Flirting with Androids

So yeah... I was told that the organization I work for will buy me a new phone a few weeks ago. This is like taking a three year old to Toys R Us and telling them that they can only... have... one. So, naturally I spent the next few days (okaaaay... next week) looking at the phones that were out on the major carriers, and took a look at the phones that were expected to be released in the coming weeks, both rumored and confirmed.

I settled on waiting for the newest Android phone coming from Sprint, the Samsung Moment, because of what looked like a nice side sliding keyboard, and a best in class 800Mhz processor, but wanted to hold it in my hand before I took the plunge. It turns out that waiting to test this bad boy out was the right move.

With all due respect to Android, the problems that you may have read about it in regards being a little slow to respond at times are true. Even with that monster processor, Android had noticeable delays while handling simple tasks, an issue that you don't see in either Windows Mobile 6.5, or Palm's WebOS (or the iPhone for that matter). We will find out in a few days whether this will be less of an issue with the upcoming Verizon Droid, which comes with a much slower processor (550 Mhz) but is the first phone to come out with the revamped Android 2.0. Regardless, the phone that I had considered as a backup ended up exceeding my expectations, and I'm not waiting any longer to get a new phone.

While I lust after the future possibilities of Android (give me a sleeker version of the Droid, with one of those 1Ghz snapdragon processors and an OS thats a bit snappier... I'll be in line on opening day) Samsung's candy bar (shaped like a Blackberry) Windows Mobile phone has everything I need and then some.

Enter the Samsung Intrepid...

I owned a side slider with an older version of Windows Mobile a few years back, and I'll tell ya, WinMo 6.5 is an enormous improvement. It has everything I'm looking for in a phone, as there are literally tens of thousands of apps you can download for WinMo, both paid and free, its snappy, stylish and does everything I need it to do.

Most importantly, it has one of the best keyboards on any phone I've ever played with. Some reviewers have called it cheap feeling, but I thought the clicks were solid, the keys were huge in comparison to phones with similar layouts (the phone is quite wide and the keyboard covers the whole width) and the keys had a bit of a rubbery feel to them that reminded me of my old Palm Treo. I text, update, email and even occasionally blog from my phone... so they keyboard is the most important thing for me. I was typing away at nearly the same speed as I can on my Treo now in a matter of 3o seconds once the Intrepid was in my hand. Besides... and maybe this is because I was a bit of a Trekkie when I was a kid... I like the idea of being able to say my phone is called an 'Intrepid', hahaha.

If you're wondering why I am just looking at Sprint phones... Verizon is great and all, and has measurably better service in my experience, but isn't worth the extra cost (even when the company is paying for it). On top of that, Verizon just decided to double their early termination fees. As if the world isn't nickel and diming us enough... I have never made it the whole two years before upgrading to a new phone, so this is no small deal for me. Hopefully this shady move wont spread to Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile and the like...

So! Keep flirting with Android kids. If you're more concerned with the cool factor than function, then maybe its for you. But if you're like me (aka... your smartphone doubles as an extension of your brain) and don't have the patience for the quirky issues they're still working out, then I'd say stick with the Palm Pre (if you're fingers aren't too big, like mine). iPhone (if you don't need a keyboard at all) or a nicer WinMo phone.

Another website launched with Drupal

I just got done putting up my second website using Drupal as the CMS.  The site can be found at http://www.maywoodband.com.  This site is home to my band, Maywood.  It includes both public and private forums, picture and video galleries, and a customized theme.  And it took me only two days of work to get running.  To anyone who says that Drupal is hard to work with, I say: Two Days.  Not bad for a “steep learning curve”.

Drupal Notes – My Project

So I’m posted a boatload of entries about Drupal, but why am I learning all about it? Well, first of all, it’s friggin’ sweet, but that’s not why I got interested to begin with. I’ve got a project, and I want to get it to the web quickly.

Enter Drupal.

One of my good friends, and occasional contributor to this blog, Sol Kleinsmith, turned me on to the idea of open source content management systems. He chewed my ear off one night over beer and wine about Drupal, I did some research, and was immediately hooked. Ha! Hooked! I’m making Drupal jokes already! (see some of the other posts about Drupal to … well… see how big of a nerd I just was.)

One of the things I was looking for was the ability to extend functionality. My project involves storing, retrieving, and comparing information about different computer systems. Obviously this is pretty specific, and there’s no built in functionality that can be used to achieve this in Drupal. Custom Modules are going to have to be written.

So if you continue to read these posts, you’ll learn how to put together a new custom Module that takes in and stores information in a MySQL database, makes it searchable, compares like information, and displays it in a readable, customizable fashion. Pretty much anything and everything you can do with Drupal, I’m going to try to do.

If you want to check out my work, click on the link below:

Side-by-Side Geek

And if you’re feeling brave, sign up and start posting in the forums!

Drupal Notes – Modules – Creating the Files

Creating a new Module is as simple as creating a handful of files, as long as you know what to call them and where they should be placed. Oh, and you have to know PHP. Details, details…

If you’ve explored the directory structure of your Drupal installation, you might have found a few directories of interest. Specifically, there’s a modules directory in the root of your Drupal installation, which holds the Drupal core modules. You might have also found the sites/all/modules directory. This is where you want to work when writing and installing custom Modules.

When creating a new Module, there are a handful of standard files that are generated. When you write a new Module, the first thing you do is give it a short but meaningful name. For this example, we’ll use the name “modulename”.

The first time you create a new Module, you’ll need to create some directories in the sites/all/modules directory. In order to make changes and updates to downloaded Modules easier, you’ll probably want to create a custom directory. Then, inside the custom directory, create a directory, named after the Module, for each custom Module you’re creating. So, in our case, we’ll be creating a modulename directory. So we end up with:

sites/all/modules/custom/modulename

Once you get the directories all set up, you’ll create the following basic files:

Readme.txt . . . This file describes what your Module does, just in case someone else has to take over maintenance.

modulename.info . . . This file provides information to the Drupal Core about the new Module. We’ll get more into the use and structure of this file later.

modulename.module . . . This is where the meat of the module will reside. Hooks are implemented here. This is another that we’ll get into in greater detail in a future blog entry. Just know for now that you’ll be spending a lot of time in this file.

modulename.admin.inc . . . This file isn’t mandatory, but if you have any kind of configuration in your module, you’ll probably me creating this file. It holds information about administrative forms. Stay tuned for more on this file.

So there really isn’t too much to creating a simple Drupal Module. I’ll get much, much deeper into development in future posts. Keep reading and learn as I do!

Drupal Notes – Terminology

Before we get started with development, there are some terms that need to be defined. It’s important that we keep these concepts straight, because it can get pretty confusing if we don’t. So here are some terms and concepts that we’ll need to know before going any further:

Modules . . . The most fundamental concept in Drupal development is the Module. A Module, to put it simply, is a container of code that introduces some sort of behavior to the system. For example, there is a Module that handles Ad Sense publishing. There is a Module that allows you to run forums. There is a Module for blogging. Modules can be enabled and disabled (except for certain modules that are required to run the basic Drupal framework). Custom functionality is added to Drupal by way of custom Modules.

Hooks . . . In order to let Drupal know about newly added functionality, we use Hooks. If you’ve done any event-based programming in the past, you’ve probably heard of callback functions. For those new to the idea, basically what you’re doing is letting a control loop know about functions you’ve written to handle certain events. That’s what Drupal’s Hook system is all about. When you define a Hook function, you’re letting Drupal know you’ve written a function that handles a certain circumstance. I’ll get into a lot more detail in a future entry, but just know for now that Hooks are how you integrate your code with the Drupal core code.

Themes . . . When it comes to presenting information on the web, there are really two parts to the story. There’s the information you’re presenting and then there’s the format you’re presenting it in. That’s where Drupal Themes come in. Themes can be thought of as the presentation part of the system. They define, through HTML markup and CSS code, how the data is displayed on your users’ browser. Again, more detail to come, but know that you should have a good working knowledge of HTML, CSS, and PHP in order to effectively work with Drupal Themes.

Nodes . . . If Modules contain code for dealing with events, hooks define those events, and Themes define presentation, then Nodes define the actual types of content Drupal can deal with. I know this can be a little confusing, and you’re probably wondering why the designers of Drupal would take this approach. Basically, it allows content types to exist independently of functionality, and allows you to apply any functionality to any content you like. Believe me, it’s very cool, and after you get past any confusion, you’ll really like it.

Blocks . . . So how do you take all that great information in your Nodes, press it through the code in your Modules, and display it on the screen? Through Blocks, of course! Well, maybe it’s not that obvious, but that’s how it’s done. Blocks are regions where information is displayed. An example of a block from the Drupal Core would be the Login Block, where you enter your login information. The Block displays a login prompt when no-one is logged in, then displays a menu of options that is dependent on your level of access.

Drupal Notes Series

Over the past few months, I’ve been working on a website project in my spare time.  In order to speed up deployment of the site, I decided to use Drupal.

While Drupal, with all it’s addons and plugins and themes, is a very complete system for people making community portals, e-commerce websites, internal intranets, and many other flavors of website, it doesn’t quite handle the concept of my project.  Because of this, I’m going to be learning how to extend Drupal’s basic functionality.

In order to make my life a bit easier, I purchased a copy of Pro Drupal Development, Second Edition.  I’m hoping the book can help me figure out how to properly and cleanly add the functionality I’m looking for.  I thumbed through it, and things look promising.

So, in the spirit of sharing, I’m going to be posting my personal notes on Drupal development.  I’ll post one installment every week, Monday morning at around 8am.  I’m going to cover everything from how to set up your initial installation to how to add custom modules.

Zune HD – And Drool All Over my Keyboard

As the release date for the new Zune HD (September 15th, in case you’ve been living under a rock) closes in, I thought I’d provide a link to Engadget’s Zune HD Hub. It’s full of videos, articles, and all sorts of Zune eye candy. Enjoy!