FAQ in Drupal

1. I have logged in Drupal using a very cryptic password supplied to me in my email. How do I go about changing that?




• Once you have logged in click on "my account". Click on the "edit" tab. Follow the instructions as given in the "Password" field.




2. What is a node?




• A page or a story when created becomes a node. A node is identified by the node no. Hover over any page and check out the url. This will show the number assigned to the node as node/n where n is the no. of the node.




3. What is a role? How can I assign a role to a user?




• In Drupal access rights given to a user are controlled by the role he plays. Anonymous user and Authenticated user are the default roles created. Drupal admin can then create customised roles given them different access criteria. eg. Role A may be allowed read only access to the content. Role B can have read/write access to content.
• Users are assigned roles when they are created. Hence roles are assigned by the administrator by clicking on Adminster -> users -> edit a certain user. Modify the roles he plays.




4. What is a group? How can I assign a role to a group?




• The term group comes from an addon module for drupal through which access control can be fine grained. Users are assigned roles
  and admin can put these roles in groups. Whenever a user creates a node he can control access to that node by assigning view and edit permissions to the groups that he belongs to.
• Assigning a role requires adminstrative access. Go to adminster -> access control. Click on the tab of "simple access" where in you can edit an already created group or create a group and assign roles to it.




5. What is the difference between a page and a story in Drupal?




• Functionally speaking there is no difference between a page and a story in Drupal. Upon creation both are identified as nodes with their node nos. But considering access control the adminstrator can say that users should only be allowed to create stories and pages when created should be put in a moderation queue i.e. they would first be reviewed by the admin and then depending upon his decision desired action would be taken. When admin creates a page that can be directly published.




6. When I create a page which is very long and then see it I can only see a part of it. To view the whole part I have to click on read more. How do I change this?




• Upon the creation of a page if the page exceeds a pre set limit by drupal it shows only a part of the text and urges you to click on a link to view the entire page. This can be overriden. Click on edit and at the end of your page enter this word - . This basically tells drupal to break the page at this point. Putting this word at the end would break it and the end and hence the entire page would be displayed.




7. I do not want users to put comments on my page. How can I do that?




• When you create a page at the very end there is this link of Comment settings. Depending upon user prefrences this can be set to read, read/write or disable comments.




8. What is a menu? Is menu different from a block




• A menu is a section that is created by a user which can diverge into different sub - sections which in turn can have their own sub sections upto the point where we reach the lowest level of a page.
• A top level menu when created becomes a block.A block is simply the highest level of the menu. Currently there is a block Project Control which is also the highest level of the menu Project Control. In short create a menu and a block is created automatically. Activate the block and the menu becomes visible.




9. How do I activate a block?




• This requires administrative privileges. As soon as a menu is created is becomes an inactive block. In order for the block to be visible click on administer -> blocks. Just check the box that you want to activated and then save the settings.




10. I cannot access a node which someone else can.Why is that?




• Most probably because that menu's block has not been configured to be viewable to your username.
• The other reason might be because the template that you have chosen is not displaying that section which is a limitation of template in itself. Change the template the current default which is blue marine and if still you cannot see the section this means that the block settings are customised.
11. Every page I create goes to the front page. I want to control that part. I do not want to give users the permission to publish their pages directly. I want them to be confirmed by the admin before being published




• Whenever we create a page in Drupal in addition to the various options of access , menu settings there is a link for "Publishing options" . Clicking on it brings out 4 check box options
  1. Published - Directly publish this page when it is created
  2. In moderation queue - Put in a moderation queue and when admin edits it and puts the publishing option as "Published" then publish it
  3. Promoted to front page - Promote this page to the front page
  4. Sticky at top of lists - When a page has been promoted to front page and the need arises to put another page on the front page and you dont want the first one to be bumped down by the newer one check the option for "Sticky at top of lists" for the first one.
• Check off the option for "Promote to Front Page" if you do not wish to display the current page on the front page
• Check on the option for "In moderation queue" if you want the pages to be put in a queue and only be published after approval from a user who has the access control to adminster nodes. The privileged user can then adminster -> content and approve the selected posts




12. I do not want the line "Submitted by (username) on (timestamp)" for a page but want that setting on when someone creates a story




You need to have admin rights to do the same. As admin if you go to "administer -> theme -> (curent selected theme) -> Global settings" There is a section on right called "Dispaly post information." Checking on the appropriate content types will toggle on the display of the "Submitted by (username) on (timestamp)"