admin | Developer of Toronto's Open Source Web

18th May2012

Should you use WordPress or Drupal? WordPress 3 vs Drupal 7

by admin

I have written an article on this subject before (Should you use WordPress or Drupal?), that was in January of 2010, now as you know a year and a half in web technologies is an eternity, back then no one (ok almost no one ), would dare to say that WordPress is a functional CMS, and very few would use Drupal for a basic blog. Since then, both systems evolved and released major version upgrade releases, to say the least, some things have changed! And that i believe warrants a rewrite on this subject, that every web developer faces from time to time, should i choose the simplicity of WordPress or extendability and ease of development of Drupal (albeit a steeper learning curve)?

Let’s start by looking what major changes were introduced in WordPress:
WordPress 3 moved away from being a blogging system, where the only types of content you could add were posts and pages to Content Management (CMS), where all of a sudden you could create Custom Post Types and Custom Taxonomies. They have claimed that they became a “full content management system” years ago, but until the 3.0 release it was more through the custom plugins and themes, and none of it in the core…
They also made the dashboard more sleek, added more hooks for developers added new default theme called Twenty Ten (Twenty Eleven was released since), new media drag and drop image uploader and made many improvements in the appearance area: custom menu’s, header and background are some visible ones…

what major changes were introduced in Drupal:

Improved administrative user interface
Flexible content and custom fields (CCK is now part of core)
Better theming with Render API
Basic Image support is now in the core
and many more small improvements here and there…

To summarize all of the above WordPress UI became even sleeker, but made some major steps as well to be more of a competitor to Drupal as a CMS, but they didn’t go far enough, if you want to add custom content types and fields you need a plugin (kind of CCK in Drupal 6). Where they totally are missing out though is having a free plugin (yes there is a paid views plugin) to generate the output of those custom posts, fields and taxonomies. Just imagine Drupal not having Views module!

Looking at the steps that Drupal took, while don’t bring it close to the sleekness of UI of WordPress, but they did finally realize that if they want to attract anyone without engineering degree in computer science they will need to focus on administrative interface UI, to make it simpler to use. A major aspect that Drupal is still missing is a well integrated WYSIWYG Editor with integrated Media Upload like WordPress. And yes i know it could be done through custom modules, but that would be the biggest step forward in this area that Drupal could make.

So, taking into account all of the above my answer is not so much different from what it was a year and a half ago, Drupal UI is where WordPress was 5 Years ago, but at the same time WordPress CMS functionality is where Drupal was 5 years ago…

If you are a designer looking to create a blog or a corporate brochure-ware type of website pick WordPress i doubt you will regret it. If you are a Developer who needs a multifunctional site with e-commerce components, community components and / or forum and a blog etc. or just a lot of business logic that needs to process data behind the scenes you should pick Drupal. Anything in between – flip a coin! (suggested by Elie Kochman here ).

What is your process for deciding to use WordPress or Drupal?

Category : Blog, Drupal, WordPress

Tags : Blog software, Content management system, designer, e-commerce components, WYSIWYG Editor

0 Comm

05th May2012

Another succesful client website launched

by admin

We have just Launched a WordPress based website. The name of the company is PaperBoat Creations, they create some amazing stuff.

Please Make sure to see these amazing wedding and baby stationery creations.

Category : Portfolio, WordPress

Tags : design, Stationery, WordPress

0 Comm

02nd May2012

Google’s biggest concern (part 2)

by admin

As promised here is part two of the article ( Google’s biggest concern part 1 )

The point we are making is the following, if Google were losing revenue attributable to their large operation, do you believe they’d have the time, energy or resources to sustain “shaking things up” in the organic results in the name of superior search quality?

Would they’ve time to shun infinite advertisers (because they jointly are not deserving the time to service equated to fortune 500 and upward business)? – I believe not.
Is Google’ Greatest Fear Competition or Complacency?

With Facebook (the social behemoth) and Apple (the mobile heavyweight) both conceiving getting into the search engine space, Google could possibly experience some severe rivalry ahead (dissimilar to Yahoo or Bing) and which indicates that…

Google biggest dread is:

1) they’ll get outdated for the favored organic search engine and lose their monopoly (and revenue).

2) Cost Per Click will fail to deliver (because organic search is no more “the cats meow” for dissatisfied users) and the organic hits userbase will decrease.

3) The curve will change (which is the most probable) entailing that Modern technologies, platforms, techniques and/or solutions will come forth and masses will just progress from typing keywords in to search engines and use alternate ways such as apps, HTML5 or other options to consume media or commerce delivered on demand.

The rhythm of rising innovation (from bulletin board system, to directories, to search engines) accompanied by user adjustment which at present approaches user complacency has already achieved the point of integration.

This entails that the cycle is mature for change and a fresh potential curve (like Apples Siri) or another alternatives to search could cause the former accomplishment to be outdated (for instance. Beepers, cassette records, videocassette recorder, the Yellow / White Pages).

Nevertheless, at the time (back in the day) hardly anyone was betting past the phase of user self-complacency and would still be utilising beepers, cassette – tape recording, VCR’s, etcetera. However new inventions and curves had took over them, instantly establishing them out-of-date.

Though most businesspeople did not acknowledge (or worry) what a search engine was a decade ago, fast forward a decade and they might not even be able to recall.

Remember, the marketplace is erratic and here today, lost tomorrow can take place quicker with the acceleration of communication and Modern nascent technologies.

The Take Away:

1) The actual information in Google’s index that they endeavor to police and impose doesn’t belong to them, it belongs to the other people (those who composed and published it) and the World Wide Web as a whole who are kind sufficiency to share. Google doesn’t produce the articles in their index, you do, and how you advertise is to be decided by you.

2) The internet is greater than Google and you adjudicate Google’s destiny every time you search on their program or prefer a different search engine you draw your vote. There are 1000s of traffic funnels to bring visitors to your sites apart of search engines (look into them for viability to your business sector).

3) Google ordering people to parachute through hoops (in fearfulness from a page-rank penalty or removal from their index) is a Pandora’s Box they had better leave alone (or they could be left alone on the next coming forth exit by those very same censored/punished users).

In closing, Google’s most avid dread is you not utilizing Google search and although their business model is magnificent, they are the most prosperous business in the history to turn a profit by (1) utilizing data produced by other sites thru crawling and indexing technique (2) create an integrated advertising framework as a supplement to their organic search results and (3) being paid to direct visitors out from their own web site as a influential go-between – this model, put plainly, bears its restrictions, especially, whenever some of the aforesaid metrics vary, (like Google being forced to get a permit to crawl your content).

Luckily for us (based on former experience), we recognize that consumers are erratic and at whatsoever time they could opt-out and patronize different sites which deliver more affectionate, functional or curb appealing than Google. Google started as merely an internet site and can possibly be cut back thereto if masses decide not to use them.

This implies you, the users guard the key to just how much might or dominance you want to tolerate them to hold over you or your company.

Please share your opinions below in the comment section…

Category : Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Tags : Bing, bulletin board system, Facebook, favored organic search engine, Google, integrated advertising framework, Internet search engines, organic search results, World Wide Web, Yahoo

0 Comm

01st May2012

Google’s biggest concern (part 1)

by admin

With thousands of website owners, web developers and associates expending millions of dollars on search engine optimization and infinite hours exhausted optimizing their sites (simply to bear Google organic search results reorganized or altogether taken away due to vacillating repositions from new algorithm modifications) is truly producing notions of anger, defeat and contempt.

As if managing a business was not difficult enough, business proprietors are nowadays pressured to address with the ascending and descend of Google search results (recognizing that at any time apart of pitiless rivals targeting their most desired positions that a new algorithm alteration could come along and possibly brush entirely progress under the carpet) without notice.

The sole answer is to either (1) adapt or (2) broaden your traffic generators to become not as much addicted to any source of visitors, yet, most are either reluctant or incognizant of their alternatives.

For big or little business likewise confronted with budget items, cash flow and rivalry; adapting or excessively hinging upon any one traffic source (Google) isn’t a feasible answer for producing long-run constancy.

Confronted with wild wobbles in rankings and either carrying record revenues or red ink based on where you rank constitutes a type of traffic-dependency. That addiction could be ablactated and substituted if those aforementioned business proprietors took their seo or cpc budget to other feasible search engines and / or traffic generators to funnel traffic.

Objectively, it is time to examine affairs for what they actually; the reality that Google (not astonishingly) constitutes a business model prompted by earnings. In spite of the “do not be evil” slogan which formerly brandished a blind eye by most, with recent allegations of privacy concerns, modifications in Adwords policies (which left over thousands prohibited without any accountability) and the never-ending organic search algorithm shuffling, at some point in time users will come to terms on this and act consequently (and disregard Google).

The Pervasive menace of Google penalizations

Lately Google advised untold numbers of webmasters that they were in violation of their conditions of service because of unnatural link activity. Unnecessary to say, the concern of loss comprises an eminent incentive. Once masses are ordered to conform, most will to avoid breaking the stream of the status quo.

Still, the audaciousness that webmasters had better follow the terms of service agreement (considering they did not choose to opt in originally) based upon Google’s limitation on checking the value of the link chart (paid link, deliberate link, unintentional link, etcetera.) is ludicrous. It’s not as if anybody in their index ever accepted a request inquiring whether it was all right to crawl their website and include them in their index?

Does CNN, New York Times, USA today or different large websites add rel=”nofollow” tags to all outgoing links or risk being delisted? Nah, they don’t… and so how come should you be expected to?

The reality is that sites with that much of dominance plainly do not need Google (since they already have an established trade name) and users will visit directly their website rather than utilizing Google as a go-between (which is fundamentally what they are).

And how “relevant” would Google look if a user searched for CNN in Google and could not see CNN (or whatever prominent brand name for that matter), which makes brands in essence insusceptible to being banished from their search results.

Nevertheless, for small businesses, enterprises, affiliates and other people constrained to compete day-after-day in Google to funnel traffic to expand and exist are perpetually pummeled through the obscure conditions of service which basically means you can’t advertise your website (unless it has been done fitting in to Google’s promotional policy).
Google’s position on Links is Dated

The last time I looked links weren’t solely contrived to falsify PR (Page Rank), links are just links, it is merely how a person moves from page to page and site to internet site. Just as freedom of speech exists, the freedom to link to who you wish as you wish exists in the same vein.

The only difference is intent and links are either designed to deliver visitors from Page A to Page B or to advertise – it is that uncomplicated. And citizenry is going to advertise their commercial enterprise from necessity in order to make some earnings so, I do not see links disappearing any time presently, so, Google you will apparently have to conform (and stop penalizing website owners /web developers / web designers) or they’ll merely march on to different traffic funnels…

(Part 2 to be published tomorrow)

Category : Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Tags : AdWords, Google, Internet marketing, Nofollow, organic search results, PageRank, search engine optimization, search results

0 Comm

22nd Mar2012

Newsletter subscription in CIVICRM 4 – Drupal 7 combo

by admin

LeviaIT recently got me working on a very exciting project, modifying CIVICRM – Drupal combo to work for a certain niche market. And while i heard and read about CIVICRM before this was the first time working with it. And while everyone talks about CIVICRM and Drupal working nicely together, that it up to the point of them actually “working” together…

So one of the issues i came upon was lack of subscription form for the newsletter module built in in the CIVICRM. The inherent issue was more then just a missing form for integration, since CIVICRM newsletter module is meant to track who you send the newsletters to and what happens after that… that means that if anonymous user wants to signup to the newsletter, he would / should force him to fill out the full registration form first, which would be doable, but really annoying. So i wanted to share our solution:

Add a custom field in user, with a yes / no selection (could be done by going to yoursite.com/civicrm/admin/custom/group?reset=1 )
Next step is to create a smart group (smart groups automatically add users to a group based on a search criteria), based on if the value for “Receive the Newsletter” is “Yes”.
Create a new webform with an email field. (check what the webform id is you will need it for the next step)
wright a custom drupal module to do the rest of the magic. (explained below)

Now lets get to the module part:

As usual the first step is to create the hooks.info file:

name = Hooks
description = Implement CiviCRM and Drupal hooks specific to hineni
package = CiviCRM
dependencies[] = civicrm
dependencies[] = webform
core = 7.x
version = 0.1

name = Hooks

description = Implement CiviCRM and Drupal hooks specific to hineni

package = CiviCRM

dependencies[] = civicrm

dependencies[] = webform

core = 7.x

version = 0.1

Next is the hooks.module file:

<!--?php</p-->

/**
* Implementation of hook_form_alter().
*/
function hooks_form_alter(&amp;$form, &amp;$form_state, $form_id) {
// Add validation for a particular Webform node:
if ($form_id == 'webform_client_form_8') {
// Add the submit handler after the existing Webform submit handler,
// but before the second Webform handler. Pop off the first one and add
// ours second.
$first = array_shift($form['#submit']);
array_unshift($form['#submit'], $first, 'hooks_submit_8');
}
}

/**
* Submit handler for Webform ID #8.
*/
function hooks_submit_8(&amp;$form, &amp;$form_state) {
// Insert things into other database tables or modify properties.

$submitted_tree = $form_state['values']['submitted_tree'];
$submitted_email = $submitted_tree['e_mail'];

// see if user email already in table
$rs = db_query("SELECT contact_id
FROM 'civicrm_email'
WHERE 'contact_id' IS NOT NULL
AND 'email' LIKE '$submitted_email'");
$contact = $rs-&gt;fetchObject();
if($contact-&gt;contact_id != ''){ // if in table

// get account id
$account_id = $contact-&gt;contact_id;

// pull up subscription table
$subscrip_table = db_query("SELECT id,'entity_id','would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69'
FROM 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'
WHERE 'entity_id' = '$account_id'");
$subscription = $subscrip_table-&gt;fetchObject();
if($subscription-&gt;id == ""){
// if user not in table, add contact to subscriptions
db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'
('entity_id', 'would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69')
VALUES ('$account_id','1')");
}
elseif($subscription-&gt;id &gt; 0 &amp;&amp; $subscription-&gt;civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18 == 0){
// if is in table but not subscribed, enable subscription
db_query("UPDATE 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'
SET 'would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69'='1'
WHERE 'id' = '$subscription-&gt;id'");
}
}
else { // if not in table

// create empty contact, filling in 'email_greeting_display' temporarily with user's email
db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_contact'('contact_type','email_greeting_display') VALUES ('Individual','$submitted_email')");

// retrieving id of contact just created using email from 'email_greeting_display' column
$rs = db_query("SELECT id
FROM 'civicrm_contact'
WHERE 'email_greeting_display'
LIKE '$submitted_email'");
$contact = $rs-&gt;fetchObject();
$account_id = $contact-&gt;id;

// removed temporary storage of email address in 'email_greeting_display'
db_query("UPDATE 'civicrm_contact'
SET 'email_greeting_display' = NULL
WHERE 'id' = $account_id");

// add email address to email table
db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_email'('contact_id', 'email', 'is_primary')
VALUES ('$account_id','$submitted_email','1')");

// add contact to subscription table
db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'
('entity_id', 'would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69')
VALUES ('$account_id','1')");
}
}
?&gt;

/**

* Implementation of hook_form_alter().

function hooks_form_alter(&$form, &$form_state, $form_id) {

// Add validation for a particular Webform node:

if ($form_id == 'webform_client_form_8') {

// Add the submit handler after the existing Webform submit handler,

// but before the second Webform handler. Pop off the first one and add

// ours second.

$first = array_shift($form['#submit']);

array_unshift($form['#submit'], $first, 'hooks_submit_8');

}

/**

* Submit handler for Webform ID #8.

function hooks_submit_8(&$form, &$form_state) {

// Insert things into other database tables or modify properties.

$submitted_tree = $form_state['values']['submitted_tree'];

$submitted_email = $submitted_tree['e_mail'];

// see if user email already in table

$rs = db_query("SELECT contact_id

FROM 'civicrm_email'

WHERE 'contact_id' IS NOT NULL

AND 'email' LIKE '$submitted_email'");

$contact = $rs->fetchObject();

if($contact->contact_id != ''){ // if in table

// get account id

$account_id = $contact->contact_id;

// pull up subscription table

$subscrip_table = db_query("SELECT id,'entity_id','would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69'

FROM 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'

WHERE 'entity_id' = '$account_id'");

$subscription = $subscrip_table->fetchObject();

if($subscription->id == ""){

// if user not in table, add contact to subscriptions

db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'

('entity_id', 'would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69')

VALUES ('$account_id','1')");

}

elseif($subscription->id > 0 && $subscription->civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18 == 0){

// if is in table but not subscribed, enable subscription

db_query("UPDATE 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'

SET 'would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69'='1'

WHERE 'id' = '$subscription->id'");

}

else { // if not in table

// create empty contact, filling in 'email_greeting_display' temporarily with user's email

db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_contact'('contact_type','email_greeting_display') VALUES ('Individual','$submitted_email')");

// retrieving id of contact just created using email from 'email_greeting_display' column

$rs = db_query("SELECT id

FROM 'civicrm_contact'

WHERE 'email_greeting_display'

LIKE '$submitted_email'");

$contact = $rs->fetchObject();

$account_id = $contact->id;

// removed temporary storage of email address in 'email_greeting_display'

db_query("UPDATE 'civicrm_contact'

SET 'email_greeting_display' = NULL

WHERE 'id' = $account_id");

// add email address to email table

db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_email'('contact_id', 'email', 'is_primary')

VALUES ('$account_id','$submitted_email','1')");

// add contact to subscription table

db_query("INSERT INTO 'civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18'

('entity_id', 'would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69')

VALUES ('$account_id','1')");

}

Please be aware though that there is a couple of variables that you will need to find in your civicrm database and substitute those values in the code the list is as following:

Webform ID as mentioned above – in my example the is was “webform_client_form_8″
Look into database to find out the name of the table where the values for our custom nesletter field are stored – in our example the table name is “civicrm_value_subscribe_to_newsletter_18″
In the above table the last collumn will be called something like this – “would_you_like_to_receive_our_ne_69″

Now all you need to do is substitute these values with values from your CIVICRM database, upload and activate the module. Your newsletter webform is ready!

Category : Blog, CiviCRM, Drupal, Drupal, Modules, Portfolio

Tags : CiviCRM, Content management systems, Drupal, HTML element, mysql, newsletter signup form, non for profit, Open source, SQL, webform

6 Comm

29th Feb2012

Drupal Archive Tree Module

by admin

If you ever needed to create a blog fro your client running Drupal, you can’t help to wish certain aspects of WordPress would be part of Drupal. Undeniably one of those items is archive. Now granted WordPress has many widget extensions to make the archive look many different ways, the problem is, in Drupal there is no basic to base it on…

So recently i had a client who wanted to have an accordion archive tree for their website. they were using Drupal 7 and the previous developer after struggling with it for a while just gave up…

My first inclination was to just write it into the theme, but them mentioning that they plan to swap themes for different seasons, made this not sustainable solution. So i decided to create a custom PHP block, that way we could reuse it in any theme.

Archive Block

<?php

drupal_add_library('system', 'ui.accordion');
drupal_add_js('jQuery(document).ready(function(){jQuery("#archivetree").accordion({ active: "h3:last" });});', 'inline');

$result = db_query("SELECT DATE_FORMAT((DATE_ADD('19700101', INTERVAL node.created SECOND) + INTERVAL -18000 SECOND), '%Y%m') AS created_year_month, COUNT(node.nid) AS num_records
FROM 
{node} node
WHERE (( (node.status = '1') AND (node.type IN  ('blog')) ))
GROUP BY created_year_month
ORDER BY created_year_month ASC");


foreach ($result as $record) {
    
    $created_year_month = $record->created_year_month;
    $num_records = $record->num_records;
    $year =  substr($created_year_month, 0, 4);
    $month = substr($created_year_month, -2, 2);
    $month_name = date( 'F', mktime(0, 0, 0, $month) );
    
    $archive_tree[$year][$month] = array(
        'month'            => $month,
        'name'               => $month_name,
        'num_records'      => $num_records,
        'year'               => $year,
    );
}
$i_year = 0;
foreach ($archive_tree as $list_year) {
    if ($i_year == 0){
        $output = "<div id='archivetree'>\n";
        $i_year++;
    }

        $i_month = 0;
        foreach ($list_year as $list_month) {
            
            if ($i_month == 0){
                $output .= "<h3><a href='#'>";
                $output .= $list_month['year'];
                $output .= "</a></h3>\n";
                $output .= "<ul>\n";
                $i_month++;
            }

            $text = $list_month['name'];
            $text .= " (";
            $text .= $list_month['num_records'];
            $text .= ")";
            $path = "blog/archive/";
            $path .= $list_month['year'];
            $path .= "/";
            $path .= $list_month['month'];
            $link = l($text,$path);
            $output .= "<li>$link</li>\n";            
        }
        $output .= "</ul>\n";

}
        $output .= "</div>\n";
print $output;
            
?>

<?php

drupal_add_library('system', 'ui.accordion');

drupal_add_js('jQuery(document).ready(function(){jQuery("#archivetree").accordion({ active: "h3:last" });});', 'inline');

$result = db_query("SELECT DATE_FORMAT((DATE_ADD('19700101', INTERVAL node.created SECOND) + INTERVAL -18000 SECOND), '%Y%m') AS created_year_month, COUNT(node.nid) AS num_records

FROM

{node} node

WHERE (( (node.status = '1') AND (node.type IN ('blog')) ))

GROUP BY created_year_month

ORDER BY created_year_month ASC");

foreach ($result as $record) {

$created_year_month = $record->created_year_month;

$num_records = $record->num_records;

$year = substr($created_year_month, 0, 4);

$month = substr($created_year_month, -2, 2);

$month_name = date( 'F', mktime(0, 0, 0, $month) );

$archive_tree[$year][$month] = array(

'month' => $month,

'name' => $month_name,

'num_records' => $num_records,

'year' => $year,

);

}

$i_year = 0;

foreach ($archive_tree as $list_year) {

if ($i_year == 0){

$output = "<div id='archivetree'>\n";

$i_year++;

}

$i_month = 0;

foreach ($list_year as $list_month) {

if ($i_month == 0){

$output .= "<h3><a href='#'>";

$output .= $list_month['year'];

$output .= "</a></h3>\n";

$output .= "<ul>\n";

$i_month++;

}

$text = $list_month['name'];

$text .= " (";

$text .= $list_month['num_records'];

$text .= ")";

$path = "blog/archive/";

$path .= $list_month['year'];

$path .= "/";

$path .= $list_month['month'];

$link = l($text,$path);

$output .= "<li>$link</li>\n";

}

$output .= "</ul>\n";

}

$output .= "</div>\n";

print $output;

As you could see from the code we are using the ui.accordion from the jQuery UI which since Drupal 7 release is being included in the core.

Then my curiosity coupled with the fact that i had few more similar projects lined up won me over. I wanted to see if i could make it into Drupal module.

And “surprise” i have created the module learning few things along the way and breaking some drupal rules along the way… So here is how i have done it:

Step 1: create .info file, here is mine: (archive_accordion.info)

name = Archive Accordion
description = Archive Accordion will give you a new block for the blog content type.
package = User interface
core = 7.x
dependencies[] = block
dependencies[] = views

name = Archive Accordion

description = Archive Accordion will give you a new block for the blog content type.

package = User interface

core = 7.x

dependencies[] = block

dependencies[] = views

Step 2: Now that info file is created lets create the module file:(archive_accordion.module)

<?php

/**
 * @file
 * Archive Accordion will give you a new block for the blog content type.
 */
 
 
 /**
 * Implements hook_help.
 *
 * Displays help and module information.
 *
 * @param path 
 *   Which path of the site we're using to display help
 * @param arg 
 *   Array that holds the current path as returned from arg() function
 */
function archive_accordion_help($path, $arg) {
  switch ($path) {
    case "admin/help#archive_accordion":
      return '<p>'.  t("Archive Accordion will give you a new block for the blog content type") .'</p>';
      break;
  }
} 

/**
 * Implements hook_block_info().
 */
function archive_accordion_block_info() {
  $blocks['archive_accordion'] = array(
    'info' => t('Archive Accordion'), //The name that will appear in the block list.
    'cache' => DRUPAL_CACHE_PER_ROLE, //Default
  );
  return $blocks;
}

/**
 * Custom content function. 
 * 
 * @return 
 *   A result set of the targeted posts.
 */
function archive_accordion_contents(){
  
  //Later fix Use Database API to retrieve current posts.
  /*
  $query = db_select('node', 'n')
    ->fields('n', array('nid', 'title', 'created'))
    ->condition('status', 1) //Published.
    ->condition('created', array($start_time, $end_time), 'BETWEEN')
    ->orderBy('created', 'DESC') //Most recent first.
    ->execute(); 
  return $query;  
  */
  $result = db_query("SELECT DATE_FORMAT((DATE_ADD('19700101', INTERVAL node.created SECOND) + INTERVAL -18000 SECOND), '%Y%m') AS created_year_month, COUNT(node.nid) AS num_records
    FROM 
    {node} node
    WHERE (( (node.status = '1') AND (node.type IN  ('blog')) ))
    GROUP BY created_year_month
    ORDER BY created_year_month DESC");
    
    return $result;
}

/**
 * Implements hook_block_view().
 * 
 * Prepares the contents of the block.
 */
function archive_accordion_block_view($delta = '') {
  switch($delta){
    case 'archive_accordion':
      $block['subject'] = t('Archive Accordion');
      if(user_access('access content')){
        //Use our custom function to retrieve data.
        $result = archive_accordion_contents();
        //Array to contain items for the block to render.
        $items = array();
        //Iterate over the resultset and format as links.
        foreach ($result as $record) {
    
    $created_year_month = $record->created_year_month;
    $num_records = $record->num_records;
    $year =  substr($created_year_month, 0, 4);
    $month = substr($created_year_month, -2, 2);
    $month_name = date( 'F', mktime(0, 0, 0, $month) );
    
    $archive_tree[$year][$month] = array(
        'month'            => $month,
        'name'               => $month_name,
        'num_records'      => $num_records,
        'year'               => $year,
    );
}
$i_year = 0;
foreach ($archive_tree as $list_year) {
    if ($i_year == 0){
        $output = "<div id='archivetree1'>\n";
        $i_year++;
    }

        $i_month = 0;
        foreach ($list_year as $list_month) {
            
            if ($i_month == 0){
                $output .= "<h3><a href='#'>";
                $output .= $list_month['year'];
                $output .= "</a></h3>\n";
                $output .= "<ul>\n";
                $i_month++;
            }

            $text = $list_month['name'];
            $text .= " (";
            $text .= $list_month['num_records'];
            $text .= ")";
            $path = "blog/archive/";
            $path .= $list_month['year'];
            $path .= "/";
            $path .= $list_month['month'];
            $link = l($text,$path);
            $output .= "<li>$link</li>\n";            
        }
        $output .= "</ul>\n";

}
        $output .= "</div>\n";
      
        if (empty($archive_tree)) { //No content.
          $block['content'] = t('No posts available.');  
        } 
        else {
          //need to fix to Pass data through theme function.
          $block['content'] = $output;
        }
      }
  }
  $build['myelement']['#attached']['library'][] = array('system', 'ui.accordion');
  $build['myelement']['#attached']['js'][] = array('data' => '(function($){$(function() { $("#archivetree1").accordion({ active: "h3:first" }); })})(jQuery);', 'type' => 'inline');
  $output .= drupal_render($build);
  return $block; 
}

/**
 * Implementation of hook_views_api().
*/
function archive_accordion_views_api() {
  return array(
    'api' => 3.0,
  );  
}

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<?php

/**

* @file

* Archive Accordion will give you a new block for the blog content type.

/**

* Implements hook_help.

* Displays help and module information.

* @param path

* Which path of the site we're using to display help

* @param arg

* Array that holds the current path as returned from arg() function

function archive_accordion_help($path, $arg) {

switch ($path) {

case "admin/help#archive_accordion":

return '<p>'. t("Archive Accordion will give you a new block for the blog content type") .'</p>';

break;

}

/**

* Implements hook_block_info().

function archive_accordion_block_info() {

$blocks['archive_accordion'] = array(

'info' => t('Archive Accordion'), //The name that will appear in the block list.

'cache' => DRUPAL_CACHE_PER_ROLE, //Default

);

return $blocks;

}

/**

* Custom content function.

* @return

* A result set of the targeted posts.

function archive_accordion_contents(){

//Later fix Use Database API to retrieve current posts.

$query = db_select('node', 'n')

->fields('n', array('nid', 'title', 'created'))

->condition('status', 1) //Published.

->condition('created', array($start_time, $end_time), 'BETWEEN')

->orderBy('created', 'DESC') //Most recent first.

->execute();

return $query;

$result = db_query("SELECT DATE_FORMAT((DATE_ADD('19700101', INTERVAL node.created SECOND) + INTERVAL -18000 SECOND), '%Y%m') AS created_year_month, COUNT(node.nid) AS num_records

FROM

{node} node

WHERE (( (node.status = '1') AND (node.type IN ('blog')) ))

GROUP BY created_year_month

ORDER BY created_year_month DESC");

return $result;

}

/**

* Implements hook_block_view().

* Prepares the contents of the block.

function archive_accordion_block_view($delta = '') {

switch($delta){

case 'archive_accordion':

$block['subject'] = t('Archive Accordion');

if(user_access('access content')){

//Use our custom function to retrieve data.

$result = archive_accordion_contents();

//Array to contain items for the block to render.

$items = array();

//Iterate over the resultset and format as links.

foreach ($result as $record) {

$created_year_month = $record->created_year_month;

$num_records = $record->num_records;

$year = substr($created_year_month, 0, 4);

$month = substr($created_year_month, -2, 2);

$month_name = date( 'F', mktime(0, 0, 0, $month) );

$archive_tree[$year][$month] = array(

'month' => $month,

'name' => $month_name,

'num_records' => $num_records,

'year' => $year,

);

}

$i_year = 0;

foreach ($archive_tree as $list_year) {

if ($i_year == 0){

$output = "<div id='archivetree1'>\n";

$i_year++;

}

$i_month = 0;

foreach ($list_year as $list_month) {

if ($i_month == 0){

$output .= "<h3><a href='#'>";

$output .= $list_month['year'];

$output .= "</a></h3>\n";

$output .= "<ul>\n";

$i_month++;

}

$text = $list_month['name'];

$text .= " (";

$text .= $list_month['num_records'];

$text .= ")";

$path = "blog/archive/";

$path .= $list_month['year'];

$path .= "/";

$path .= $list_month['month'];

$link = l($text,$path);

$output .= "<li>$link</li>\n";

}

$output .= "</ul>\n";

}

$output .= "</div>\n";

if (empty($archive_tree)) { //No content.

$block['content'] = t('No posts available.');

}

else {

//need to fix to Pass data through theme function.

$block['content'] = $output;

}

$build['myelement']['#attached']['library'][] = array('system', 'ui.accordion');

$build['myelement']['#attached']['js'][] = array('data' => '(function($){$(function() { $("#archivetree1").accordion({ active: "h3:first" }); })})(jQuery);', 'type' => 'inline');

$output .= drupal_render($build);

return $block;

}

/**

* Implementation of hook_views_api().

function archive_accordion_views_api() {

return array(

'api' => 3.0,

);

}

If you will look at the last part of the code above, you will notice that there is a reference to views api. the reason is that i also built a view that goes with it. (This was the easiest part, as all i had todo is export the view to code.) So here is the 3rd file in the folder (archive_accordion.views_default.inc)

<?php
/**
 * Implementation of hook_views_default_views().
 */
function archive_accordion_views_default_views() {
 
  $view = new view;
$view->name = 'blog_archive';
$view->description = 'This view works together with the Archive Accordion Block, if you didn't activate it yet please do... :) ';
$view->tag = 'default';
$view->base_table = 'node';
$view->human_name = 'Blog Archive';
$view->core = 7;
$view->api_version = '3.0';
$view->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default view disabled initially */

/* Display: Master */
$handler = $view->new_display('default', 'Master', 'default');
$handler->display->display_options['title'] = 'Blog Archive';
$handler->display->display_options['access']['type'] = 'perm';
$handler->display->display_options['cache']['type'] = 'none';
$handler->display->display_options['query']['type'] = 'views_query';
$handler->display->display_options['query']['options']['query_comment'] = FALSE;
$handler->display->display_options['exposed_form']['type'] = 'basic';
$handler->display->display_options['pager']['type'] = 'full';
$handler->display->display_options['pager']['options']['items_per_page'] = '10';
$handler->display->display_options['style_plugin'] = 'default';
$handler->display->display_options['row_plugin'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['row_options']['links'] = FALSE;
/* Field: Content: Title */
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['id'] = 'title';
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['table'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['field'] = 'title';
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['label'] = '';
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['alter_text'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['make_link'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['absolute'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['word_boundary'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['ellipsis'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['strip_tags'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['trim'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['html'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['hide_empty'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['empty_zero'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['link_to_node'] = 1;
/* Sort criterion: Content: Post date */
$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['id'] = 'created';
$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['table'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['field'] = 'created';
$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['order'] = 'DESC';
/* Contextual filter: Content: Created year */
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['id'] = 'created_year';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['table'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['field'] = 'created_year';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['default_argument_type'] = 'fixed';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['default_argument_skip_url'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['summary']['number_of_records'] = '0';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['summary']['format'] = 'default_summary';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['summary_options']['items_per_page'] = '25';
/* Contextual filter: Content: Created month */
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['id'] = 'created_month';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['table'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['field'] = 'created_month';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['default_argument_type'] = 'fixed';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['default_argument_skip_url'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['summary']['number_of_records'] = '0';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['summary']['format'] = 'default_summary';
$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['summary_options']['items_per_page'] = '25';
/* Filter criterion: Content: Published */
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['id'] = 'status';
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['table'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['field'] = 'status';
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['value'] = 1;
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['group'] = 0;
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['expose']['operator'] = FALSE;
/* Filter criterion: Content: Type */
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['id'] = 'type';
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['table'] = 'node';
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['field'] = 'type';
$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['value'] = array(
  'blog' => 'blog',
);

/* Display: Page */
$handler = $view->new_display('page', 'Page', 'page');
$handler->display->display_options['path'] = 'blog/archive/%/%';

 
  $views[$view->name] = $view;
  return $views;
}

<?php

/**

* Implementation of hook_views_default_views().

function archive_accordion_views_default_views() {

$view = new view;

$view->name = 'blog_archive';

$view->description = 'This view works together with the Archive Accordion Block, if you didn't activate it yet please do... :) ';

$view->tag = 'default';

$view->base_table = 'node';

$view->human_name = 'Blog Archive';

$view->core = 7;

$view->api_version = '3.0';

$view->disabled = FALSE; /* Edit this to true to make a default view disabled initially */

/* Display: Master */

$handler = $view->new_display('default', 'Master', 'default');

$handler->display->display_options['title'] = 'Blog Archive';

$handler->display->display_options['access']['type'] = 'perm';

$handler->display->display_options['cache']['type'] = 'none';

$handler->display->display_options['query']['type'] = 'views_query';

$handler->display->display_options['query']['options']['query_comment'] = FALSE;

$handler->display->display_options['exposed_form']['type'] = 'basic';

$handler->display->display_options['pager']['type'] = 'full';

$handler->display->display_options['pager']['options']['items_per_page'] = '10';

$handler->display->display_options['style_plugin'] = 'default';

$handler->display->display_options['row_plugin'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['row_options']['links'] = FALSE;

/* Field: Content: Title */

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['id'] = 'title';

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['table'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['field'] = 'title';

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['label'] = '';

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['alter_text'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['make_link'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['absolute'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['word_boundary'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['ellipsis'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['strip_tags'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['trim'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['alter']['html'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['hide_empty'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['empty_zero'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['fields']['title']['link_to_node'] = 1;

/* Sort criterion: Content: Post date */

$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['id'] = 'created';

$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['table'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['field'] = 'created';

$handler->display->display_options['sorts']['created']['order'] = 'DESC';

/* Contextual filter: Content: Created year */

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['id'] = 'created_year';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['table'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['field'] = 'created_year';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['default_argument_type'] = 'fixed';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['default_argument_skip_url'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['summary']['number_of_records'] = '0';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['summary']['format'] = 'default_summary';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_year']['summary_options']['items_per_page'] = '25';

/* Contextual filter: Content: Created month */

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['id'] = 'created_month';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['table'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['field'] = 'created_month';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['default_argument_type'] = 'fixed';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['default_argument_skip_url'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['summary']['number_of_records'] = '0';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['summary']['format'] = 'default_summary';

$handler->display->display_options['arguments']['created_month']['summary_options']['items_per_page'] = '25';

/* Filter criterion: Content: Published */

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['id'] = 'status';

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['table'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['field'] = 'status';

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['value'] = 1;

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['group'] = 0;

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['status']['expose']['operator'] = FALSE;

/* Filter criterion: Content: Type */

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['id'] = 'type';

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['table'] = 'node';

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['field'] = 'type';

$handler->display->display_options['filters']['type']['value'] = array(

'blog' => 'blog',

);

/* Display: Page */

$handler = $view->new_display('page', 'Page', 'page');

$handler->display->display_options['path'] = 'blog/archive/%/%';

$views[$view->name] = $view;

return $views;

}

Hope you enjoyed this brief tutorial, if you have any questions or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment.

Complete code:
Archive Accordion Module

Category : Blog, Drupal, Modules

Tags : Blog, Blog software, CMS, Content management system, Drupal, JQuery, Open source, PHP, Views, WordPress

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