Better Practice, Dec. 2018

http://www.phparch.com \ December 2018 \ 19

The Flexibility of Drupal 8

Putting it All Together

No single method can be considered the “right” method to

customize Drupal. Instead, the right method depends on the

circumstances of the build. Both the skill and the experience

level of the team must be considered, as well as the amount

of time available to make the customization. If skill levels are

high and there is enough time to devote to the customization,

it may well make sense to use a service. However, if time is

short, a better use of time may be to find and install a module

that another Drupal user has created.

Regardless of what customization we seek, the methods

and principles described in this article can be adapted to

accomplish it. For example, content structure, user function-

ality, and display of any element can all be customized using

any of the six methods. It is important to note, however, that

there are even more than six ways to customize a menu or any

other feature, each with their own set of pros and cons. That is

the beauty of working with a flexible framework like Drupal.

Michael Miles has been working with

PHP since 2004. He is the V.P. of Technology

for the digital marketing agency Genuine,

where he helps lead, scope, architect and

build many of the development projects. He

speaks at technology conferences around the

world and is also the host of the development

career focused podcast DevelopingUp.

@mikemiles86

Listing 7

1. <?php


2. /**


3. 
   
   
   
   • @file
   
   
   
   


4. 
   
   
   
   • This file defines a custom service to be used when generating
   
   
   
   


5. 
   
   
   
   • Drupal menus. Replaces the core MenuLinkTree service class
   
   
   
   


6. 
   
   
   
   • and overrides the build() method.
   
   
   
   


7. 
   
   
   
   • 
     
   
   
   
   


8. 
   
   
   
   • modules/custom/sweet/src/SweetMenuLinkTree.php
   
   
   
   


9. */


10. 
    


11. namespace Drupal\sweet;


12. 
    


13. use Drupal\Core\Menu\MenuLinkTree;


14. use Drupal\Core\Url;


15. 
    


16. /**


17. 
    
    
    
    • Custom implementation of MenuLinkTree Service.
    
    
    
    


18. */


19. class SweetMenuLinkTree extends MenuLinkTree {


20. 
    


21. // Overrides \Drupal\Core\Menu\MenuLinkTree::build().


22. public function build(array $tree) {


23. // Call parent build method.


24. $build = parent::build($tree);


25. // Are there menu items and is this going to be the main menu?


26. if (isset($build['#items']) && $build['#theme'] == 'menu__main') {


27. // Loop through each build item.


28. foreach ($build['#items'] as $key => &$item ) {


29. // Pointing to /contact


30. if ($item['url']->toString() == '/contact') {


31. // Attempt to get a random recipe.


32. if ($recipe = $this->getRandomRecipeUrl()) {


33. // Alter the title to be 'Mystery Meal'.


34. $item['title'] = 'Mystery Meal';


35. // Alter the URL attribute.


36. $item['url'] = $recipe;


37. // Update active trail.


38. $item['in_active_trail'] = FALSE;


39. // Get current page route name.


40. $current_route = \Drupal::routeMatch()->getRouteName();


41. // Set active trail attribute to true if active to menu url.


42. if ($current_route == $recipe->getRouteName()) {


43. $item['in_active_trail'] = TRUE;


44. }


45. // Save as a new item with a different id.
    46. $build['#items']['sweet.mystery'] = $item;
    47. // Remove 'Contact' menu item.
    48. unset($build['#items'][$key]);
    49. }
    50. }
    51. }
    52. }
    53.
    54. // Return the build array.
    55. return $build;
    56. }
    57.
    58. /*
    59. Retrieves a random node of type Recipe.
    60. */
    61. private function getRandomRecipeUrl() {
    62. $recipe_url = false;
    63.
    64. // Build a select query on the node field table
    65. $query = \Drupal::database()->select('node_field_data', 'n')
    66. // Going to retrieve the node id.
    67. ->fields('n', ['nid'])
    68. // Only retrieve nodes of type recipe.
    69. ->condition('type', 'recipe')
    70. // Only published nodes.
    71. ->condition('status', 1 )
    72. // Only retrieve one result
    73. ->range( 0 , 1 )
    74. // Sort in a random order.
    75. ->orderRandom();
    76.
    77. $results = $query->execute()->fetchCol();
    78.
    79. // Found a recipe node?
    80. if (!empty($results)) {
    81. // Get the nid value
    82. $nid = array_pop($results);
    83. // Generate URL object.
    84. $recipe_url = new Url( 'entity.node.canonical', ['node' => $nid]);
    85. }
    86.
    87. return $recipe_url;
    88. }
    89. }

Related Reading

• Drupal for Symfony Developers
  by Antonio Perić-Mažar. February 2018.
  https://www.phparch.com/magazine/2018-2/february/


• Drupal 8 Module Development
  by Nicola Pignatelli. April 2016.
  https://www.phparch.com/magazine/2016-2/april/