Drupal

Cache-Control: max-age header missing from static files in Drupal

Submitted by charles on

One of the sites I maintain recently had a server upgrade to Ubuntu 14.04.4, which included a new version of varnish (version 3.05) which required an update to the Varnish configuration. After setting up a new default.vcl file I was monitoring the headers sent and received to make sure that what was supposed to be cached was in fact being cached by Varnish. While testing I discovered that I was not getting any Cache-Control headers from static files like images.

CCK form field changes using Drupal's hook_form_alter don't work? Use #after_build

Submitted by charles on

I ran into issues when trying to use drupal's hook_form_alter to change some attributes of cck fields in a node form. It appears that depending on the weight of the module the form_alter is in, it might get called before the actual form element has been processed.

To make sure, you can set a function to be called after the form has been properly created, but before rendering.

In your form alter, add the after build key to the form field's array:

$form['field_course_status']['#after_build'][] = 'course_disable_status_field';

How to add Zoopy video to your Drupal site using CCK and the Embedded Media Field module

Submitted by charles on

I recently created a provider plugin for Drupal's CCK emfield module which allows you allows you to embed a Zoopy video by pasting the url into a cck field:

zoopy page url pasted into cck field

This is a lot easier than having to copy the embed code provided by Zoopy and paste this into a textarea.

The provider plugin then extracts the video code and displays the video on your Drupal site:

Drupal Johannesburg 11 March meetup notes

Submitted by charles on

My thoughts on the meetup

Carl from Cerebra demoing drupal goodnessFor me, it was great to see everyone again, although I was disappointed that there weren't more than 3 new faces among the 15 or so that turned up. We do need to do something to attract more new members. I particularly enjoyed hearing about what new modules people have discovered, and enjoyed the less formal discussions afterwards.

Quick Drupal setup using Acquia's DAMP stack

Submitted by charles on

Acquia have released an all in one Drupal install which includes Acquia Drupal, Apache, MySQL, PHP, PhpMyAdmin, and an Acquia Drupal Control Panel, to allow users to easily test and play around with Drupal, without having to get into the technical details of installing separate instances of Apache, MySQL, PHP etc.

Check it out here: http://acquia.com/downloads