Drupal – LoC vs time

PHP code in Drupal

CSS code in Drupal

JavaScript code in Drupal

drop.org – what's a block, really ?

Every single “box” on the website can be themed: not only the colors but the entire look-and-feel and position.

docs/features.php, circa 2000-03

drop.org – what's a block, really ?

Boxes:

Box for latest headlines.
Box for older headlines.
Box for related links.
Box with login form.
User-defined box.

docs/features.php, circa 2000-03

drop.org – what's a block, really ?

Theme support:

Not only can you change the colors, you can also change the position of most boxes and such.

docs/features.php, circa 2000-03

drop.org – page cycle

No front controller, controller = PHP file

• index.php, faq.php, article.php, ...
• uses GET query string, notably op for action variation
• register_globals = on required
• dedicated back-office : admin.php

drop.org – page cycle

Controller

• loads shared functions, configuration
• $theme->header()
• if action variants exists, switch ($op)
  • adds content base on $op,
  • e.g., $theme->article(), others build HTML inline
  • article(), box() , comment(), abstract(),
• footer(), header(), preview()
• $theme->footer()

drop.org – block placement

• No block placement UI
• Theme methods decide which blocks they will display in their predefined header et footer elements.
• themes/Dries/theme.class function footer() { /* ..snip.. */
  global $PHP_SELF;
  if (strstr($PHP_SELF, "index.php")) {
    global $user;
    displayAccount($this);
• Predefined function invoke $theme->box($subject, $content)

drop.org – block placement

• functions.inc function displayAccount($theme) {
  global $user, $cookie;
  if ($user) {
    ### Display userblock if any:
    displayUserblock();
  }
  else {
    $content = "<CENTER><FORM METHOD=\"post\" ACTION=\"account.php\">\n <P>Username:<BR><INPUT TYPE=\"text\" NAME=\"uname\" MAXLENGTH=\"50\"SIZE=\"12\"></P>\n <P>Password:<BR> <INPUT TYPE=\"password\" NAME=\"pass\"MAXLENGTH=\"25\" SIZE=\"12\"></P>\n <INPUT TYPE=\"submit\" NAME=\"op\" VALUE=\"Login\">\n</FORM>\n<P><A HREF=\"account.php\"> Register</A> as new user.<BR><A HREF=\"account.php\">Forgot</A> your password?</P> </CENTER>";
    $theme->box("Login", $content);
  }
}

drop.org : box theme

• themes/Natrak/theme.class Themes are PHP classes ######
# Syntax.......: box($title, $body);
# Description..: a function to draw a box/block.
function box($subject, $content) {
  include "config.inc";
  print "<TABLE BORDER=\"0\" CELLPADDING=\"3\" CELLSPACING=\"3\" WIDTH=\"100%\">";
  print " <TR><TD ALIGN=\"center\" BGCOLOR=\"$this->bgcolor1\" WIDTH=\"100%\"><FONT COLOR=\"$this->fgcolor1\"><B>$subject</B></FONT></TD></TR>";
  print " <TR><TD BGCOLOR=\"$this->bgcolor2\">$content</TD></TR>";
  print "</TABLE><BR>";
}

drop.org : box theme

• themes/Natrak/theme.php Just not only... function themebox($subject, $content) {
  global $bgcolor1, $bgcolor2, $bgcolor3;
  include "config.inc";
  print "<TABLE BORDER=\"0\" CELLPADDING=\"3\" CELLSPACING=\"3\" WIDTH=\"100%\">";
  print " <TR><TD ALIGN=\"center\" BGCOLOR=\"$bgcolor1\"><FONT COLOR=\"$bgcolor2\"><B>$subject</B></FONT></TD></TR>";
  print " <TR><TD BGCOLOR=\"$bgcolor2\">$content</TD></TR>";
  print "</TABLE><BR>";
}
• webboard.php uses the function format, other controllers invoke the method format.

drop.org – article page

drop.org – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

drop.org – default theme

Drupal 1.0

• module, hook and weight are born
  • Explicit hook naming $module = array("help" => "box_help",
                "block" => "box_block",
                "admin" => "box_admin");
  • Hook registry, called repository
  • 7 hooks : admin block cron export help page user

Drupal 1.0

• Birth of the block module
  • Separation : block vs custom block vs box
  • Birth of regions, header and footer remain separate.
  • User selection of optional blocks
• “Classical” Drupal file layout:
  • includes/, modules/, scripts/, themes/
  • New : .htaccess and robots.txt

Drupal 1 – block_help()

• Blocks are the boxes visible in the side bars on the left and the right-hand side of the website.
• They are either exported by the engine or by any of the available modules. […]
• The placement of blocks is delegated to the administrator but for most blocks, i.e. those called “custom blocks”, the sole force behind enabling and disabling them is the user itself.
• An administrator can lay out and arrange the available blocks to fit in two regions: “left” and “right”. Regions simply contain blocks. In addition, an administrator can assign each block (within a region) a weight to sort them vertically. [...]
• As mentioned above, blocks can be arranged to fit in two regions: left and right. For theme builders, each region is identified by a corresponding constant: “left” and “right”.

admin.php?mod=block&op=help

Drupal 1 – block_help()

• [...] Simply put, boxes are small bits of text, HTML or PHP code which will get plugged into the site just like any other block. Boxes are typically used to add custom blocks to the site.
• Each box consists of a subject and an associated block of text, HTML or PHP code which can be as long as you want it to be and that will “render” the content of the box.

admin.php?mod=block&op=help

... but Theme::box() still exists !

Drupal 1 – block placement

• The block admin UI offers a choice of 3 layouts:
  • Left + Content
  • Left + Content + Right
  • Content + Right
• Administrator decides which custom blocks to display in the left et right regions
• Theme::header() and Theme::footer() decide separately which blocks they will display in header and footer, which are not regions
• Layouts are theme-independent
• The blocks table does not keep per-theme info

Drupal 1 – block overview

Drupal 1: block hook

• A single block hook: hook_block() returns a hash of:
  • Subject: displayed title
  • Content: raw content, HTML, or PHP for eval()
  • Info: administrative title
  • Link: URL, only displayed on the b.o.
• Used both for administration and display

Drupal 1: block hook

• Example : box.module
  function box_block() {
  $result = db_query("SELECT * FROM boxes");
  $i = 0;
  while ($block = db_fetch_object($result)) {
    $blocks[$i]["subject"] = check_output($block->subject);
    $blocks[$i]["content"] = ($block->type == 2)
      ? eval($block->content)
      : check_output($block->content, ($block->type == 1) ? 0 : 1);
    $blocks[$i]["info"] = check_output($block->info);
    $blocks[$i]["link"] = check_output($block->link);
    $i++;
  }
  return $blocks;
}

Drupal 1: box theme

• themes/marvin/marvin.theme
  Themes are still PHP classes, but not located in <theme>.theme
  function box($subject, $content) { ?>
  <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" BGCOLOR="<? echo $this->brcolor1; ?>" WIDTH="100%">
    <TR><TD><?
      print "<TABLE BORDER=\"0\" CELLPADDING=\"3\" CELLSPACING=\"1\" WIDTH=\"100%\">";
      print " <TR><TD ALIGN=\"center\" BGCOLOR=\"$this->bgcolor1\" NOWRAP><FONT COLOR=\"$this->fgcolor1\"><B>$subject</B></FONT></TD></TR>";
      print " <TR><TD BGCOLOR=\"$this->bgcolor2\">$content</TD></TR>";
      print "</TABLE>";
    ?>
    </TD></TR>
  </TABLE><BR><?
}
• No longer any non-class theme functions

Drupal 1 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 1 – UnConeD theme

UnConeD

Drupal 2.0

• Filtering of box content climbs from the “model” to the controller
  • Filtering of block is still on the “model”
• Block subject is now translatable

Drupal 2.0

• No significant changes on block/box
  • File Layout: birth of misc/
  • PHP “short tags” are dropped
  • First dash of blue: pre-Druplicon “drop” in UnConeD turns blue
  • Theme::abstract() → Theme::story()
  • class Story extends Node {...}

  Newborns	Locale
  	First update script, only SQL
  	CHANGELOG, CREDITS

  Changes	Comment, section, user ratings, permissions
  	First optional module: submission

Drupal 2 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 2 – UnConeD theme

UnConeD

Drupal 3.0.2

• Blocks created by modules...
  • can now be disabled, optional, or required
  • ...just like boxes
  • and appear in the regions preview
• No significant changes for block/box

  Newborns	Node, file, (page) cache, form_*()
  	Front: fluid themes: Goofy, Jeroen, Yaroon, raw: Stone Age

  Changes	Hooks : global $repository → function_exists()
  	Druplicon looking straight ahead replaces the drop
  	Section → meta and introduces hierarchy
  	Faq → book and introduces hierarchy
  	<font> HTML element: 74 → 14

Drupal 3 – blocks configuration

Drupal 3 – blocks configuration

Drupal 3 – blocks configuration

Drupal 3.0.2 – box theme

• Default theme: class Theme extends BaseTheme { /* ..snip.. */
  function box($subject, $content, $region = "main") { ?>
    <TABLE>
      <TR>
        <TD>
          <DIV ALIGN="center">
            <BIG><? echo $subject; ?></BIG>
            </DIV>
            <HR>
          </TD>
        </TR>
      <TR>
        <TD>
          <?php echo $content; ?>
          </TD>
        </TR>
      </TABLE>
    <BR><?php
  } // close box function
}


Drupal 3.0.2 – box theme

• And the base theme class... class BaseTheme {/
  function links(...) {...}
  function image($name) {}
  function comment_controls(...) {}
}


Drupal 3 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 3 – new themes

Goofy

Drupal 3 – new themes

Jeroen

Drupal 3 – new themes

Stoneage

Drupal 3 – new themes

Yaroon

Drupal 4.0

• block/box admin merge, box module removed
• Placement defined by block, stores region/weight
  • Administrator-configured
  • Automatic fallback from nonexistent region (left/right) to the other one
  • Visibility defined by block, path column (regex), vs themes/controllers
• Content is defined by box, with a choice of ASCII / HTML / PHP format
• BaseTheme::box() provide a default box theme implementation

Drupal 4.0

• And elsewhere...

  Newborns	Default theme == Basic
  	Node form switched to two columns, FO / BO forms differ
  	XML-RPC, Useful Inc. version

  Changes	Meta/section/category → taxonomy/vocabulary/term
  	Input format per node, in the extra table for each content type
  	Front page is customized with PHP eval
  	More modules converted to generic module.php controller, but not all
  	DB API based on PEAR:DB, supports PostgreSQL, SQL dump includes update
  	Withdrawn themes: Dries, Jeroen; Stone Age → example

Drupal 4.0 – blocks admin/placement

Drupal 4.0 – blocks admin/placement

Drupal 4.0 – node form FO Basic

Drupal 4.0 – node form BO

Drupal 4 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.1

25/06/2003 (6 months later) *

• Conditional blocks build: only if used
• Customizable blocks selection sorted by module/delta, not by name
• Block name (alias $block->info) withdrawn, meaning...
  • blocks table no longer has a PK, or even an index
• And elsewhere...

  Newborns	Profile

  Changes	Markup refactoring in themes with more reusable elements: theme_mark, theme_head, theme_item_list, theme_error...

* CHANGELOG claims 15/02/2003, but commits say 25/06/2003

Drupal 4.1 – user block sorting

Drupal 4.1 – conditional build

• Block building in theme_blocks only appears if that have to be displayed: required, default and anonymous user, or user-selected, but only without a path or if patch matches functiontheme_blocks($region,&$theme){
  global $user, $PHP_SELF;
  $result = db_query("SELECT * FROM blocks WHERE (status = '1' OR custom = '1') ". ($region != "all" ? "AND region = '%s' " : "") ."ORDER BY weight, module", $region == "left" ? 0 : 1);
  while ($result && ($block = db_fetch_object($result))) {
    if (
      ( ($block->status && (!$user->uid || !$block->custom)) || ($block->custom && $user->block[$block->module][$block->delta])) && (!$block->path || preg_match("|$block->path|", $PHP_SELF))
    ){
      $block_data = module_invoke($block->module, "block", "view", $block->delta);
      if ($block_data["content"]) {
        $theme->box($block_data["subject"], $block_data["content"], $region);
      }
    }
  }
}

Drupal 4.1 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.2

04/10/2003 (4.5 months later)

• hook_block($op) $op = list|view
• Block delta: int → varchar(32)
• Block preview : “Themes with (right|left)-sidebar only...”
• t('messages from block.module code')
• BaseTheme::box() receives filtered content, no longer filters it itself
• BaseTheme::block($subject, $content, $region = 'main')
  • Simple wrapper for BaseTheme::box()
  • Separate in Xtemplate, invoked by theme_blocks() instead of theme('box')

Drupal 4.2

• And elsewhere...

  Newborns	Support for Microsoft SQL Server
  	index.php front controller for “normal” paths
  	Xtemplate, engine and base theme
  	theme() replaces theme_invoke()
  	Only system.module uses $theme->foo(), others use theme('foo')

  Changes	Clean URLs
  	WYSIWYG support (!)
  	BO now integrated in the overall UI
  	Themes: Goofy withdrawn, blue becomes more prevalent, first CSS fields
  	register_globals = On no longer needed

Drupal 4.2 – block admin

Drupal 4.2 – BaseTheme::box()

• Drupal 4.1 function box($subject, $content, $region = "main") {
  $output = "<b>"
    . check_output($subject)
    ."</b><br />"
    check_output($content)
    ."<p />";
  print $output;
}
• Drupal 4.2 function box($subject, $content, $region = "main") {
    $output = "

  $subject
  $content

  ";
    print $output;
  }
  function block($subject, $content, $region = "main") {
    global $theme;
    $theme->box($subject, $content, $region);
  }

Drupal 4.2 – XTemplate

Drupal 4.2 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.3.x

01/11/2003 (4 weeks later)

• UX: admin/block → admin/system/block
• And elsewhere...

  	Minor releases 4.3.0, 4.3.1, 4.3.2, 4.3.x unreleased HEAD until 02/2004

  Newborns	Alias
  	DB prefixing using {}

  Changes	User object simplified
  	Some controller actions start using return instead of print

Drupal 4.3.x – Nothing

That's all for 4.3!

Drupal 4.3 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.4.x

01/04/2004 (2 months later)

• theme_blocks() delegates...
  • listing blocks to block_list() instead of performing the request itself
  • rendering to theme_block('view') instead of invoking hook_block('view')
• theme('box') no longer implemented except in theme.inc and Xtemplate
• The lack of a PK on blocks is documented as “(bad)!”

Drupal 4.4.x

• And elsewhere...

  Performance	Generic throttling with throttle.module: deactivation of modules or invididual functions
  	Cached pages load less modules
  	Locale only caches data below a size limit

  Newborns	Pushbutton

  Changes	Uniform use of theme(), theme_* functions and use of return
  	Marvin → Chameleon + subtheme

  Removals	Theme classes
  	Microsoft SQL Server support
  	Goofy

Drupal 4.4 – theme_blocks()

• Drupal 4.3
  • cf Drupal 4.1: db_query() + complex test
• Drupal 4.4
  • delegates to block_list(), theme_block()
  function theme_blocks($region) {
  $output = '';

  if ($list = module_invoke('block', 'list', $region)){
    foreach ($list as $key => $block) {
      // $key == <i>module</i>_<i>delta</i>
      $output .= theme('block', $block);
    }
  }
  return $output;
}

Drupal 4.4 – theme_block()

Drupal 4.4 – Chameleon theme

Chameleon

Drupal 4.4 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.5

18/10/2004 (6 months later)

• New blocks provided by comment, taxonomy
• theme_(block|blocks|box): no changes
• And elsewhere...

  	New menu system with caching, hook_menu($may_cache)
  	Multiple roles per user

  Newborns	Bluemarine

  Changes	SQL: multiple connections, PostgreSQL no longer PEAR:DB
  	Themes: refactoring engines, templates and styles, settings and screenshots; XTemplate and Pure themes withdrawn; XTemplate engine remains
  	i18n: 100 % UI

Drupal 4.5 – Marvin

Marvin

Drupal 4.5 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.6

15/04/2005 (6 months later)

• New block settings:
  • visibility
    • Previously: everywhere or if matches regex
    • 4.6: on.. or except_on.. (but no PHP yet)
    • Paths criteria decode aliases before being applied
  • types
    • On all node types or only on these...
• New hook_block() $op values: configure, save
• theme_(block|blocks|box) unchanged

Drupal 4.6

• And elsewhere...

  Supports PHP 5, UTF-8 everywhere

  Home: 92ms without the page cache, 19ms with it...

  Newborns	Contact, ImageAPI

  Changes	First UX refactorings

  Removals	Admin controller admin.php
  	PEAR:DB abstraction>

Drupal 4.6 – Block configuration

Drupal 4.6 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 4.7

01/05/2006 (11 months later)

• Placement: blocks are now configured as placed in theme custom regions
• In core, regions are named, not numbered
• PHP visibility for blocks in addition to paths/types
• Input formats on box
• theme_(block|blocks|box) unchanged

Drupal 4.7

• And elsewhere...

  Newborns	PHPTemplate, replacing Xtemplate
  	Maintenance mode
  	JS: AJAX, collapse effect, textarea resize...
  	Form API: arrays of arrays of arrays...

  Changes	“Loose caching” for pages, variables cache, data caching in modules (archive)
  	Taxonomy: free tagging, global contact form
  	Bluemarine and Pushbutton converted to PHPTemplate
  	Content moderation withdrawn
  	Upgrade path can be extended by modules
  	XML-RPC new version
  	SQL: PostgreSQL stored procedures removed
  	Queue module withdrawn (moderation, not queueing)

Drupal 4.7 – block templates

• Bluemarine 4.6 XTemplate <!-- BEGIN: block -->
  <div class="block block-{module}" id="block-{module}-{delta}">
    <h2 class="title">{title}</h2>
    <div class="content">{content}</div>
  </div>
<!-- END: block -->
• Bluemarine 4.7 PHPTemplate <div class="<?php print "block block-$block->module" ?>" id="<?php
print "block-$block->module-$block->delta"; ?>">
  <h2><?php print $block->subject ?></h2>
  <div class="content"><?php print $block->content ?></div>
</div>

Drupal 4.7 – custom blocks

Drupal 4.7 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 5.0

• Block visibility by role
• hook_block('view') may not return a title, it uses the one from block_list(), passing it to check_plain()
• theme_(block|blocks|box) unchanged
• Blocks preview merged into the blocks admin form

Drupal 5.0

• And elsewhere...

  Newborns	Localized installer replaces dump loading
  	Install profiles
  	.info files for modules, dependencies
  	jQuery 1.0.4
  	Themes: Garland, Minelli, color.module, admin theme concept, module CSS

  Changes	Performance: sessions (in Memcached), node_access, fast404, aggressive page cache
  	52 ms no cache, 7 ms normal cache, 5 ms aggressive cache
  	File layout: 1 directory per core module, sites/all introduced
  	Cache plugins, multiple cache bins
  	Status page, mail altering, uninstallable modules, bulk operations on users/nodes
  	PHPTemplate override

Drupal 5 – block admin + preview

Drupal 5 – per-role visibility

Drupal 5.0 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 6.0

• Block cache
• theme_block() → modules/system/block.tpl.php
• theme_(box|blocks) unchanged, box.tpl.php still exists
• Per-page block visibility refactored to drupal_match_path()
• {blocks} surrogate PK on bid, unique index on module/delta/theme

Drupal 6.0

• And elsewhere...

  Newborns	hook_watchdog, syslog

  Changes	47 ms no cache, 46 ms block cache, 6.5 ms normal cache, 5.9 ms aggressive page cache
  	Performance: single pass hook_menu() (without $may_cache); SQL: schema API, needs less privileges on DB (temporary, lock tables); files split, .admin.inc, JS aggregator, reverse proxy support
  	Quality: E_ALL, UX, core = 6.x, batch API, HTML Corrector
  	Deployment: scripts/drupal.sh (think Drush)
  	Security: php.module, weak password check, OpenID, update
  	Themes: .info, templates no longer need a matching function, preprocess hooks, jQuery 1.2.3
  	i18n: RTL, language detection, content translation, alias, JS UI

Drupal 6.0 – block cache

Drupal 6.0 – block cache

Drupal 6 – cache + block throttling

Q1: Why?Q2: What's in a cid?

Drupal 6.0 – cache rules

Q: Which advice is lacking?

Drupal 6.0 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 7.0

• hook_block($op) → hook_block_(info|configure|save|view)
• hook_block_(info|list|view[_MODULE_DELTA])_alter
• block['content'] render array => cache cid without theme/language
• block_custom.body translatable
• block_custom.format int → varchar(255)
• block.api.php, block.test, block.js (vertical tabs, d'n'd)
• block_theme() declares block, not just block_admin_display_form
• BLOCK_CACHE_* → DRUPAL_CACHE_*
• {blocks} → {block}, {boxes} → {block_custom}

Drupal 7.0

• Permissions:
  • - use PHP for block visibility
  • + administer blocks
• UI:
  • block integration with contextual, vertical tabs, local actions
  • Generic regions: block placement in content, help...
  • Main content → block dans content, site mission → block dans highlighted, footer → block dans footer
  • Regions preview again separated from block admin, without the blocks themselves

Drupal 7.0

• Theme:
  • theme_box() RIP – box concept removed
  • Block template suggestions
  • Process
• (block).throttle RIP
• block_list() replaces join + db_rewrite_sql() by _block_load_blocks() + block_block_list_alter()
• Visibility:
  • Invalidates inconsistent visibility, like no page allows (positif/negative)
  • PHP: module_exists('php')

Drupal 7.0

• hook_modules_uninstalled() enables block to clean blocks created by other modules
• Alternative: drupal_set_content → drupal_add_region_content
• And elsewhere...

  	Entity API, Field API, EFQ, DBTNG, render arrays
  	More caches and one-off plugins
  	i18n: field translation
  	Theme: Bartik, Corolla, Seven; return of the raw theme: Stark

Drupal 7 – block preview

Drupal 7.0 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Drupal 8.0

• Assetic
• Composer
• Doctrine: annotations
• EasyRDF
• Guzzle
• PHPUnit
• PSR/3

• Symfony 2
• Symfony CMF: routing (chain router)
• Twig
• Zend Framework 2: escaper, feed, stdlib
• Plus some Drupal to wrap it up... ;-)

Drupal 8 – just the basics...

• hook_block_info() → Doctrine annotation on the block class
• hook_block_view() → BlockPluginInterface::build()
• hook_block_configure() → BlockPluginInterface::blockForm()
• hook_block_save() → BlockPluginInterface::blockSubmit()
• New methods:
  • BlockPluginInterface::access(): block visibility
  • BlockPluginInterface::settings(): default configuration
    (à la Views option_definition)
  • BlockPluginInterface::validate(): validation before submit
• Derivative blocks

Drupal 8 – block "online users"

Drupal 8.0 – Block statistics

Drupal 3 = 5622 PHP LoC

Drupal 8 – UI

• New administration UI:
  • No kilometer-high list of unused blocks
  • Add block page for new blocks
    • Optionally filtered by module
    • With search form
• Simplified configuration form

Drupal 8 – block admin

Drupal 8 – block add

Drupal 8.0 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

Default classloader

Drupal 8.0 – ab -n10000 -c10 (home)

APC classloader

ms/<anonymous home>

PHP 5.3.10, MySQL 5.5, APC 3.1.9, aggressive Cache, D8 APC Classloader