Drupal 8 in 2 steps

Drupal 8 is the latest version of Drupal, a modern, PHP 5.4-boasting, REST-capable, object-oriented powerhouse. The concepts are still the same as the previous versions but the approach is now different. Drupal 8 comes with a modern Object Oriented Programming (OOP) approach to most parts of the system thanks to the use of the Symfony2 framework.

I took part in the Drupalcon in Amsterdam and I enjoyed a number of really interesting talks about Drupal 8, among those ‘Drupal 8: The Crash Course’ realized and presented by Larry Garfield. In this post the idea is to recap few key points of his talk as I think they are important to fully understand the basics of this new Drupal version. In case you are interested you can also watch the full talk.

How do I define a module?

In Drupal 8 to define a module we need only a YAML (.info.yml) file:

/modules/d8_example_module/d8_example_module.info.yml

name: D8 Test Module
description: D8 Test Module
type: module
core: 8.x
package: Custom

In Drupal 8 the .module file is not required anymore, so with only the .info.yml file the module is ready to be enabled.

How do I make a page?

Start creating a controller extending the ControllerBase class and return the output of the page:

/modules/d8_example_module/src/Controller/D8ExampleModuleController.php

namespace Drupal\d8_example_module\Controller;

use Drupal\Core\Controller\ControllerBase;

class D8ExampleModuleController extends ControllerBase {

  public function test_page($from, $to) {
    $message = $this->t('%from to %to', [
      '%from' => $from,
      '%to' => $to,
    ]);

    return ['#markup' => $message];
  }
}

Once this is done, within the .routing.yml file we can define the path, the controller, the title and the permissions:

/modules/d8_example_module/d8_example_module.routing.yml

d8_example_module.test_page:
  path: '/test-page/{from}/{to}'
  defaults:
    _controller: 'Drupal\d8_example_module\Controller\D8ExampleModuleController::test_page'
    _title: 'Test Page!'
  requirements:
    _permission: 'access content'

How do I make content themeable?

We still have the hook_theme() function to define our theme:

/modules/d8_example_module/d8_example_module.module

/**
 * Implements hook_theme().
 */
function d8_example_module_theme() {
  $theme['d8_example_module_page_theme'] = [
    'variables' => ['from' => NULL, 'to' => NULL],
    'template' => 'd8-theme-page',
  ];

  return $theme;
}

For the template page Drupal 8 uses Twig, a third-party template language used by many PHP projects. For more info about Twig have a look at Twig in Drupal 8. One of the cool parts of Twig is that we can do string translation directly in the template file:

/modules/d8_example_module/template/d8-theme-page.html.twig

<section>
  {% trans %}
    <strong>{{ from }}</strong> to <em>{{ to }}</em>
  {% endtrans %}
</section>

And then we assign the theme to the page:

/modules/d8_example_module/src/Controller/D8ExampleModuleController.php

namespace Drupal\d8_example_module\Controller;

use Drupal\Core\Controller\ControllerBase;

class D8ExampleModuleController extends ControllerBase {

  public function test_page($from, $to) {
    return [
      '#theme' => 'd8_example_module_page_theme',
      '#from' => $from,
      '#to' => $to,
    ];
  }
}

How do I define a variable?

Drupal 8 has a whole new configuration system that uses human-readable YAML (.yml) text files to store configuration items. For more info have a look at Managing configuration in Drupal 8.

We define variables in config/install/*.settings.yml:

/modules/d8_example_module/config/install/d8_example_module.settings.yml

default_count: 3

The variables will be stored in the database during the installation of the module. We define the schema for the variables in config/schema/*.settings.yml:

/modules/d8_example_module/config/schema/d8_example_module.settings.yml

d8_example_module.settings:
  type: mapping
  label: 'D8 Example Module settings'
  mapping:
    default_count:
      type: integer
      label: 'Default count'

How do I make a form?

To create a form we extend a ConfigFormBase class:

/modules/d8_example_module/src/Form/TestForm.php

namespace Drupal\d8_example_module\Form;

use Drupal\Core\Form\ConfigFormBase;
use Drupal\Core\Form\FormStateInterface;

class TestForm extends ConfigFormBase {
  public function getFormId() {
    return 'test_form';
  }

  public function buildForm(array $form, FormStateInterface $form_state) {
    $config = $this->config('d8_example_module.settings');

    $form['default_count'] = [
      '#type' => 'number',
      '#title' => $this->t('Default count'),
      '#default_value' => $config->get('default_count'),
    ];
    return parent::buildForm($form, $form_state);
  }

  public function submitForm(array &$form, FormStateInterface $form_state) {
    $config = $this->config('d8_example_module.settings');
    $config->set('default_count', $form_state->getValue('default_count'));
    $config->save();
    parent::submitForm($form, $form_state);
  }
}

Then within the .routing.yml file we can define the path, the form, the title and the permissions:

/modules/d8_example_module/d8_example_module.routing.yml

d8_example_module.test_form:
  path: /admin/config/system/test-form
  defaults:
    _form: 'Drupal\d8_example_module\Form\TestForm'
    _title: 'Test Form'
  requirements:
    _permission: 'configure_form'

We use another YAML file (.permissions.yml) to define permissions:

/modules/d8_example_module/d8_example_module.permissions.yml

'configure_form':
  title: 'Access to Test Form'
  description: 'Set the Default Count variable'

We also use another YAML file (.links.menu.yml) to define menu links:

/modules/d8_example_module/d8_example_module.links.menu.yml

d8_example_module.test_form:
  title: 'Test Form'
  description: 'Set the Default Count variable'
  route_name: d8_example_module.test_form
  parent: system.admin_config_system

How do I make a block?

To create a block we extend a ConfigFormBase class:

/modules/d8_example_module/src/Plugin/Block/TestBlock.php

namespace Drupal\d8_example_module\Plugin\Block;

use Drupal\Core\Block\BlockBase;

/**
 * Test Block.
 *
 * @Block(
 *   id = "test_block",
 *   admin_label = @Translation("Test Block"),
 *   category = @Translation("System")
 * )
 */
class TestBlock extends BlockBase {

  public function build() {
    return [
      '#markup' => $this->t('Block content...'),
    ];
  }
}

In this way the block is ready to be configured in the CMS (/admin/structure/block). Here is an example of a more complex block:

namespace Drupal\d8_example_module\Plugin\Block;

use Drupal\Core\Block\BlockBase;
use Drupal\Core\Form\FormStateInterface;

/**
 * Test Block.
 *
 * @Block(
 *   id = "test_block",
 *   admin_label = @Translation("Test Block"),
 *   category = @Translation("System")
 * )
 */
class TestBlock extends BlockBase {

  public function defaultConfiguration() {
    return ['enabled' => 1];
  }

  public function blockForm($form, FormStateInterface $form_state) {
    $form['enabled'] = [
      '#type' => 'checkbox',
      '#title' => $this->t('Configuration enabled'),
      '#default_value' => $this->configuration['enabled'],
    ];

    return $form;
  }

  public function blockSubmit($form, FormStateInterface $form_state) {
    $this->configuration['enabled'] = (bool)$form_state->getValue('enabled');
  }

  public function build() {
    if ($this->configuration['enabled']) {
      $message = $this->t('Configuration enabled');
    }
    else {
      $message = $this->t('Configuration disabled');
    }
    return [
      '#markup' => $message,
    ];
  }
}

Structure of a module

The structure of a module should look like the example module d8_example_module:

d8_example_module/
 |
 |- config/
   |
   |- install/
     |
     |- d8_example_module.setting.yaml
     |
     |- schema/
       |
       |- d8_example_module.settings.yaml
 |
 |- src/
   |
   |- Controller/
     |
     |- D8ExampleModuleController.php
   |
   |- Form/
     |
     |- TestForm.php
   |
   |- Plugin/
     |
     |- Block/
       |
       |- TestBlock.php
 |
 |- templates/
   |
   |- d8-theme-page.html.twig
 |
 |- d8_example_module.info.yml
 |
 |- d8_example_module.links.menu.yml
 |
 |- d8_example_module.module
 |
 |- d8_example_module.permissions.yml
 |
 |- d8_example_module.routing.yml

Drupal 8 in 2 steps: Extend a base Class or implement an Interface and tell Drupal about it.

Download the example module

Updates:

19th January 2015
- The code in this post has been updated to reflect changes in Drupal 8 Beta 4. Thanks to Geoff Lawrence for the updates to the example repo.

Drupal 8 in 2 steps

How do I define a module?

How do I make a page?

How do I make content themeable?

How do I define a variable?

How do I make a form?

How do I make a block?

Structure of a module

Join our team

Gabriele Manna

Comments

How do I define a module?

How do I make a page?

How do I make content themeable?

How do I define a variable?

How do I make a form?

How do I make a block?

Structure of a module

Related Posts

Join our team

Gabriele Manna

Comments