Various
features and functions are provided by distributions for specific sites and can
be customized accordingly. The ways of Utilizing, Upgrading and Customizing are
discussed below.
Utilizing Distribution
Distributing
Drupal is mostly the first step done by a Drupal developer during the process
of developing a site. The easiest way to use a distribution is by starting the
installation process in Drupal from the scratch without having any leftover
data from the last installation.
Once
the initial installation is done the Drupal developers can access other sources
and migrate in content from them. The Drupal developer may use one or more
already existing websites too, to carry content from.
Migrating
content from various assorted pages to the pages present in the new website is
almost as simple as copying data from the old site and pasting it to the new
site. But for sites which have content above the average size then scripts to
customize the process of migration have to be written or even already existing
modules of Drupal such as Migrate, Feeds etc can be used.
Methods of Upgrading
An
already existing Drupal page with huge content or/and a database of users with
customizable elements can be carried over by directly upgrading the site by the
Drupal developer in such a way that it can use the distribution directly. This process
used by some of the Drupal developers has helped them in saving a lot of time
taken to migrate content. But the Drupal developers faced certain challenges
when this type of process was employed. Drupal programmers recommend the
process of upgrading the content only if the Drupal developers have time to
troubleshoot and customize the migrated content.
Tackling Issues during
Upgrading
Configurations
of a Drupal site can be exported to another as most distributions are built
using the module called ‘Features’. These configurations include content types,
fields, views, and so on and these components are integrated into the code
which will enable these components on multiple sites.
When
components like content types and fields are being exported by the Drupal programmer to a new site then these components have to be marked with labels
called as ‘Machine Names’. This Machine Name given by the Drupal programmer
will remain the same for these components in whichever site they are integrated
on and this is a way to keep a track of these components as well as to avoid
inconsistencies in naming.
When
a distribution is installed from the scratch then the Drupal programmers can be
sure that an inconsistency will not arise due to conflict but if the Drupal
programmer has converted a site into a one which is based on distribution then an
inconsistency may arise due to the conflict created by two components with the
same name. To avoid adding a component with a name which an already present
component has, the Machine Name is used. When such an error happens then the
task of resolving the problem for the Drupal developers becomes extremely
toiling. When distribution creates a field with a new field name and if the new
field name is used by an already existing field of a different type than the
one being created newly by the distribution.
If
these issues are addressed properly then upgrading distributions can be vitally
utilized.
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