Aaron Winborn

Yesterday I had to do some major filter debugging, causing me to learn a lot about Drupal's filter system. Here are some basic and less basic observations on Drupal's format and filter system:

The basic relationship between formats and filters is confusing in Drupal, partly because the two words are similar. An input format is made up of one or more filters. For example, the 'Full HTML' format includes several filters by default ('Html corrector', 'Line break converter', and 'URL filter'). Clicking on Admin: Site Configuration: Input Formats takes you to /admin/settings/filters where you can administer formats and their filters.

Though formats are sometimes called 'Input Formats', filtering actually takes place upon display of the text rather than input. Input format is an accurate term because text is given a choice of format when added and is saved with that format information. The raw text is saved into Drupal's database and is not filtered until it is displayed.

Any format which does not contain the HTML filter (for example, Full HTML format) or evaluates PHP (PHP format) is a security risk when untrusted users have access to it. We actually are pushing a patch for D7 which will automatically remind admins of this fact if they set their site up insecurely.

The filter cache serves cached filtered content to anonymous and authenticated users alike. The more complex your filters are, the greater the performance gain from this cache. (I have been working on a site which does extensive xsl transformations to turn xml in node bodies into html on the page, making filter caching critical.) Cached filtered content gets cleared out on cron

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Zivtech is proud to announce that we have signed on as sponsors for the upcoming DrupalCon DC 2009. While we were disheartened to see our outlandish vegan donut eating compadres over at Chapter Three move a step ahead of us in the coveted badge color arms race with their Gold Partner agreement with Acquia, we're glad to see that we've kept up with our Silver Sponsorship of DrupalCon DC (and anyway, we just hired another six people, so I don't think we'll be behind in the Acquia badges for long).

We're also extremely psyched to announce that we are sponsoring the upcoming DrupalCamp Philly, which will be held at the Cira Center on November 19th from 9am-6pm. The conference will feature sessions for all levels and types of users--from beginners and decision makers interested in what all the buzz is about to developers looking to improve or share their skills--and will feature prominent Drupal community members like Drupal Documentation Lead Addison Berry and multimedia wiz Aaron Winborn (whose new book on Drupal Multimedia I'll be reviewing here over the the next week or so).

If you're interested in coming to DrupalCamp Philly, please sign up on the Drupal Groups page. Space is filling up, so sign up ASAP if you haven't and you'd like to go. I'd love to see more regional camps, and given the location of this event (the Cira Center is connected to Amtrak's 30th Street Station, making it extremely accessible via Amtrak, SEPTA, Suburban Station, and the Philly Airport) it would be great for this to become the first MADCamp (Mid-Atlantic DrupalCamp). So, please consider joining us even if you're in New York, DC, or anywhere in the Mid-Atlantic area (just don't wear your home team's sports jerseys). The event is free and includes drinks all day (non-alcoholic, so don't get too excited, this isn't another Phillies parade) and lunch.

Also- we're still looking for sponsors for the camp so if you love Drupal and/or would like to reach out to the region's growing Drupal community, please consider donating and, if you like, tabling at the event.

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Some modules add sections to your 'My Account' page. For example, the user module adds content like 'Member for: 4 days.' Blog module, profile module as well as many contributed modules add in their own content. Some modules provide a configuration option to decide if such content is shown, but many do not. If you want to change that default My Account page, here are some ideas for both coders and non-coders.

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Zivtech is an Open Source Drupal web development shop with a beautiful office at 15th and South St in Downtown Philadelphia. We build web sites with the powerful content management system Drupal and are passionate about open source, being involved in Drupal's thriving community, and having a fun work environment. We work with many exciting clients and do not accept projects which our developers do not find challenging and enjoyable. We build political (liberal) sites, music sites, university sites, ecommerce, and much more. We also work extensively integrating Drupal with other technologies such as Flash, DocBook, MediaWiki, YouTube, etc.

We're seeking smart, motivated people at all levels of experience from those who are fast-learners excited to enter this rewarding field to those who are already Drupal and/or PHP, MySQL, LAMP, or CSS experts.

You should be looking to work in-house full-time, although we can be flexible about many things for talented individuals. Pay rate will depend on your relevant experience and ability and will scale with your growing skills. For positions other than internships, we require a bachelor's degree and/or 2+ years of relevant experience. You will be expected to contribute to the Drupal project as part of your work routine and will be compensated for time spent contributing on tasks of your choice which benefit the community.

Here are some of the items we're looking to hire for:

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Zivtech is extremely excited to announce that we are now officially an Acquia Silver Partner. In the short time that we've been working with Drupal we've come across many prospective clients who were too concerned of the perceived risks of an open source solution to adopt it. We believe that Acquia will remove the last vestiges of doubt from the minds of these decision makers and free them to choose the best option out there at present and in the future (we're biased, but it's still the truth). We're really looking forward to working with Acquia as they continue to develop their platform and offerings and we'll be building as many of our sites with Acquia as possible, in fact we're currently in the process of migrating this site from Drupal 5 to Acquia Drupal--in addition to a big redesign and re-architecture--of the site and should have it up and running over the next week or so.

You can read more about Acquia and their Partner Program at http://acquia.com/partners.

Thanks to the entire Acquia team for all of your work and for this incredible opportunity!

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Below you can find linked pics to flickr sets from two recent Drupal related events. First are picks from the awesome DrupalCampNYC 2008. I attended this a few weeks back and had a great time learning, talking, teaching, brainstorming, etc.

Second, are pics from our office opening party. We moved into our offices, in a storefront on 15th and South here in Philadelphia, earlier this summer, but we only got the chance to get fully moved in after DrupalCon.

Unfortunately I seem to have misplaced my camera, so I don't have any pics from BADCamp yet.

DrupalCampNYC 2008:

Zivtech office opening party:

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As I write this I’m sitting on a plane flying between Philadelphia and San Francisco, on my way to participate in this year’s BADCamp. I’ve been asked on more than one occasion why I would travel up the Turnpike to New York, let alone across the entire United States, to attend a regional Drupal Camp, and while I am always looking for an excuse to get on a plane, and The Bay Area is my second favorite city, the real reason that I’m traveling thousands of miles from home is community (and of course my love for everything Drupal).

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I recently wrote a views plugin for the weight module which allows the setup of views which are a drag-and-drop form for ordering nodes.

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Jody and I arrived in Hungary on Monday to attend and take part in this year's European DrupalCon, which is taking place in the lovely little city Szeged, near Hungary's southern border. We had a bumpy ride here, mostly due to the chaos that is Rome's airport, and we were a bit hampered by jet lag and a serious case of internet withdrawal on our way to Szeged. But things are going a lot better now that the conference has begun and our wireless cards are no longer starved for access. We've already drank two bars out of beer (with a lot of help from other thirsty Drupalers) and connected with a lot of friends we haven't seen in a while.

We're not only attending the conference though, we're taking part in a few ways. As I write this Jody is presenting on Node Templates in Drupal (pictured), and early Friday morning I'm scheduled to present John Snow's awesome new Embed Widgets module at the Google Summer of Code showcase. On Thursday night I am presenting a proposal (created in collaboration with Rock River Star) to the Drupal Association in an attempt to bring the next US DrupalCon (in Winter 2009) to Philadelphia.

On a logistical note: if you need to contact either Jody (until Sept 2nd) or myself (until Sept 8th) please either shoot us an e-mail or give me a call on my pre-paid Hungarian cell phone at 06 20 515 9286.

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