Welcome! This book is meant to launch you into the world of programming with the open-source web content management system known as Drupal. Hopefully, with the aid of this book, you will pass smoothly through the stage of being a novice Drupal programmer, while avoiding making the mistakes that many expert Drupal programmers made in their first Drupal programming endeavors. If you make an effort to learn the “Drupal Way” of programming and follow the guidelines in this book, you can look forward to many enjoyable and fruitful years of programming with Drupal.

If you’re a web programmer new to Drupal, this book shows you which programming techniques you can use—and which you should avoid—when building custom web applications with this content management framework. Drupal has its own set of programming principles that require a different approach, and many programmers make mistakes when relying on skills they’ve used for other projects. The guidelines in this book help you through the transition by demonstrating which programming practices conform to the “Drupal way,” and which don’t.

If you’re familiar with PHP, you’ll quickly learn how to take advantage of the powerful Drupal API.

• Get a complete overview of Drupal, including Drupal core and add-on modules and themes
• Learn Drupal’s basic programming principles, such as the ability to customize behavior and output with hooks
• Discover common Drupal programming mistakes—and why hacking is one of them
• Explore specific areas where you can put your programming skills to work
• Learn programming tips and tools to help you perfect and debug your applications