Drupal Forge enhances the Drupal ecosystem by providing a marketplace for ready-made sites, facilitating collaboration and quick site deployment.
The ECA VBO module simplifies site management in Drupal through code-free bulk operations, improving efficiency and easing version migrations.
Deep dives
Introduction to Drupal Forge
Drupal Forge is a marketplace for ready-made Drupal sites that enhances collaboration and open contribution within the Drupal community. This platform, launched by Darren Oh, offers users the ability to create instant demos of Drupal sites, facilitating evaluation and training. Users can save these sites and either choose to host them through Drupal Forge or deploy them to their own hosting solutions. The service aims to empower the community by allowing users to try out various Drupal configurations and purchase them as needed.
ECA VBO Module Overview
The ECA VBO module is a flexible tool designed for executing bulk operations in Drupal without the need to write code, making it particularly useful for users seeking efficient site management. The module allows users to define distinct models that specify actions for selected items in a view, such as changing content states or making changes based on certain conditions. It has gained traction within the community for its ability to simplify complex logic, replacing custom code with manageable models. Furthermore, integrating ECA VBO can ease migrations to newer Drupal versions by reducing reliance on lesser-maintained modules during upgrades.
Features and Benefits of Using Drupal Forge
One of the key features of Drupal Forge is its ability to allow users to spin up Drupal sites quickly, which streamlines the process for agencies and freelancers alike. The platform supports various types of Drupal sites and provides templates that help users quickly customize and launch their websites. Additionally, it offers a tiered pricing model that accommodates different needs, making it accessible for smaller projects without extensive budgets. Users can also benefit from partnership opportunities, where they can resell created sites and share revenue with both the Drupal Association and project maintainers.
Future Roadmap and Open Source Contributions
The future of Drupal Forge includes plans to enhance its offerings by integrating AI tools and expanding its hosting capabilities while maintaining a commitment to open source. There is an active pursuit of contributions from the community to help achieve various development goals, such as the enhancement of template functionalities and improved site management processes. Additionally, the project aims to build a revenue-sharing model that supports contributors and ensures sustainability for ongoing development. AsDrupal Forge expands, it is looking to involve more stakeholders to foster a community-driven ecosystem that benefits all participants.
Today we are talking about Drupal Forge, how it works, and why it’s changing Drupal with guest Darren Oh. We’ll also cover ECA VBO as our module of the week.
How old: created in May 2022 by mxh, a prolific maintainer in his own right, and an active member of the group that has made the ECA ecosystem so far-reaching
Versions available: 1.1.1 and 2.1.1, the latter of which supports ^10.3 || ^11
Maintainership
Actively maintained
Security coverage
Documentation: sort of. The README has step-by-step instructions, and the project page has links to both an example model and a tutorial video
Number of open issues: 7 open issues, 1 of which are bugs against the current branch
Usage stats:
320 sites
Module features and usage
With the module installed, your site will have a number of Events available within ECA, specifically for defining models that can perform bulk actions on the selected items in a view. In my own experience the most useful event is VBO: Execute Views bulk operation (one by one)
From there, you can define the logic of what needs to happen to the selected items. I’ve used it for fairly simple operations like changing content to a specific moderation state, but you could define complex logic that is conditional on field values, site configuration, or even global factors like the time of day
With one or more models defined, you can now add a field to your view for ECA bulk operations and then select which eligible models you want available in that specific view
It’s worth adding that the ECA model can also include logic to define who should have access to perform a particular operation, which could be as simple as checking the role of the current user, but can be as complex as you need
I came across ECA VBO during some recent work on the Drupal Event Platform, which is already available to try out on Drupal Forge, but there should be a more formal announcement on that front soon
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