Module development and code questions

I'm considering moving to Drupal from my custom PHP driven setup. One of the things i've been trying to add to my site is an industrial scale collection database/trade facility. It's about 1/3 done, and i'm trying to decide if i should just scrap it and implement it as a module in Drupal, so it might benefit others, and in turn benefit from the other modules that exist. My questions at this point are many:

1. Does something like this already exist?
2. Is the learning curve to begin to do something within Drupal steep?
3. Is this kind of thing best implemented as a single module, or interacting modules?
4. Is this even likely to be used by anyone else?

I'm sure i'll think of more questions soon.

FYI, the type of collection in question is a plant collection, specifically a carnivorous plant grow list (i'm webmaster for http://NECPS.org ). It would need to have multiple users, use a hierarchical arrangement of collection item types (ie genus/species/(mother x father parent)/etc), have special users able to modify the plant catalog lists, have a facility for making journal entries attached to a specific plant, a trade listing that is searchable, and a facility for proposing and making trades from the lists of different users. Among other things. As i said, the logic and data (although 2/3 coherent in my head -- at least at one point) is about 1/3 implemented, but the interface is lagging because it's so meticulous to do each editing form manually. The stuff that is currently accessible to the user can be seen by clicking on trade in the menu of the above link. I imagine this would be pretty adaptable to most types of collections with a little careful generalization in implementation.

So, as a new Drupal user who really needs to be able to display images in blog posts and stories, where do things stand with that option at this point? What exactly are my options? Is there an easy way yet for non-techie users (who will use my site) to add images to their content? I'm using 4.6. I'm having trouble tracking all the possibilities and threads on this topic. Thanks much.

Hi,

Does anybody know why it is that I cannot see the Invite user anywhere after installing the invite module ?

And why I cannot see anything else that title, attach file, and the normal generic options, when choosing to add "flexible content" ?

These are my installed modules:

aggregator Aggregates syndicated content (RSS and RDF feeds).
album Image albums
archive Displays a calendar for navigating older content.
block Controls the boxes that are displayed around the main content. required
blog Tillater bruk av blogger, innlegg det er enkelt å håndtere.
blogapi Allows users to post content using applications that support XML-RPC blog APIs.
book Allows users to collaboratively author a book.
buddylist Enable buddy list functionality.
comment Tillater brukere å kommentere på og diskutere publisert materiale.
contact Enables the use of personal contact forms.
dba Directly administer your Drupal database.
drupal Lets users log in using a Drupal ID and can notify a central server about your site.
filter Handles the filtering of content in preparation for display. required
flexinode Allows administrators to define their own content types.
folksonomy Enable tag based categorization.
forum Tillater trådede diskusjoner
help Håndterer visningen av hjelpesystemet
image Allows uploading of images and creating image galleries.
invite Allows users to send GMail style invitations, and automatically escalates new users who use them to a role of your designation

Module developers working in Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) might be interested in the Dashboard widget I cobbled together for searching the DrupalDocs API reference. I put it together as a learning exercise, but you might find it useful for quick function lookup. Enjoy!

hi

I am new to drupal and I try to build a page for my sports club. After themeing and building a plan I am no looking into module development to build some special node types as a team module.

This team module should contain teams and players that belong to a team. I would like to add a picture to each, the team and to all players. That is where I need suggestions from experienced drupal guys: Shall I use the existing image module or should I implement everything by my own? If I should use the image module, what is the best way to accomplish this?

Hi!

I would like to ask whether has anybody already implemented this features?
Because than I won't put effort making them :)

To be clear and clarify what I'm missing: