Talking Drupal #461 - Distributions

July 29, 2024

Today we are talking about The Benefits of Distributions, If they have drawbacks, and what the future of distributions looks like with guest Rajab Natshah and Mohammed Razem. We’ll also cover Google Analytics Reports as our module of the week.

Listen:

direct Link

Topics

  • What is a distribution
  • How does this differ from profiles
  • What does Varbase provide
  • What types of users is Varbase geared towards
  • Paragraphs or Layout Builder
  • Vardoc
  • How do you overcome fear of lock-in
  • What do you think the future of distributions look like considering recipes
  • Any plans to move Varbase to recipes
  • Starshot

Resources

Module of the Week

Google Analytics Reports
  • Brief description:
    • Have you ever wanted to display Google Analytics charts directly within your Drupal website? There’s a module for that.
  • Module name/project name:
  • Brief history
    • Created in Apr 2011 by raspberryman, but recent releases are by today’s guest Rajab Natshah
    • Versions available include 7.x-3.2, 8.x-3.2, and 4.0.0, that last two of which support Drupal 10 and 11
  • Maintainership
    • Actively maintained, recent releases were less than a month ago
    • Security coverage
    • A documentation guide for older versions, and a README with detailed instructions to get it set up
    • Number of open issues: 76 open issues, 9 of which are bugs against the current branch
  • Usage stats:
    • 4,272 sites
  • Module features and usage
    • To set up this module, you first need to set up the API connection in the Google Developers Console, and download the client secret JSON
    • You’ll then upload that into the Google Analytics Report API submodule along with the property ID to enable the connection
    • Next, you need to install the Charts module, and either the Google Charts or Highcharts sub-module to see graphical reports
    • You will now have a new Google Analytics Summary in your site’s reports menu, and new "Google Analytics Reports Summary Block" and "Google Analytics Reports Page Block" blocks available
    • I haven’t had a chance to try the 4.0 version of this module yet, but I have used older versions with a variety of dashboard solutions, including Moderation Dashboard and Homebox
    • One of the many benefits of using a powerful, open source framework like Drupal to build your site is its ability to act as the “glass” for a variety of other systems, and this module is a perfect demonstration of that