DrupalCon London 2011: ENTITIES - EMERGING PATTERNS OF USAGE

Presented by
Ronald Ashri
Entities are a powerful new abstraction introduced in Drupal 7 that can provide new ways to approach and resolve several often-encountered development problems. Questions remain though as to when and how entities can best be put to use.

We believe that to a large extent answers can be found by studying and comparing existing modules that make use of entities such as Commerce, Organic Groups, Message and Media as well as looking at the modules that enhance core entity functionality such as Entity and Relationship.

This session is about taking a step back and analysing what the community is doing - what solutions are emerging in contrib and what lessons can be learned. We try to pinpoint commonalities and differences in approach alongside an identification of the relative pros and cons so as to inform further development.

As such, the session is very practical in purpose aiming to give coders information they can use directly in their own projects and it is very pragmatic in approach - basing claims of what is best practice from the usage patterns that emerge in contrib and their analysis rather than potentially subjective opinions.

We will also present the Model Entities project - a drupal.org project whose purpose is to act as a living example of what constitutes best practice and allow developer to kickstart entity development in their own projects.

Intended audience
Drupal developers and Drupal architects that are considering how they could use entities in their own development projects.

Questions answered by this session
When and how should I use entities in my own project?

How are other modules using entities and what lessons can be learned from that?

What are the modules that can help me to develop with Entities and enhance their functionality?

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