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Code & Development

An introduction to Gearman

Giuseppe Maxia 14 June 2010
Type:  Not planned session

Gearman is a distributed client/server system that works across different operating systems, with different programming languages, in a scalable and fault-tolerant mode.
Add to it that it is incredibly easy to use, and you will wonder why you haven't used it yet.

In the age of ubiquitous connectivity, distributed servers have become
readily available and usable. Gearman, a friendly infrastructure for
distributed tasks, gives developers and DBAs a large degree of flexibility
in their applications. Using Gearman, developers can access libraries
written in multiple languages, even if they are different from the ones
used in their main application. DBAs will benefit from Gearman in their
daily tasks, by accessing external features from within the database server
itself. This session introduces Gearman principles and shows some simple

Blaming the unknown - constructive approach to technology

Giuseppe Maxia 14 June 2010
Type:  Not planned session

Did something go wrong with your coding recently? And where did you put the blame when that happened? If you missed the target, you may want to learn what Mozart, Perl, PHP, MySQL, and Java have in common.

If you don't know them, they will hurt you. No matter how expert you are, there are holes in your knowledge, and when things go wrong you usually blame what you know the least. So the culprit could be that database, the regular expression engine, the XML parser, the thread engine. What if the problem is between the chair and the keyboard instead?
This talk will give you some general insight on the art of software development, encouraging users to rant less and improve their own practice.

Debugging Drupal: Hands-on techniques

Randy Fay 12 June 2010
Type:  Session in official program

(Here is the presentation)
[Update: Several people asked for a writeup on how to run a catchall Apache virtualhost]

Debugging is fun and profitable if you have the right strategies, techniques, and tools in hand. Successful debugging includes strategies that will make you successful, techniques that let you pinpoint the problem, and tools that make you productive.This session will cover all three, and then as a bonus will show you how to set up the free Eclipse IDE for step debugging in Drupal on any platform.

(Here is the presentation)
[Update: Several people asked for a writeup on how to run a catchall Apache virtualhost]

There are bugs in every piece of software, and Drupal is no exception, and your site is no exception either. You just have to be prepared to deal with the bugs. Learn effective strategies to approach them, handy techniques to find them, and get your tools set up and mastered.

Drupal 7 Dynamic Forms with AJAX and #states

Randy Fay 12 June 2010
Type:  Not planned session

Drupal 7 has vastly improved dynamic forms capability, and oh-so-much easier for the developer.
This session will enable you to use dynamic AJAX forms (which allow parts of the form to be rebuilt without a page load, giving your visitors an improved experience) and the new #states feature, which allows parts of a form to be shown/hidden/changed based on other parts.

Drupal 7 has vastly improved dynamic forms capability, and oh-so-much easier for the developer.

This session will enable you to use dynamic AJAX forms (which allow parts of the form to be rebuilt without a page load, giving your visitors an improved experience), and the new #states feature, which allows parts of a form to be shown/hidden/changed based on other parts.

Who is this for? Any developer who wants to build forms using the From API. This will be accessible to anybody who has ever seen the Drupal Form API, and there is no Javascript involved at all.

This will cover:

Code Your First Module

Type:  Not planned session

Yes, you can! We'll learn the basics of module development and create a simple example.

Yes, you can! With three basic files, a clever module name, and a basic understanding of Drupal hooks, we'll create a simple module. If you know what a PHP variable and function is but have never done custom Drupal development - this session is for you. We'll cover the most important thing to know: where to look it up!

We may cover (depending on time and how much fun we are having):

  • The 3 basic files
  • A few basic hooks
  • Handy function calls you'll use often
  • A database query
  • Forms
  • A few fun facts and a pop quiz

PHP for NonProgrammers

Type:  Not planned session

A fun, friendly programming introduction for people new to coding

This is a friendly programming introduction for people new to coding. We'll take a "Physics for Poets" approach to basic PHP concepts like variables, conditionals, and functions. You'll write a little bit of code, speak a little geek, laugh a little, and start down the addictive path of programming logic.

We'll cover:

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  • Variables ($variable = where I store my stuff)
  • Boolean logic (you can either eat cake OR eat cookies but you must run AND lift weights)
  • Conditional statements (if this is true, do that, else, do something else)
  • Drippic - A Twitpic clone built in Drupal

    Tim Millwood 9 June 2010
    Type:  Not planned session

    A few months ago I had the crazy idea of trying to clone Twitpic using Drupal. This then turned into Drippic.

    Drippic using oAuth to authenticate against Twitter, then allows the upload of photos via drippic.com, API, and email. The API has been built to support 'Twitter for iPhone' allowing posting to Drippic from the app.

    This session will look at how the drippic module was created, how it works and how to use it.

    Including:
    - Setting up CCK, filefield and image field.
    - Setting up oAuth.
    - Setting up Views
    - Creating nodes with images programatically
    - Creating nodes from emails
    - Creating short URLs
    - Posting to Twitter
    - Linking node comments to Twitter

    Please goto http://drippic.com, sign up, and have a play.

    Autosite: A minimal approach to Drupal mass hosting

    Olav Schettler 9 June 2010
    Type:  Not planned session

    Drupal 7 has two very exciting features for mass self-service hosting of small Drupal sites: Support of SQLite and the sites/sites.php file. Combined with a sandboxed PHP, it is now possible to automatically and safely create full new Drupal sites without any kernel hacks. This talk introduces the autosite module that wraps this functionality for easy deployment.

    Drupal 7 has two very exciting features for mass self-service hosting of small Drupal sites: Support of SQLite and the sites/sites.php file. Combined with a sandboxed PHP, it is now possible to automatically and safely create full new Drupal sites without any kernel hacks. This talk introduces the autosite module that wraps this functionality for easy deployment.

    jQuery: Small Library, big Effects

    Christophe 4 June 2010
    Type:  Session in official program

    Whether you want cool effects, fast interaction, lively pages or last minute information via Ajax calls: you'll need JQuery to get it done.
    But... how does it work? This will give you an introduction to the necessary tools and concepts.

    JQuery is a very useful little Javascript library that lets work magic into your html page in many ways. We will look into it in detail

    • What is JQuery?
    • Do I need this?
    • How to use it. Live demo building up from simple to complex plugins
    • DOM, CSS and JQuery: How to manipulate my page
    • How to use JQuery UI and other libraries
    • Integration in Drupal. What will change with Durpal 7?
    • Ajax or how to get things from the server without reloading the page
    • How to get useful Resources and Plugins

    Group (the new Organic groups) -- Building social networks in Drupal 7

    Amitai Burstein 3 June 2010
    Type:  Session in official program

    Organic groups has undergone a complete rewrite making it up to date with Drupal 7. The session will cover the differences between Group and Organic groups, and how Group is taking advantage of the field API.

    Organic groups has undergone a complete rewrite making it up to date with Drupal 7. The session will cover the differences between Group and Organic groups, and how Group is taking advantage of the field API.

    We will build a basic groups site without any coding.

    Later, for the benefit of module maintainers, we will build an example module that integrates with Group in order to learn how to use its API, this way attendees will have a better understanding on how to upgrade the OG modules from version 6.