Module development and code questions

Ive looked around the site, read documents, ect. Still can't find a simple answer to my questions.

What is a node?

How do you get a certain function executed in code? I see all the name_hook commands and what not, but how does that get called? IE: What does http://drupal.org/project/issues/3202 cause to execute?

Has anybody thought of doing (better still DONE!) an SSL version of the bits that handle logging in and updating user information?

I've checked in a new contrib field for the flexinode module to handle the upload of Mp3 files (available in CVS). It builds on the functionality of the file field by doing the following additional tasks:
1) reads ID3 tag information and stores it in the flexinode for output (playing time, track name, bitrate, artist etc.)
2) creates an m3u file that references the mp3.
3) creates a download link and a streaming link when the node is displayed. The download link simply points to the mp3. The streaming link loads the m3u which in turn points to the mp3. This allows the music to start playing before the entire mp3 has been downloaded. It also makes it a slight bit harder for people to simply copy your mp3.

The filed is dependent on external libraries that you will have to install if you have the mp3 field in your flexinode directory. Here are the installation instructions with the external libs:

The mp3 field is dependent on the getid3 project from Sourceforge:
http://getid3.sourceforge.net/

download the scripts and put them in modules/flexinode/getid3
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=55859&package_id=6...

get the helper applications (for Windows) and put them in modules/flexinode/helperapps
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=55859&package_id=1...

place the field_mp3.inc file in the flexinode directory.

Here is a list of things that still need to get done:

I've looked around and I've seen all that people have said in regards to PHPbb. First things first, in my opinion it is far superior to the Drupal forum. The look and feal of the Drupal forum is just not condusive to communication. I get in and look at posts and it just looks so confusing, no order. Even if you like the feel of Drupal, PHPbb has many more features mainly because it is JUST a forum, where Drupal is more of a CMS. I'll admit that I really like the way that Drupal itself looks great, far easier to use than PHPnuke, and I like that it isn't bloated.

The flexinode README states "Alternately, you can override the theme_flexinode_* functions to change
the look of all fields of a certain type.". Is there a code example available for doing this in xtemplate?

thanks,

Robert Douglass

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visit me at http://www.robshouse.net

I've updated my CVS installment to include the flexinode field_file.inc commit http://drupal.org/cvs?commit=5205 from Bèr / JonBob, but still cannot upload files. The file gets transferred to the temp folder but never makes it to the files folder. Are other people having success with this?

-Robert Douglass
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visit me at http://www.robshouse.net