Drupal as a data server
- 1. Drupal as a Data Server Using Headless Drupal
- 2. First, a look at browsers Browsers work with HTML The browser makes a request to a URL The server returns HTML for that URL HTML contains both data and structure The browser interprets the HTML as a web page
- 3. Browser Makes Request Drupal generates HTML Browser interprets HTML as web page
- 4. Headless Drupal Some application makes a request to a URL The URL returns data (no structure) JSON XML Plist etc The application processes the data Wraps it in HTML Saves it to a database Inserts it into a view in an app etc
- 5. App Makes Request to Drupal Drupal generates Data App processes data
- 6. Using JavaScript frameworks with Headless Drupal Initial HTML and JS is served from non-Drupal application JavaScript requests data (JSON etc) from Drupal Javascript wraps response in HTML and inserts it to browser Advantages: Can build applications not requiring page reloads Data transfer is pure data (JSON etc) without structure (HTML), making data transfer much faster Disadvantages Need to make two systems work together (Drupal + other system, ex Angular)
- 7. Using Mobile Apps with Headless Drupal App holds all page structures App requests data (JSON etc) from Drupal Application inserts data into page structure Advantages (over mobile browser app): As page structure (layout, fonts etc) do not need to be downloaded, apps are faster than a mobile website Disadvantages Often requires separate developer for apps Two systems need to be maintained
- 8. Drupal Process Drupal separates data generation from presentation When Drupal is used as a webserver, the generated data is ‘wrapped’ in HTML When Drupal is used as a data server (ex REST server) the data is ‘wrapped’ in a data format (JSON, XML etc)
- 9. Drupal generates data Browser App Data wrapped in HTML Data wrapped in JSON/XML/etc
- 10. Components of a data server Authentication The method to identify the user Oauth OAuth2 (used by Google, Twitter Instagram etc) Sessions Endpoint The URL from which data can be retrieved Resources Retrieve data or perform an action Response formatters JSON XML Plist
- 11. Drupal 7 – Services module The Services module is used to create data servers in Drupal 7 Services 7.3 ships with: Servers REST XMLRPC Authentication OAuth Sessions Resources Multiple core resources – node, taxonomy, user etc Data Formatters Bencode JSON JSONP PHP XML
- 12. Drupal 7 – Services module Additional modules can be downloaded to extend services. Some examples: Servers SOAP server (https://www.drupal.org/project/soap_server) Authentication OAuth2 (https://www.drupal.org/project/oauth2_server) Resources User points (https://www.drupal.org/project/userpoints) Data formatters REST Server plist (https://www.drupal.org/project/rest_server_plist)
- 13. Extending Services hook_services_resources() http://www.drupalcontrib.org/api/drupal/contributions!s ervices!docs!services.services.api.php/function/hook_ services_resources/7 Allows for adding new resources and actions Systems can provide custom data
- 14. Drupal 8 – Services is in core Drupal 8 ships with: HTTP Basic Authentication HTTP Authentication Username and Password sent as HTTP headers Cookie Uses cookies
- 15. Drupal 8 – Services is in core Drupal 8 ships with: RESTful Services (REST server)
- 16. Drupal 8 – Services is in core Drupal 8 ships with: HAL – provides HAL-JSON serialization Serialization Supports JSON and XML Additional methods provided through the Serialization API
- 17. Thank you! Check out my podcast at https://www.sensei-and-the- geek.com/