Pro Drupal Development

Read the title carefully. If you are not a developer, a PHP programmer with solid MySQL background this is not your book. If you want to know how to extend Drupal with your own modules or contribute to the core project then get it and be happy.

I am a fan of Apress books in general, and this superb primer is no exception. VanDyk and Westgate have provided the Drupal community with exactly the book we needed: a concise but thorough explication of how Drupal works, oriented towards the working developer. Drupal's online documentation is vast but sometimes difficult to navigate. Pro Drupal Development explains the system from the ground up, starting with a system overview and then working logically through key components. Users, nodes, blocks, theming, the Form API, custom modules, sessions, jQuery, best coding practices -- it's all here, with the concepts explained in clear language using relevant code examples. Security tips and warnings about common mistakes will save time and developer angst. The many reference links guided me to several sections of the online documentation I hadn't found. And there's a lot for the team player in this book, too: tips on how to customize themes to make your designers' lives easier, for example. The book explains but doesn't belabor. The jQuery chapter, for example, is short and sweet, giving you a taste of what's possible and then pointing you to the online documentation. These guys know what you need know if you're going to be an effective and efficient Drupal developer; the result is a lean text that gets you up and running quickly. You could learn most, if not all, of what Pro Drupal Development presents by going to the online documentation, but it would take a whole lot longer and not be nearly as pleasant to learn. My copy is already well-thumbed, and is proving to be a useful daily reference in addition to a good, readable primer. Highly recommended for anyone involved with or interested in Drupal, and a reference shelf essential for working Drupal developers.

If you are looking for a "this is how up install and run Drupal, these are the modules that are available" look elsewhere (the Drupal site, for instance) - this book is about writing Drupal modules how Drupal works internally. But, if you are an aspiring Drupal module writer or just want to better understand how Drupal works internally or want to be able to tinker with existing modules you CANNOT go wrong with this book. It is very detailed, is incredibly well laid out and written. The examples are spot on. Very easy to understand and teaches you an incredible amount. I'm reading it cover to cover. I am about half way through and I couldn't be happier. It has answered pretty much every question I had about developing Drupal modules and extending existing functionality. I found some of the tutorials on the Drupal web site lacking in detail, this book IS the detail I was looking for. It covers Drupal 5.0.

Great information for PHP developers who are new to Drupal. This is the book to get when you've decided you need to write your own module (or fix someone else's contributed module...) but can't quite get enough information in one place to figure out how to get started. It mostly covers module development, but there's good information on theming, too, including a basic step-by-step on converting an existing HTML/CSS layout to a Drupal theme.

A top-notch guide to the complexities of Drupal's APIs and development philosophy. Both Matt and John have been active members of the Drupal core development community since the early days, and their understanding of the system's breadth and depth is obvious. When consulting or training new Drupal developers, this is the book I point them to.