What are the changes to Drupal 7 Theming VS Drupal 6? - templates

I've heard that Drupal 7 theming has been simplified, but couldn't find much resources on the internet about it.
I'm especially interested to learn what are the changes that boost productivity and efficiency for themers.
Since D7 is officially being launched, surely many more people will start asking this question too, so this is a good place to consolidate our knowledge of how to effectively and efficiently theme D7.
Thank you!

Some Drupal.org resources:
http://drupal.org/update/theme/6/7 changes from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 with regards to themes
http://drupal.org/node/948216 some procedural notes on going about updating themes

The most thorough resource I've seen is PingVision's A peek at Drupal 7 theme system changes post.
You may also want to check out the Drupal 7 Theming - what's new presentation and the DrupalEasy podcast interview with John Albin Wilkins, author of the theming chapter in the Drupal 7 Module Development book.

Related

Want to use Drupal 8 for new product

I want to built my new product on Drupal 8, But I am not able to make my mind to use it b'coz of below mentioned points.
Drupal 8 is still in beta version
Many major modules for example {Libraries API, Token, Pathauto, Date, IMCE }are still in dev version and many more vital modules are still dev version.
Frequently release of Core updates.
The product I am planning is not simple content side it will have lot of dynamic things in it and e-commerce too.
Why I am looking towards Drupal 8 is, It's many new promising features, such as, symphony in base, mobile first, and many other new concept they have bring in core and obviously its a new upgraded version of Drupal.
Please give your suggestion whether should I start it with Drupal 7 or Drupal 8
I would love to see answers from people who know Drupal better than me as well.
The only thing I would add is: please have in mind the pain and suffering moving from Drupal 7 to 8 later on. The changes between the 2 are drastic and it will be hard to change your mind once the site in online.

Beginner tutorial for Sitecore8 developer [closed]

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I come from an ASP.Net (no mvc knowledge) background and would like to learn Sitecore 8 development.
Looking for basic step-by-step tutorials to build a site. But its hard finding them online. Some are for lower versions and the official site has articles on individual topics.
Kindly point me to any such articles that will help me learn the basics of building a Site for Sitecore8.
Thank you.
UPDATE
Here is a tutorial I've written, which will help beginners learn Sitecore development, by building a sample website:
https://saltandsitecore.wordpress.com/2017/04/01/building-a-sitecore-website-with-mvc-part-1/
There is plenty of information regarding Sitecore in the internet for a quick start. I would recommend just few of them:
http://learnsitecore.cmsuniverse.net/
https://www.cmssource.co.uk/blog/2012/June/basic-sitecore-development-tutorial-part-1-introduction
https://sitecorebasics.wordpress.com/2011/05/13/basics-of-sitecore-for-beginner-developers/
You will need to understand how to create pages, how data templates work and presentation details like layouts and renderings and other fundamentals
https://doc.sitecore.net/sitecore%20experience%20platform/creating%20and%20editing%20items
https://www.cmssource.co.uk/blog/2012/June/basic-sitecore-development-tutorial-part-6-layout-and-sublayout-implementation
You will also need to find out some architecture basics about Sitecore, like content management and delivery servers and databases used for that (core, master, web). What is publishing and how it works, and why is it important.
http://learnsitecore.cmsuniverse.net/en/Editors/Articles/2009/07/PublishingAndVersioning.aspx
Also it would be very benefocious to understand Experience Editor (previously called Page Editor) and what are the particularities of creating pages to support it; as well as the advantages it brings to business users.
https://sdn.sitecore.net/upload/sitecore7/70/page_editor_recommended_practices_for_developers_70-a4.pdf
There are also some differences in MVC approach you need to understand before doing Sitecore with MVC. You need to understand View Renderings and Controller Renderings, as well as how the routing works in Sitecore MVC.
http://sitecore.unic.com/2015/06/24/the-sitecore-mvc-puzzle/
http://www.sitecore.net/learn/blogs/technical-blogs/john-west-sitecore-blog/posts/2015/02/how-is-sitecore-mvc-different-from-aspnet-mvc.aspx
http://www.sitecore.net/learn/blogs/business-blogs/technical-trends/posts/2012/06/mvc-and-sitecore-651-overview.aspx
There are other aspects of Sitecore you may need to understand: workflows, caching, indexing, pipelines, events, sitecore security model etc. Generally, speaking, the question you asked is to wide even to answer that by sharing the links. But those I quoted is enough to start
There are many YouTube channels that may be much more helpful for the beginner:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yytEQnJpF1I
https://www.youtube.com/user/mastersitecore
https://www.youtube.com/user/sitecoreceptraining
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQGtFA8Ud2Q&list=PL5QMcxdLbK7gGSTcPZJal2i5GHu1VHrl4
Also, if you budget allow that, you may consider to take official training courses - they are quite helpful for the beginners.
http://www.sitecore.net/services-and-support/training.aspx
The basics of building a Sitecore site are very similar from earlier versions of Sitecore. If you haven't been on the Sitecore training, I recommend doing that as it will teach you the main basics.
These are some good basic tutorials http://learnsitecore.cmsuniverse.net/en/GlobalNavigation/Sitecore-beginners-guide.aspx - although they are older, they are still valid.
Also the docs at https://doc.sitecore.net/sitecore%20experience%20platform can help you with Sitecore 8 details.

Can I start building my drupal 8 theme?

Is the Drupal 8 template engine ready for a new development?
I plan to use Drupal 8, and since I will start first with the design, I want to know if the template engine (I understand it uses Twig) will suffer significative changes that doesn't make it a good choice to start now.
Drupal 8 is currently in Beta 1, and according to the Beta 1 release notes:
Drupal 8 beta 1 for designers, translators, and documentation writers
Drupal 8's user interface, interface text, and markup are not
finalized until the first release candidate, so it's too early to
focus on user-facing documentation, translations, or themes (though by
all means, adventurous contributors should start now to provide
feedback while we can still fix things). Note that localize.drupal.org
does not yet support the full Drupal 8 API and does not have all
translatable strings.
https://www.drupal.org/drupal-8.0.0-beta1
Drupal 8 is now released. If you're looking for a couple of theming how-to overviews we've written a couple:
Custom Drupal 8 Theme + Sass, Singularity, Breakpoint, LiveReload and Gulp and Kickstarting with Drupal 8 themes.
Hope you find them helpful!

What it takes to be a ColdFusion Developer? [closed]

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I want to make my career in ColdFusion. I'm trying to learn ColdFusion with this Book "Adobe ColdFusion 9 Web Application Construction Kit, Volume 1 - Getting Started"
So far I've reached Page - 350.
Anyways. I want a serious suggestions for making career as a ColdFusion Developer.
I need answers to these questions: (What I was really asking)
1) How much time would it take to master ColdFusion?
2) What frameworks are best?
3) What other technologies are required with ColdFusion?
4) What are your personal experiences as a ColdFusion Developer?
EDIT:
I know little bit of php and Java and when I compare it to ColdFusion, then ColdFusion seems to be a billion times easier than php. It's not that I don't like php, but just saying.
As I have some experience with Java I think it can help me with ColdFusion Development.
I planned to learn a new language once I do average with ColdFusion Development. Like Objective C. I don't know whether ColdFusion and iOS Development is a nice combination or not.
Programming is both an art and a science. I suggest you will never "master" it, and you should take on a mindset of always learning and growing.
A framework is a tool. Use the right tool for the job. Frameworks like FW/1 and Coldbox, though completely different, each serve a purpose.
You should probably spend some time learning about the environments you will run in. Web servers like Apache, Nginx, and IIS. ColdFusion runs on Java, so it wouldn't hurt to learn more about Java as a language, as well as Java EE servers like Tomcat, etc...
I make a living as a full time ColdFusion and .NET developer. CF doesn't always have a stellar reputation, but it can do job very well like most other web-based languages.
I would advice you never limit yourself to just one language/stack/OS/technology. Seeking out other perspectives only enhances your experience and ability.
I was able to create useful things in one day. (Thank you cfinclude). After 15 years, I am still mastering it. ColdFusion is a part of a technology stack. One does not learn ColdFusion on its own. It is ColdFusion + HTML, ColdFusion + SQL, ColdFusion + jQuery, ColdFusion + Java. Some of the more interesting recent (July 2013) work I have seen is ColdFusion + angular.js.
FW/1 works great for me
See 1 above. In 2013, the place where ColdFusion shines, is it can bring very diverse technologies together in a clean format.
This ColdFusion developer has had to deal with "Isn't ColdFusion dead?" for many, many years. At one time ColdFusion pushed the envelope in what was possible. Today, it doesn't. In many ways it is dead. Sure, Adobe is maintaining it. Railo is working on a very good clone. The momentum is not there.
In response to
3) What other technologies are required with ColdFusion?
A typical ColdFusion application will include a database. Learn data modelling. It's the most important piece of the puzzle. A good database design will make everything else so much easier. To this end, I've heard good things about the book, Database Design for Mere Mortals.
SQL is also important. If your applications include a database you will have to write queries. I've also heard good things about the book, Teach Yourself SQL in 10 minutes, by Ben Forta, who also wrote your WACK.
A typical ColdFusion application will include web pages. Learn html, javascript, and css.
Good luck.
It very much depends what type of work you want to do.
If you want to build websites then cf is not the best solution as it lacks just about everything in thia area fue to lack of open source apps and creates more work for you as a result compared to php, you would be better off mastering the popular cms and open source systems and things like jQuery, css, bootstrsp etc.
If you want to build bespoke applications and work on backend systems then cf is perfect for that type of work as you are builfing something from scratch so cf still gives you the RAD advantage.
If you like cf then you should Also should take a look at groovy, grails and railo.
I would suggest you look at what jobs are available in you area first before making a decision.
The other technologies you should learn depends again on what you want to do, front or backend.
At the very least ajax, jquery, sql, html and css need to be learnt, you can't do much webvwork without those.

Migrating from ColdFusion MX7 to ColdFusion 9. Any issues?

I'm planning a migration on a server from ColdFusion MX7 to ColdFusion 9. Does anyone know which steps I should take in order to achieve this without major issues? I can't find anything on the web that talks about this and I don't want to jump into this task without knowing what I'm up against.
Any suggestions, link to articles, etc. would be very much appreciated.
Thank you!
By and large, Adobe (and Macromedia before them) have gone to great lengths to ensure backward compatibility where appropriate; so the rule of thumb is that you should be fine.
First and foremost, I would make use of ColdFusion's Code Compatibility Analyzer. It is available as part of the free Developer Edition, if you want to check before upgrading.
You can find it in the ColdFusion Administrator, in the Debugging & Logging section, as "Code Analyzer".
As it says on that page:
The Code Compatibility Analyzer helps migrate your applications to ColdFusion from earlier versions of ColdFusion.
The Code Compatibility Analyzer reviews the CFML pages that you specify and informs you of any potential compatibility issues. It detects unsupported and deprecated CFML features, and outlines the required implementation changes that ensure a smooth migration.
If the Analyzer doesn't find any issues, I would then encourage you to install the developer edition and run your unit tests. (You have unit tests, right?)
If you don't have unit tests, your only other option is just to test everything manually. Good luck!
One final approach is to read the release notes for versions 8 and 9, as well as the 8.1 and 9.1 point-releases. Adobe and Macromedia were meticulous about documenting precisely what changed, which should prove helpful for you. The release notes are available as PDF for both versions 8 and 9 from Adobe.
We've just recently completed the exact same upgrade, going from CF 7 to CF 9. We didn't encounter any major issues even with old application dating back to CF 5.
As Adam pointed out the Code Compatibility Analyzer is great to find potential issues such as new signatures for existing functions or scoping problem with the new local scope.
You don't want any errors as those as sure to break with CF 9, after fixing the errors you should be left with a bunch of warnings, check them to make sure it will still do what you intended. You should not ignore them and make sure you understand the implication of ignoring one.
This page by Josh Adam's http://blog.joshuaadams.com/index.cfm/2008/9/4/Upgrading-from-ColdFusion-MX-to-ColdFusion-8 has a lot of good resource on upgrading CF in general. It's for CF 7 to CF 8 but most of it still applies to CF 9.
Before starting, the most important step of all would be to backup everything. You'll want a quick way to go back to CF 7 if you ever need to so you should have a copy of the unmodified code, configurations and CFusionMX/jRun directory. I just ended up ghosting the machine in case.