fatkinson's sandbox: Ham Domains

The 'Ham Domains' module is for Amateur Radio Operators that would like to display random links to other ham radio domains on their Drupal 7 Web sites.  'Ham domains' connects to a database of ham radio URLs and displays them randomly in a customizable table with call signs and links to the associated Web sites.  They are always sorted Callbook (r) style (1st by region code 0-9, then by suffix, then by prefix).  

To install and configure the Ham Domains module, take the following steps:

1. Configure the temporary file directory field [if you haven't already] as an absolute path to the temporary directory.  In admin mode, select 'Configuration'.  Under 'Media', click on 'File System'. Whatever the absolute path is to your public HTML directory is (example: home/yourname/public_html), enter the absolute path plus /tmp into the 'Temporary Directory' field (example: home/yourname/public_html/tmp).  The install will not complete unless this setting has been made.  

2. Install the Ham Domains block module onto your Web site.  

3. Sign up for a user name and password to enter into the module configuration (your username should be your call sign in all lower case letters).  I will approve your password in a short time.  Be patient.  

4. Once you get your user name and password, go into the module configuration (click on 'Modules' then scroll down to 'Hamdomains' and click on 'Configure').  Enter your user name and password in the appropriate fields.  

5. Configure the number of rows (up to three) and columns (up to ten) and change the cell background color [if desired].  By default, the columns are set at two rows and eight columns.  The background color is set at '292929' (to match the Bartik background color).  

6. Go to 'Structure', then 'Blocks'.  Set the Region setting for 'Ham Domains' (I usually set it to 'Header') and click on the 'Save Blocks' button at the end of the page.  You may need to change the rows and columns to fit and look good in the block you chose.

7. Click on 'People' and then click on the 'Permissions' tab. Scroll down to 'Hamdomains' and set your permissions.  Usually, you click on the checkboxes for the 'Authenticated User' and the 'Anonymous User' tabs or whatever your preferences would be.  Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on 'Save Permissions' button.  

You should be good to go.  

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You should see a table with links to ham radio sites on your Web site.  

The links should be different every time the page/block is reloaded.  

There is an issue with the display of the title (if you enable it by deleting the '<none>' tag in the block title field [or putting your own title in the block title field] on the Ham Domains configuration page) when the module is displayed in the header block.  The problem is not with the module itself.  The problem is with the CSS files in Drupal.  I may post it as an issue and see if the Drupal developers fix it.  But the title does seem to show up when the module is moved to other blocks.  

The Web site where I developed the Ham Domains database can be seen at Your Own Ham Domain.  The content of that article is somewhat dated but you can see the entire contents of the Ham Domain database displayed on that page.  That coontent is dated but I hope to upgrade it once I get the hamdomains module approved for distribution on the Drupal Web site.  

If you have a ham domain (your callsign dot com, net, etc., like www.n5bl.org, feel free to Add A Ham Domain and submit it for addition to the Ham Domains database.  I love adding U.S. and DX call sign domains to this database so please submit those and especially the ones with foreign top level domains (like .co.uk or any others) for inclusion in the Ham Domain database.  It isn't necessary that they be in English as long as it can be clearly seen that the content is about Amateur Radio.  

If you don't already have a Ham Domain registered, read 'Your Own Ham Domain' and get yourself started.  But instead of writing the code for your own pages, install Drupal on it.  I hope to rewrite it so that they install Drupal instead of writing a Web page of their own.  

I reserve the right to terminate any user's user name and password who improperly uses or abuses my database.  Please do not put my module on any Web sites with objectionable materials.  And please do not share your 'Ham Domains' username or password to my database with anyone else.  They can get one for themselves by applying for one online.  All accounts issued for 'Ham Domains' will be read only (SELECT).  

I also ask that you not modify my script in any way as your modifications might have an adverse affect on my database.  

If you are running a non-Drupal Web site with PHP capability and wish to obtain a copy of the original PHP script I wrote, contact me and I will send it to you.  You will still need a user name and password to access my database.  

I wrote the original scripting to display these domains in a table on a PHP page.  But I won't take credit for converting it into a Drupal module because I had help from a Freelancer [using the ID of sara0611988 on Freelancer.com].  She took my script and rewrote it into a Drupal 7 module for me.  I've since spent a lot of time attempting to get it through the approval process.  I've got quite few hours into addressing coding issues that were stil present.  

The script will not show error messages [unless you are logged on as an administrator].  All error messages are suppressed in the interest of keeping your Web page looking nice in the event my database might be down.  Hopefully, that will be a rare occurence.  

It would be great to convert this to a Drupal 8 module since Drupal 8 is about to be released.  If someone could help me convert it, I would be very grateful.  

I am looking for someone who is good at module development who is also a ham radio operator to help me maintain it.  Please use the contact link below if you are qualified and interested.  

I hope to develop my PHP skills to where I can write modules for Drupal on my own.  While I was a Drupalcon this year, there was a gentleman named Lucas who coached me on how to resolve the outstanding issues with my coding.  

I had a great time at Drupalcon this year.  I hope to make it to Drupal Boot Camp 2015 in Phoenix and Drupalcon Los Angeles 2015  I hope to see you there.  

I submit this module as GPL but I retain all rights to this software.   Please consider that I hold its copyright.  I consider it open source.  You are free to use it as long as no money changes hands.  

This module is no longer compatible with the database it is dependent upon. It will not work any more. As there has been no demand for a Drupal module for Hamdomain, I will not be updating it. There is an active WordPress plugin and a standalone PHP script available to support using Handomain.

Contact WB4AEJ.