Drupal core has a lot of functionality; however it doesn't always meet business requirements. Creating a custom module opens up a world of opportunities for building and customizing your website to meet your specific requirements. Changes to the colour scheme, fonts, and graphics are just a few examples of custom Drupal development.
Developers require better understanding of business and hands-on Drupal development experience for custom Drupal development.
So, you've recently upgraded from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8, and you need to create a new module from the ground up? Need to make a change to an existing Drupal module to add a new feature?
If you are a novice in the area of custom development for Drupal, then this blog will help you get started. It will also cover some of the benefits of doing so and how to do it effectively.
What Is A Drupal Custom Module?
In Drupal, a custom module is one that has been designed with unique functionality. The Drupal custom module can be anything from a donated module that only requires minor customization to a totally new Drupal 8 module built from the ground up with all new functionality for your project.
Because the Drupal 7 module isn't accessible in Drupal 8, migrating from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8 may require the use of a new module. Simply said, a Drupal custom module is created to augment Drupal's core functionality or built-in module.
Custom module creation, regardless of your Drupal experience, comes with its own set of obstacles.
There are variations between Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 modules. The most significant distinction is that Drupal 8 uses Symphony, the most recent version of PHP 7. Drupal 8, on the other hand, is based on a futuristic approach and is simple to use for those who are familiar with OOP and MVC concepts. So, if Drupal comes with too many modules and functionality, why would you need to create a custom module? So, here's a rundown of the major benefits of custom Drupal development.
- Quick time for development
- Assists developers in matching consumers' exact requirements.
- Get a comprehensive taxonomy as well as RSS feeds.
- Unique, user-friendly URLs.
- Scalable and adaptable
- The code quality is high because you write it.
- Third-party tools are simple to integrate.
Also read - Drupal 9 release FAQ's
10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Custom Drupal Development
Drupal's custom development methods differ from version to version. Drupal 8 may not function using the same approach as Drupal 7. Here are some key considerations for achieving the greatest results from custom Drupal development:
Configuration
Make sure to specify the values in the settings and utilize it with the code to avoid hard-coding a class into a theme. This will save you from having to rewrite the code every time you need to make changes. It gives you advanced functionality and "simple to adjust" features once you set the value in the configuration. It also speeds up coding and produces high-quality modules.
Modules
It's critical to use fewer modules when working on enterprise-level Drupal websites. Avoid utilizing any module that isn't available. Rather than utilizing existing modules, experienced developers prefer to programme their own. A bigger number of custom modules mean more effort to manage and alter your Drupal site in the future. Publish your modules on Github to prevent having to use as many custom modules and to encourage you to write reusable code with the necessary setup.
Environment and Coding
To maintain an efficient workflow, the majority of Drupal development businesses work in the same development environment. The most important challenge in such situations is to ensure that the code produced is clean and trustworthy; the code should make sense to all the team members as well as the Drupal community. When working with the Drupal community and dispersed teams, you must adhere to coding standards to ensure that the project's aims and objectives are met.
Make the most of Drupal's Features
Drupal includes a number of built-in and admin features that can assist you in storing and displaying the data from your module. Hook_menu can be used to construct module settings pages, allowing modules to register paths to help specify how URL requests are handled. The drupal_get_form_page callback can be used to define and return the settings that need to be saved. One of the main advantages of this approach is that you may limit, submit, and validate handlers to the form if the value must be integers or existing data received from an API, for example.
Work with Cron
Cron is a time-based task scheduler that you can set up to run jobs automatically without requiring any manual intervention once the basic setup is complete. For practically every module development, Drupal includes many built-in cron features and a task queue. However, in some circumstances, such as when your hosting provider doesn't support cron jobs setting or you're having trouble getting it to work, it's critical to verify your site's status report to see if Cron configuration is possible.
Have a Specific Location for Your Custom Modules
Assume your Drupal custom module is called "my folder." Call the new dedicated folder "/module/custom/my folder" in this case. It's always a good idea to set up a specific location for this type of module so that you don't have to struggle to find it when you want to use it. It also aids in the separation of the in-built Drupal module downloaded by Drpal.org and custom modules.
Using Xdebug to Debug your Module
When constructing custom Drupal modules, it's also known as the golden rule. Debugging your custom module code ensures that there are no PHP code bottlenecks and that you're working with the most up-to-date code possible.
Code checking tool
Use automatic code checking tools like Coder to make sure your code is reliable, clean, readable, and follows Drupal's coding standards. It also assists you in ensuring that you are following your PHP version's best practices.
Conclusion
Custom Drupal module development creation is only required when existing Drupal modules are unavailable or insufficient for your needs.
We hope that these pointers will assist you in getting the most out of your custom Drupal development. You can also hire a professional Drupal development company with hands-on expertise developing custom modules in Drupal for your Drupal project.
