszrama commented 21 May 2008 at 17:42

Matt's a busy bee when it comes to technical writing and more. You can peruse a list of some of his works on the front page of his site - including several other books published through Packt. While I don't have a copy of this book yet myself, I'm sure we'll grab one for the office when Ubercart makes the leap to D6.

Matt also came to an Ubercart dinner at Drupalcon Boston, and I enjoyed his company. : )

----------------------
Drupal by Wombats | Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org

this is his bio from the sample chapter

kyle_mathews commented 21 May 2008 at 17:15

Matt Butcher is the principal consultant for Aleph-Null, Inc. (http://aleph-null.tv), where he
specializes in content management systems, Linux system integration, and Open Source
technologies. He has been an active participant in open-source technologies for over a decade.
Along with Learning Drupal 6, Matt has also written Mastering OpenLDAP, Managing and
Customizing OpenCms 6, and Building Websites with OpenCms, all of which are published by
Packt. When not pushing bits, Matt likes to explore Colorado with his wife and three daughters.

So he doesn't sound like just anybody nor a nobody.

--Kyle Mathews

Not everyone can write a book

robertdouglass commented 21 May 2008 at 18:13

It's harder than I ever imagined. I think it's awesome that Packt has found four Drupal authors and pushed such an ambitious product pipeline forward. Thanks Packt!

- Robert Douglass

-----
my Drupal book

Lol, no, anyone can write a

chesslife commented 22 May 2008 at 14:33

Lol, no, anyone can write a book. Will it be a good, informative book? That's the question. I've read some bad books in my day.
I asked the questions I did, because I didn't see any record of any activity in the Drupal community - at all, and I've never heard the name before.

Ryan (Ubercart rocks!) vouched for him, so that's good enough for me.

Ordered the ebook and the dead trees version

koorneef commented 21 May 2008 at 19:08

I'll update this comment when I've read a bit more. Great to have all the info in 1 place !

I just bought the

dodorama commented 21 May 2008 at 21:01

I just bought the ebook+hardcover bundle and it looks really promising.
Good job!

Great book!

lakermark commented 23 May 2008 at 04:14

I think it's great for those that learns best with the hands-on approach. The book is concise and strikes a nice balance between basic vs. advanced topics. After the first couple of chapters, you'll immediately learn the basics of being a Drupal Developer.

yes

kakaji commented 22 May 2008 at 01:53

this is a great book

Looks interesting

phoenix commented 22 May 2008 at 08:40

This book looks interesting, I ordered my copy :-)

Based on "sample chapter",

themegarden.org commented 22 May 2008 at 09:09

Based on "sample chapter", it's be great book.
---
Drupal Theme Garden

I don't know much about the

korayal commented 23 May 2008 at 15:38

I don't know much about the e-book market. But shouldn't it supposed to be much more cheaper when you order a digital copy?

The printed copy costs €27.89, but the e-book version costs €21.24.

so, does 310 pages of printed paper cost €6.65? Maybe I'm thinking it the wrong way...

Amazing Book!

jng12 commented 25 May 2008 at 03:55

I've read through chapters 1 - 5 already since buying the ebook / print two days ago. It's an amazing book! Very clear and step by step process just makes it so easy to follow.

must buy!

Great

flash menu commented 25 May 2008 at 10:41

"Must have" book

A review

markj commented 25 May 2008 at 19:41

I've just done up a review at http://drupalib.interoperating.info/node/130.

Another book for the Drupal community!

BioALIEN commented 27 May 2008 at 15:10

This is great, I'll have to add this to my list of books to read. From reading the sample chapter, it seems good, accurate and simple to follow. I can't comment on the remaining chapters although I'm interested to see how advanced it goes into the power of D6.
---
Dee
iScene Interactive :: iScene.eu

"Thanks for posting"

xavierbabu commented 28 May 2008 at 10:23

Thanks. Useful.

index

vph commented 28 May 2008 at 18:56

Can you please post the index for this book?
One of the reasons for this question is to know if/where all the hooks are covered. Chapter 2 is supposed to cover module creation but it only implements two hooks: hook_block and hook_help; the latter is quite trivial.

Thank you.

Great also for noobs

dam commented 30 May 2008 at 15:24

I'm a noob and reading the digital copy right now. wooo it's great.

thanks Matt & Packtpub

This is another good book for an introduction to drupal
http://www.packtpub.com/drupal-6-create-powerful-websites/book

It's written by David Mercer. Anyway,personally, I prefer Matt's style

I bought and I am happy!

Tod27 commented 30 May 2008 at 16:51

I bought and I am happy! Recommend to each!

Earnest requset

papun commented 2 June 2008 at 08:35

can anyone please share this books' e-version with me cause i cannot afford to buy it for 29 pounds i.e. almost Rs 2200.
It would be very kind of you if any one of you could share the book with me.

Just for the record... that

rszrama commented 2 June 2008 at 13:00

Just for the record... that sort of "sharing" is illegal. : P

----------------------
Drupal by Wombats | Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org

Sorry

papun commented 2 June 2008 at 13:24

sorry to have offended you

Not offended, just making it

rszrama commented 2 June 2008 at 14:02

Not offended, just making it clear. I think there are people who share things illegally who don't realize it. I found an e-book posted on another document sharing site and had to contact them to remove it there, too.

----------------------
Drupal by Wombats | Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org

i'll buy it for you

dam commented 4 June 2008 at 12:44

I'm asking to packtpub how to gift you the ebook. Ebooks from packtpub have an ownership note printed on them. So it should be your ownership note. I think it should be possible but don't know how. Please send me an email at dam at venturin dot net , so we don't bother the community with this ;-)

cheers

Such a kind gesture of yours.

pal4life commented 26 July 2011 at 23:59

Such a kind gesture of yours. Power of Drupal community. Maybe we can also use a community approach for this. Say whoever wants to can donate 50 cents and then we can gift a book to a newbie or have another criteria for it. It would be so cheaper to buy books and do charity at the same time at such a low amount.

I've had this book for a

Garrett Albright commented 20 June 2008 at 22:50

I've had this book for a while now, but haven't used it much until I just started working on our company's first D6-powered sites this week. Content-wise, I think it's a nice at-hand guide to have, but I have some gripes about presentation. The body text is in Palatino (or a look-alike), which isn't terrible but isn't a serif that really works well for large chunks of text -- it's more of a fancy headline serif, in my opinion. On the other hand, the headings and all the sans-serif work, including the title on the front of the book, are all in Arial. Barf! It's also frustrating that the ink on the page has a strange "shiny" reflectiveness which makes it difficult to read in direct light, which is typically the best light to read in…

So all due credit for content, but whoever's doing the design/layout work at Packt could do well to take a refresher lesson in some of the basics (like never use Arial for anything ever). Maybe I should have bought the electronic edition, h4x0red it to change the typefaces, then printed it out myself with non-shiny ink with the office's old LaserWriter.

Packt overcharges for their

Road Runner commented 22 June 2008 at 10:55

Packt overcharges for their ebooks. It really feels like they are gouging us. Their pricing policy needs review by someone who understands the economics involved as well as the positive impact on the company that more books in distribution would bring.
The reason I haven't purchased this one is the high cost of the ebook and fact I purchased another Drupal ebook from them that wasn't worth the money.

I had time to browse it and

mecano commented 8 July 2008 at 15:04

I had time to browse it and I must say it's good starting point and really a must have to understand and write clean code modules.

I have a copy of the book and it is a must have.

rmiddle commented 23 July 2008 at 16:14

If you are new to drupal development this it the 1st book you should read. Then get pro drupal development for a refernce but this book will teach you how pro drupal is a great reference once you know how.

A must have to start/get into Drupal 6 as a PHP Developer

mot commented 12 August 2008 at 18:56

If you want to learn the lot about how to use your own PHP knowledge and connect it with Drupal 6, you should not wait another day and get this book. You might only have already little knowledge and practice with Drupal 6, eventually read the Drupal 6 title "Building powerfull and robust website with Drupal 6" by David Mercer (a good read as well), you can with no fear get this title to learn "the more" you need to know to start rocking with drupal 6. You get a very smooth and well made move inside all the necessary things like Menus, Hooks, Themes, Modules etc., even Installation Profiles.

It is very well made, each chapter continues on the other and you learn the stuff you want to learn and you need to learn to understand the more specific stuff until the last chapter. It is for PHP Programmers, and if you are a programmer and new to Drupal 6 I only can only warmly suggest to start with this book. It would have saved me a lot of headaches ;) and after reading it I understand a lot more.

And another nice thing: Part of the money you pay for the book is going to Drupal. This is a service by the Publisher, Packt Books.

my review on Amazon.com is up

Chris Charlton

English

Los Angeles

commented 29 August 2008 at 16:18

I reviewed this book for Packt Publishing and was honored to do so. I gave it 5 stars and the review was published at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1847194443/ .

_{Chris Charlton}
_{Manager LA Drupal}	_{Drupal Author Published since 2007}

Consistency issue

aterchin commented 30 November 2008 at 20:13

Bought the book, and I really want to get some good solid results. However, I just finished building the first module in Chapter 2 and it didn't work as expected. The block is there, but it's not displaying the feed. I've compared it with the errata sheet from Packt, and it addresses some code changes but doesn't explain how or why the changes implemented, in the kind of depth the book does. After I plugged in the changed code as best as I could figure, it still didn't output any results. If and/or when code is changed, it's nice to have a visual of the entire new code so I can line-by-line compare where I've messed it up.

So I figured I'd see the correct changes in the module code examples, for download on Packt's site, but the Chapter 2 module code has a lot of alterations and discrepancies between the book's code and what's in the errata list.

View the errata and download the example code for Chapter 2 here (and get the .PDF which is linked to, above) and you'll see.

I met Matt in Chicago. Very knowledgeable and can present well, but as far as the book, I would love to see the consistency issues addressed. Matt gave a good informative Javascript/jQuery talk at DCC: http://drupalcampchicago.org/day2-session5a

Download Free copy of this book

ahsanshahzad commented 2 January 2009 at 07:11

i found free copy of this book so you may download soft-copy of this book at following url:

[Link removed by moderator. We do not condone piracy.]

This book is really cool and good, i am loving this book!

My link may help someone who can't purchase a Hard copy of this copy but is in seek of good learning on Drupal.
that is my only intention to give this link.

Thanks

This is not a "free copy"

markj commented 2 January 2009 at 08:35

AFAIK, the author and publisher want people to pay for a copy of this book. Unless they have made the book available freely, this copy is pirated and is not a legal way to obtain the book.

i thought this is a free book

ahsanshahzad commented 5 January 2009 at 06:59

Sorry for it,
i thought this is a free book as i downloaded it for free.

.

michelle

she/her

English

Wisconsin, USA

commented 5 January 2009 at 15:36

Just because someone steals something and gives it away doesn't make it free. There are a lot of illegal things available on the internet. If you haven't already taken the link down, please do so as you are just furthering the theft by passing it along.

Michelle

--------------------------------------
See my Drupal articles and tutorials or come check out life in the Coulee Region.

Yeah, as far as I know,

rszrama commented 2 January 2009 at 20:43

Yeah, as far as I know, sharing the book in this way violates copyright law. I highly recommend removing that from your blog.

----------------------
Drupal by Wombats | Current Drupal project: http://www.ubercart.org

Just ordered it

vkr11 commented 9 January 2009 at 19:59

Hoping to write some modules :-)

- Victor
Search Drupal.org | Lamingo | Tax India | Drupal Jobs | FPGA

download the code

As If commented 31 March 2009 at 11:39

I wish the book showed each script in its entirety, somewhere. But anyway, if you purchase the book from Packt, you can always download the code from their website. Yes, it has changed since the book was printed! I was having a tough time with Chapter 5, checking my code against the examples line-by-line, still didn't work. After downloading the code from the Packt website, I got it working in 30 minutes. You paid for it, go grab it!

-------------------------------------------
Interactive Worlds and Immersive Obsessions
http://www.asifproductions.com

Inconsistencies indeed

atuline commented 2 July 2010 at 13:57

rpmute is the first person I've read that mentioned the inconsistencies in Learning Drupal 6 Module Development. I've been going through Chapter 2 in detail, and there's a huge difference between the downloadable code and what's printed in the book (see the _goodreads_block_content function on p46).

The fact that this isn't mentioned in the errata is disappointing, and I said as much to Packtpub.

I love this book! I've been

FreddieK commented 29 July 2010 at 11:17

I love this book! I've been working a bit with modules before but oftentimes I've had to find some similar code from a different project and customize it (trial and error) until I got it to work without really grasping why things should be this or that way. With this book I feel I've gotten a much more solid basic understanding of the most common hooks and how modules work in Drupal.

Before I've tried Pro Drupal Development but felt kind of like hitting a wall. After finishing this book I feel ready to take on PDD once more.