1. Contrib First
A change to how we write modules

2. By Andrew Riley
Director of Drupal Development
@andrewmriley

3. Contrib First?
http://www.mediacurrent.com/drupal-give

4. Definition
A method of treating your developed modules as
contributed modules that you use and or adapt for your
clients needs.

5. What it isn’t
Creating a module for your client with the best intentions
to go back once the site has launched and submit it to
drupal.org

6. Why
 Good for the community
 Good for the company
 Good for you
 Good for your client/project

7. But we release modules!
Really? How many?
How many were never released?

8. Won’t it take more time?
 Public modules/sandboxes are a give and take
 Community will sometimes provide patches
 Community will often times request new features
 Either way, you, the company and the community are
benefiting

9. Eat our own dog food
 Save fellow developers from recreating the wheel
 Its always nice when a module’s author is on staff
 You code to a higher standard when others are
watching

10. Module Anatomy 101

11. “Glue” module
 Glues together two or more contrib modules
 Quick and dirty
 Addresses client needs but is very client specific
 Isn’t reusable
 Not always a bad thing (when used properly)

12. Contrib Module
 Exposes hooks for other modules to use
 Has a defined administration/configuration section
 Has documentation*
 Is reusable
 Follows coding standards

13. How to Contrib First

14. Steps
 Figure out how client specific your requirements are
 Find out if it already exists
 Can you hook or modify an existing module*
 Write your contrib module and commit it
 Write your glue module
 Profit? Your module is already published on d.o.

15. Client Specific?
 How much of this module will only be used by this client?
 Can you split out client specific code into a glue module?
 In this case does “client specific” really mean “industry
specific”?
 Does it really have to be client specific?

16. Don’t duplicate work
 How close is an existing module?
 Does the related module provide hooks for you to use?
 Could your functionality help an existing contrib module?
 Is there an abandoned contrib module?

17. Write your own
 No hardcodes and limited constants
 Include an administration/config page for everything
 Add in hooks. You may not need them but somebody else
might.
 It doesn’t have to be perfect.
 USE THE CODER MODULE

18. drupal.org
 You NEED to have access to create full projects
 Anybody can create sandboxes
 You can have multiple sandboxes
 Sandboxes are baby projects for development

19. The Cost
Overall making a contrib first module costs anywhere
between 5 - 20% additional time over creating a
hardcoded client specific module.

20. End Result?
You have either:
Saved your company time/money by re-using existing
modules (and contributing back changes)
- or -
Made yourself and your company more marketable by
publishing a new module all while helping out the
community and your client/project.

21. Recap
 Figure out your requirements
 Search for existing modules
 Create your own module
 Host it on drupal.org

22. Mediacurrent helps organizations architect custom websites by
leveraging our proven processes and deep expertise in Drupal.
@mediacurrent mediacurrent.com