georgia tech drupal users group - local drupal development

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

Local Dev Environments

Building Drupal websites in a local environment.

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• What is a local development environment?• Local development environments:

• Acquia Dev Desktop• LAMP/MAMP/WAMP• Old School Roll Outs

• Resource Links• Questions, Comments?

Game Plan

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

IntroductionLocal environment?

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• Local is a web development environment that exists only on your computer.• Not accessible from any other computer• All files are stored on your computer• All settings are set from your computer

What is ‘Local’?

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• Local Web Development is ideal for:• Module and theme creation and editing• Proof-of-concept websites• Early website development• Testing new functionality• Testing changes

Benefits (1)

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• If something goes wrong, you can simply delete the development website on your machine and start over!

Benefits (2)

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• A local environment is composed of four primary components:• Files and folders (Windows, Mac, or Linux)• Server application (Apache)• Database application (MySQL)• PHP programming language (PHP)!

• The combination of these environments is known as a WAMP/MAMP/LAMP stack.

Local Environment

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• The server application acts as:• Gatekeeper for who gets permissions to specific folders and files

• Enabling and disabling of modules• Caching• PHP!

• Commonly used application is Apache

Server

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• The database application acts as:• Gatekeeper for settings and variables for web applications like Drupal!

• Commonly used application is MySQL

Database

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• PHP acts as:• Programming language to build web application such as Drupal

PHP

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• The files and folders act as:• The ‘content’ of your website

Files and Folders

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Local Dev OptionsThree options, ordered from ease-of-use

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

Acquia Dev DesktopBy far the easiest to use for local Drupal development

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Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• Acquia Dev Desktop is a free application for creating and maintaining local Drupal websites.• Runs on Windows and Mac• Regularly updated and maintained!

• Acquia Dev Desktop is the easiest WAMP/MAMP stack to set up, configure, and use for Drupal websites.

Acquia Dev Desktop

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• Acquia Dev Desktop is ideal for:• Easy one-click Drupal website creation and deletion

• Basic (default) database and server configuration

Ideal Uses

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

Screenshot

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

LAMP/MAMP/WAMPMore versatile environments for local Drupal development

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Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• AMP Stacks are preconfigured applications for your operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux) that automatically install and configure a database, web server, and PHP. • Does not automatically install Drupal• Allows for more flexibility and configuration options

AMP Stacks

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• AMPs are ideal for:• Custom configuration web servers running Drupal• e.g. Drupal + ImageMagick

• Web server concurrently running multiple services• e.g. Wordpress and Drupal

Ideal Uses

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

• Windows • ?

• Mac • MAMP & MAMP Pro

• Linux • ?

Suggested Apps

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

Custom RolloutGoing old-school, huh?

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Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

•Custom rollouts allow fine-tune control over the choice of AMP components and their configuration options.

• Involves setting up each of the pieces of a AMP piecemeal

!

•Usually involves building a virtual machine (VM) to house the AMP

Custom

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

•Custom rollouts are ideal for:•Non-traditional web applications•Porting to a non-traditional web server•Niche (or picky) web applications

Ideal Uses

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

DemoUsing Acquia Dev Desktop

Eric Scott Sembrat Georgia Institute of Technology

ResourcesWant to learn more?