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By amchiclet on
Can anybody tell me why I should be using Advanced Profile Kit over the Profile module that comes with Drupal?
I installed Drupal 6 and APK.
What I see now is a profile with many added fields than the normal profile.
I am sure that there's a lot of power behind APK, but it just isn't apparent for a newbie like me.
What else can APK do that Profile can't?
If I am comfortable with PHP and some Drupal internals, will APK still be a better choice?
Thanks.
Comments
Have a read of the project
Have a read of the project page (http://drupal.org/project/advanced_profile)
It seems to be a bit of a gamble relying upon APK ... even the developer isn't sure where it's going.
Stick with core modules unless YOU have a compelling reason to do otherwise.
Gamble?
Not really. APK is mostly Views and CTools exports. Even if I take it in a direction a user doesn't like, all they have to do is override any bits they don't want changed.
It's not really a good module for a novice, though.
Michelle
Sorry Michelle ... I consider
Sorry Michelle ... I consider you "Drupal Royalty" around here ... I shouldn't have been such a skeptic about your module.
I started out downloading all sorts of contributed modules ... and after a few years, I try to get away with the bare minimum of contributed modules.
I've accumulated around 270 client sites running Drupal so far, and with Aussie upload speeds as slow as they are ... Drupal updates can mean WEEKS of work.
Drupal 6.15? ... merry Xmas! I didn't finish until 3rd January after that Xmas surprise.
Yeah .. I know ... I need to refactor the way I use Drupal, but most of my clients have their own hosting ... no code sharing possible.
Royalty?
LOL!
No worries. APK has been a bit of a thorn in my side. People want it to be something it's really not and I've had nothing but grief trying to make it what they want. In the end, I decided to focus on making it what I want which, unfortunately, is not a module for newbs.
270 client sites? Oy vey... I find it annoying to update my 10 or so sites and they are all except 1 on my personal hosting account.
Have you looked into Drush? I haven't used it but it's supposed to help quite a bit with that.
Michelle
Apples and oranges
APK is for displaying profiles, not storing data. The comparison you're looking for is core profile vs Content Profile. I definitely recommend going with Content Profile if you plan to do more than minimal changes to your profiles. Using CCK opens up a lot more possibilities.
APK will work with either core Profile or Content Profile but it works better with Content Profile because the CTools integration is better.
Michelle
better off with content profile
Thanks!
So I think Content Profile is what I need now.
A follow up question. How about APK vs theming the profile? Is this still apples and oranges? What was the motivation behind creating APK? To avoid users to actually code?
.
I started out with a complex tutorial that was purely theme based nearly 3 years ago. It worked and was very popular (I just peeked and between the 3 versions, they're up over 200K pageviews!) but required more support than I could offer. Then Panels came along and I realized I could make a user profile with that, export everything into a module, and share it. There's a little more to it than that, some glue code, some custom content types, but, overall, it's a lot easier to wrap up in a nice neat package.
Then CTools & Panels 3 came along and the possibilities exploded. There's so many things that you can do that are difficult if not impossible from the theme layer. I'm a firm CTools devotee now. :)
Michelle
thanks!
I feel from what you say is that, once I can wrap my head around CTools and Panels, using APK is much easier than theming.
Thanks!
:)
Definitely
You use Page Manager and Panels to get all your content added and placed just where you want it including different versions for different users if you want. Then you use a little bit of theming just to put the "skin" on and make it look nice and match your site. Much better than adding content at the theme layer which is messy.
Michelle