Drupal Planet

The Drop Times: End of an Era

January 5, 2025, marks the end of an era in web development— Drupal 7's final End of Life (EOL). Since its release in early 2011, Drupal 7 has reigned as the most widely used version of Drupal worldwide, powering millions of websites and leaving a lasting legacy in the open-source community. 

With over 14 years of service, Drupal 7 demonstrated exceptional stability and flexibility. It introduced game-changing features like the Entity API, Views in core, and a modernized admin interface that appealed to developers and content creators alike. These advancements enabled users to build everything from personal blogs to enterprise-grade websites with ease.

Drupal 7's reach was unmatched. At its peak, it powered over 1.3 million websites, including high-profile organizations, educational institutions, and government platforms. Its vibrant community of contributors and extensive library of contributed modules made it a powerhouse for innovation and customization.

However, as technology evolved, the Drupal ecosystem shifted toward a more modern architecture. While Drupal 8 and subsequent versions introduced significant advancements, the transition required a complete reimagining of how Drupal sites were built, leaving Drupal 7’s legacy to shine as a testament to its time.

Now, as Drupal 7 officially bows out, it leaves us with a sense of pride for its role in shaping the web as we know it. This milestone coincides with the anticipation surrounding the launch of the Drupal CMS, signaling an exciting new chapter for the community.

To all who have built, maintained, and relied on Drupal 7, we thank you for being part of its incredible journey. Its impact will not be forgotten.

Let's have a look the important stories from the past week.

   Interview    PHP

To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you, 
Sincerely 
Thomas Alias K 
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.

Golems GABB: Drupal ECA module and integration with Drupal Commerce

Drupal ECA module and integration with Drupal Commerce Editor Mon, 01/06/2025 - 10:10

Drupal is incredibly flexible and scalable. Thanks to this, you can ensure the efficient operation of websites, personal online blogs, web applications, and other online projects.
That's where the latest Drupal ECA module comes into play. It can be easily adapted to Drupal e-commerce and takes advantage of the vast possibilities of collaboration.
Wouldn't it be great if your Drupal website could respond to events in a personalized way? One of the ideas is sending a special discount after a customer's fifth purchase or automatically adjusting stock levels when a product is added to a cart. That's where the ECA module comes in! It's a powerful Drupal module that lets you create custom "rules" for your site based on triggers, checks, and results.

LN Webworks: How to Set Up the OpenAI Module in Drupal 10

For your Drupal website, the OpenAI module is a sophisticated solution that supports a wide range of OpenAI/ChatGPT functionalities. It has an API basis for smooth integration and an amazing collection of submodules.

Notably, the module was among the first to use ChatGPT for Drupal, with its initial release being in January 2023. The module is called OpenAI / ChatGPT / AI Search Integration in its entirety. Although it is still in the alpha stage, it is being developed constantly from the best drupal development company. It won't function on older versions of Drupal because it was made especially for Drupal 10, the most recent major version. 

Submodules Of OpenAI Module In Drupal

Here are some of the submodules included:

Event Organizers: Event Organizers - 2024 Year in Review

The Event Organizer Working Group marked two major milestones in 2024. First, it’s been 5 years since our charter was established in 2019. Second, 2024 is the final year of service for the last two of our founding board members.

Community events have changed drastically in this relatively short period, but our mission has not.

The Event Organizers Working Group supports community-led teams to grow Drupal through local events. Our vision is to establish a worldwide network of Drupal experts who organize events and aid one another to do the same.

This year, the group has focused on three major initiatives - growing our central source for promoting community events, building a reusable platform for running community events, and continuing to get the word out about our resources.

Redesigning /community/events

Launched in 2020, the Drupal Community Events page is intended to serve as a consolidated listing of Drupal events across the world to facilitate promotion, encourage collaboration, and give the community more data about what’s happening in the space.

In 2024, almost 300 events were posted in over 30 countries, bringing the total number of events posted in 4 years to over 1100! We saw a surge in Local Meetup postings, with many events shifting their postings from other platforms.

Download a PDF of this data and events broken down by country.

At DrupalCon Pittsburgh 2023, we began an effort to refine the display of the Drupal Community Events listing - the data was good, but the display had become cluttered.

During Drupalcon we iterated on some ideas but lost momentum during the post-DrupalCon/summer slump. With support from b_man and drumm, we were given access to a Drupal.org dev environment and were able to mock up changes to /community/events’ Panels and styles. These changes consolidated the page into a single list of events, with a legend providing access to events filtered by type.

At DrupalCon Portland 2024, we gathered our forces once again and completed a review of the changes. The Drupal Association team committed them soon after. Community members are welcome to review the new design for /community/events and share any other feedback you might have on the meta-issue.

Iterating on the Events Platform

After a major development push in 2023, the Events Platform continues to move forward thanks to mandclu. Two minor releases have been pushed this year, including one major minor that introduces Drupal 11 support! Martin did a presentation on the Events Platform at the DrupalCon Portland 2024 Community Summit and documentation has also been greatly improved.

DrupalCamp NJ and PNW Drupal Summit both spun up new sites with the platform, as did DrupalCamp Berlin, who also wrote up a fantastic blog post about their build. If you know of another site using the Events Platform, please let us know.

Connecting Event Organizers

We’ve continued making connections between event organizers virtually and in person. Our monthly open meeting via Slack on the 2nd Tuesday of the month starting at 16:00 UTC / 12:00 pm ET (listed on a Google Calendar) has been a great way for organizers to share information and catch up on what’s going on.

Other ways to get in touch:

Looking forward

With leslieg and I (froboy) rolling off the board after two full terms and a new slate of board members and advisors joining, the EOWG has a bright future ahead of it. Volunteer-driven events need all the support we can give them in the best of times, and the power of community continues to drive the Drupal project forward.

Thanks to everyone participating in Drupal community events and the Event Organizer Working Group this year. We’re all important in keeping “... stay for the community” alive.

File attachments:  2024 Events by type.png EOWG 2024 Year in Review - Pie chart 1 - Pie.pdf

#! code: Drupal 11: Using Data Transfer Objects With The Queue API

When writing data to the queue database system Drupal will convert the information to a string using the PHP serialize() function. When the information is pulled out of the database the queue system will unserialize() the data to convert it back into the original information.

When you first start using the queue system you will probably use an array or the PHP stdClass object to store the information on your queue. Whilst this works, the information they contain is pretty free form and makes testing or working with the data a little cumbersome.

A much better way of storing data is by creating an object of a known type and using that as the storage medium for the queue.

This technique of using an object to pass data around different parts of your system is known as Data Transfer Objects (DTO). This allows you to present data in a unified way across your application. This is a design pattern that standardizes how a particular bit of data is passed around, without having to resort to using arrays to accomplish the same job.

In this article we will look at creating a DTO for use in the queue API in Drupal, and how the use of DTOs can protect our queue processing from errors by rejecting items from the queue.

All of the code seen in this article is available on the accompanying GitHub repository that shows a few examples of running the Queue API in Drupal.

Creating A DTO

A DTO in PHP is just a normal class, the key difference is that we use the readonly class (since PHP 8.2) syntax, which means that all properties can only be written once (in the constructor). We do this to prevent the data in the object from being altered after it is created.

It is generally a good idea to create interfaces for our objects so that we can check to make sure that

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Skynet Technologies USA LLC Blogs: Top factors influencing the cost of Migrating from Drupal 7 to 11 for your business!

Steps taken proactively are the ones that lead to positive outcomes! If a website’s migration from Drupal 7 to 11 is still pending, don’t wait now because Drupal 7's End-of-Life date is January 5, 2025. And after this deadline, websites running on Drupal 7 will be vulnerable in every aspect (security, functionality, and compliance). Drupal, a trusted content management system (CMS), has been a…

Droptica: How to Add Locations on Maps in Drupal? With Geofield and Leaflet Maps

In the following blog post, I’ll present a complete guide on creating a website with a map and vendor locations in Drupal. This solution is based on free tools such as OpenStreetMap, Geofield, and Leaflet modules. Most importantly, you don't need programming knowledge to achieve this effect - you can configure everything through the Drupal interface. I encourage you to read the article or watch the video in the ”Nowoczesny Drupal” series.

Drupal Association blog: Reflecting on Our Journey: HeroDevs in the Drupal World

The Drupal Association has published this guest blog on behalf of HeroDevs.

As the end-of-life (EOL) for Drupal 7 approaches on 5 January 2025, HeroDevs has embraced the challenge of stepping into the Drupal community and providing vital support for this well-loved but aging platform. Since onboarding our first customer in September, we’ve had the unique opportunity to assist organizations relying on Drupal 7. It’s been a year of learning, adapting, and preparing—a journey filled with both rewarding and challenging moments.

Engaging with the Drupal Community

Our journey into the Drupal world has been enriched by our participation in various community events. Over the past year, we’ve attended gatherings like DrupalCon Portland, GovCon, DrupalCamp Asheville, and BadCamp, where we’ve had the privilege of connecting with other Drupal professionals and sharing our insights. We’ve also taken to the stage at events like Drupal GovCon and EvolveDrupal in Atlanta to share our expertise and discuss strategies for navigating Drupal 7’s EOL.

These events have not only deepened our understanding of the community but also allowed us to build meaningful relationships with fellow developers, site owners, and contributors. The collective knowledge and passion within the Drupal ecosystem have been invaluable as we continue to refine our solutions and expand our support.

Our First User Case Study

One of our earliest adopters came to us with a critical need: ensuring the continued functionality of their mission-critical Drupal 7 site. They required consistent updates and security patches to maintain stability and compliance. By addressing these needs, we were able to keep their site secure and operational without disruption. This successful partnership laid the foundation for our approach to supporting Drupal 7 users and solidified our commitment to meeting their unique challenges.

Challenges We’ve Encountered

Entering the Drupal world has been an eye-opening experience. One of the most notable challenges has been understanding the diverse needs of Drupal 7 users. Each organization has its own use cases, custom modules, and integrations. Our initial onboarding revealed just how varied these needs could be, pushing us to adapt our processes and broaden our expertise.

Another significant hurdle was navigating the intricacies of Drupal 7’s ecosystem while ensuring that our solutions met the community’s high standards. For example, we discovered that certain modules had been neglected for years, with no clear documentation or consistent coding practices.

Adjustments We’ve Made

One of the most critical adjustments we’ve made has been streamlining our onboarding process. Early on, we faced minor issues like a typo in the curl script used to integrate our services. While the fix was straightforward, it highlighted the importance of rigorous testing and documentation. Today, our onboarding process is smooth, and all our early adopters have transitioned seamlessly to our solutions.

We’ve also refined our support model to include guidance for custom and legacy modules. While these aren’t covered under our standard SLA, providing tailored advice has helped our clients maintain compatibility and functionality across their tech stacks. This extra layer of support has strengthened our relationships with customers and reinforced their confidence in our solutions.

Preparing for the EOL

With the EOL for Drupal 7 fast approaching, our focus has been on ensuring a seamless transition for our clients. We’ve prioritized:

  • Proactive Module Maintenance: We’ve forked and maintained unsupported modules, addressing vulnerabilities and ensuring compatibility with evolving web standards.

  • Customer-Centric Support: By collaborating closely with our clients, we’ve been able to anticipate their needs and deliver solutions tailored to their unique requirements.

  • Comprehensive Testing: Every solution we implement undergoes rigorous testing to prevent issues and ensure long-term stability.

Looking Ahead

As we reflect on the past year, it’s clear that stepping into the Drupal world has been both a challenge and a privilege. We’ve learned to navigate an intricate ecosystem, adapt to the needs of a diverse user base, and provide robust support during a pivotal time for Drupal 7 users. Our commitment to keeping sites secure, functional, and future-ready has positioned us as a trusted partner in the community.

We’re excited to continue supporting our clients through the EOL transition and beyond. Whether it’s maintaining unsupported modules, addressing compatibility challenges, or providing expert guidance, HeroDevs is here to ensure that Drupal 7 users can move forward with confidence. Together, we’re proving that even as official support wanes, the Drupal community can thrive.

Drupal Starshot blog: A cookie cutter for a modern, flexible CMS' launch

Drupal has a long history of community-made plush toys, baby bibs, stress balls, tree ornaments, card games, the list goes on. But these were often hard to get. What if you could print it at home or a 3d printing service nearby?

I accidentally stumbled onto Klara Binon's work on a Drupal logo cookie cutter model. Asked her over the holidays to update it for the current Drupal (CMS) logo and now the updated cookie cutter model is available in the bgcode format. 

Klara also shared this recipe for cookies that keep their shape:

  • 150gr sugar
  • 50gr vanilla sugar
  • 200g salted butter
  • 1 egg
  • 400gr flour
  • Some grated lemon peel

Once baked, resulting cookies will look and taste great. Finish with your favourite icing! 

Wanna bring some to your local Drupal CMS launch parties?

Smartbees: Drupal Coding Standards

Adhering to specific programming standards while creating websites is key to project quality, security, and scalability. In this article, we will discuss the essence of these standards and show practices that allow for effective function implementation on the Drupal platform.

Skynet Technologies USA LLC Blogs: Drupal 7 to 11 Migration: Key Checklist and Challenges to Address

The Drupal platform has been a reliable choice from long for businesses and organizations seeking robust and customizable content management solutions. However, as technology evolves, so does the need for modernized systems. Since Drupal 11 is early, migration is inevitable. Importantly, migrating from Drupal 7 to 11 is more than just an upgrade. It’s a significant leap that brings new…

LN Webworks: Drupal 7 End Of Life: A Complete Guide To Next Steps

Drupal 7, the reliable platform that's been powering websites for quite a while, is getting ready to say goodbye. While Drupal 8 has already waved its farewell and Drupal 9 is counting down to its end in 2023, Drupal 7 is on the horizon with its end-of-life scheduled for January 5, 2025. So it would be wise to avail of Drupal migration services for better website performance.

In this blog, we'll take a closer look at what it means for Drupal 7 to reach the end of its life, and explore the path ahead for users of this platform. But first, let’s understand what “end-of-life” exactly means. 

Drupal 7 End Of Life (EOL): What It Means For User

The term "end-of-life" (EOL) signals the conclusion of official support for a specific software or product. It means that the software is no longer actively promoted, sold, or maintained. 

In the case of Drupal 7, this signifies that the Drupal community and its security team will cease to release security patches and updates after Drupal 7's official EOL date in November 2022.

The Drop Times: Future-Proofing Drupal with Uniform Composable DXP

In an ever-evolving digital landscape, Drupal’s robust backend capabilities remain a standout. Yet, many content teams still struggle with the platform’s limited built-in visual editing tools. Enter Uniform’s Visual Workspace—a ground-breaking solution that bridges this gap by combining Drupal’s tried-and-true backend strengths with a truly modern, intuitive frontend editing experience. This integration unlocks a new era of headless and composable digital experiences, enabling marketers and developers to deliver fast, personalized, and future-proof web properties.

The Drop Times: Pantheon Content Publisher: Working Back to the Roots of Innovation

In this interview, Chris Yates and Roland Benedetti of Pantheon discuss the innovative Content Publisher tool. Designed to integrate Google Docs with platforms like Drupal and WordPress, it streamlines workflows, supports multi-language content, and uses AI to optimize publishing processes. Explore how this tool transforms content operations for modern teams.

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