The advantages of Drupal CMS always include its friendliness to users who cannot write code. In most cases, these users are content managers. How can you give more power to the content manager of your Drupal website? Add the Layout Builder module that makes building web pages as easy as putting Lego bricks together.

The restaurant sector has faced challenges amidst economic downturns, prompting a search for recovery through enhanced business agility. In fact, a staggering 71% of food establishments acknowledge the central role of digital transformation in achieving this objective.

In response to the growing influx of restaurants into the online domain, the demand for an efficient Restaurant CMS has become increasingly evident. A well-suited Restaurant website CMS, such as Drupal, proves instrumental in optimizing business operations.

What Makes Drupal the Right Choice for Restaurants? 

Drupal has over 20 years of experience in managing restaurant content and has become the top choice for many big companies and restaurants. 

Did you know? 

Around 89.2% of users believe that Drupal will become even more popular among different types of businesses in the next three years, not just in the restaurant industry. 

This means the demand for a Sports CMS and an Education CMS will also increase.

Looking for an assistant to handle all your routine Drupal tasks including checking for updates and clean-ups, without any manual intervention? We'd like to introduce you to Cron Jobs! Now let’s dive into the world of this behind-the-scenes helper, specifically in the context of task automation within Drupal. In this blog, we will delve into the fascinating realm of automation, explore the fundamental concept of cron jobs, provide an overview of cron jobs in Drupal, and discuss various essential aspects of crafting your first custom Drupal cron job. What is Automation Automation is the practice of utilizing technology, machinery, or software to perform tasks, processes, or operations with minimal or no human intervention. The primary objective of automation is to streamline and optimize workflows, reduce manual effort, improve efficiency, enhance accuracy, and increase productivity. In simpler terms, automation entails using technology to minimize the human effort required for task execution. As technology continues to advance, we can expect to see automated machines, technology, and software playing a more significant role in many industries and everyday tasks. Now, keeping all these things in mind and asking ourselves how we can automate something, we move to the next topic. What are Cron Jobs? The term "cron" is frequently encountered in the domain of computers, especially within operating systems like Linux. It serves as a tool for scheduling tasks based on time. In Unix systems, such as Linux, "cron" is a scheduling utility. A "cron job" is an automated task scheduled using the "cron" utility. Cron is a daemon – a background process that handles non-interactive tasks. In Unix-like operating systems, a daemon is a component, or a type of program, that silently operates in the background without requiring human interaction. It's like having a robot that wakes up and starts working when it hears a specific sound or when something specific happens. Cron jobs provide users with a powerful tool to automate system maintenance, monitor disk space, and manage backups at regular intervals. While cron job scheduling is widely favored by system administrators, it also offers significant benefits to web developers. It functions as a built-in alarm clock for your website tasks, ensuring that you can automate routine actions with ease. Cron is typically pre-installed on the system. However, in cases where it's not available, you can easily install it using the following commands: Update the package repository sudo apt updateInstall cron sudo apt install cronEnable the cron service to ensure it runs as expected sudo systemctl enable cronThe question arises: How can we activate cron or configure a customized cron to meet our specific needs? In this scenario, crontab comes to the rescue. Crontab A crontab is like a to-do list of tasks you want your computer to do at specific times, and it's also the name of the command you use to create and manage that list. Crontab stands for “cron table”. Each user in Linux has their own crontab, which may be used to schedule jobs that will be executed as that user. You can view, and update the crontab file using the crontab command. Example: To update the crontab file crontab -eTo list down or show the commands stored in the crontab file crontab -lCron Expression In simple terms, a cron expression in Linux is like setting an alarm for your computer to do specific tasks regularly. You have five fields to play with: minutes, hours, days of the month, months, and days of the week. By adjusting these fields, you can tell your computer exactly when to do things. There are also special characters like asterisks and slashes that let you be flexible with your schedule. For instance, if you set a cron expression like "0 * * * *," it means your computer will perform a task at the beginning of every hour. It's a handy tool that makes your computer do routine jobs automatically, like maintenance, backups, and running scripts. A job is represented by each line of a crontab file, which looks like this SYNTAX: # ┌────── minute (0 - 59)# │ ┌────── hour (0 - 23)# │ │ ┌────── day of the month (1 - 31)# │ │ │ ┌────── month (1 - 12)# │ │ │ │ ┌────── day of the week (0 - 6) (Sunday to Saturday;# │ │ │ │ │                7 is also Sunday on some systems)# │ │ │ │ │# │ │ │ │ │# *  *  *  *  *  command_to_execute Examples: At every 1 minute: * * * * * At every 2 minute:  * /2 *  *  *  * At every 15 minute: * /15  *  *  *  * At every 1 hour: 0  *  *  *  * At every 3 hours: 0  * /3  *  *  * At every 8 hours: 0  * /8  *  *  * Everyday (At 00:00):  0  0  *  *  * Hour range: Every hour between 11 am to 2 pm: 0  11-14  *  *  * Thanks to crontab Guru which is a simple editor for cron schedule expressions. For more examples, you can refer to this page. Drupal Cron Job Overview Drupal has a handy feature called Automated Cron. The Drupal automated cron job is an automatic task scheduler that handles regular website upkeep, including tasks like optimizing the database and clearing the cache, all at predetermined time intervals. It guarantees the website's smooth operation and data precision, minimizing the necessity for manual involvement. Some key features of automated cron: Scheduled Maintenance Tasks: In simple terms, Drupal's automated cron is like a behind-the-scenes helper that does regular chores for your website. It cleans up the website's storage, checks for important updates, and takes care of other routine jobs without bothering you. This helps keep your website running smoothly without you having to do these tasks manually. Configurable Frequency: If you're in charge of a Drupal website, you can decide how often the automated cron job should do its work. By default, it does its tasks every three hours, but you can change that to better suit your website's requirements. You can set this schedule by going into the Drupal admin settings, and it's kind of like adjusting the timing on a sprinkler system for your garden. Background Process: Think of automated cron in Drupal like a silent worker in the background. It gets things done without disturbing the part of your website that visitors see. It doesn't need outside tools to know when to do its tasks; it uses its internal clock, much like an alarm clock that wakes you up at a specific time without needing help from another device. Limitations of Drupal cron: Simultaneous Execution of hook_cron Modules and Resource Challenges: When several modules use the hook_cron function, they all run simultaneously, either in alphabetical order or based on the weight assigned to each module. This can make a webpage request more resource-intensive all at once and has the potential to exceed memory limits on a complex site. Handling Errors in Cron Tasks and Identifying Culprits for Smooth Execution: If there's an error in one cron task, it can halt the entire cron process, preventing the execution of the remaining tasks until the issue is fixed. It's also challenging to identify which task is causing the problem. Optimizing Cron Execution by Analyzing Task Durations: To improve the efficiency of cron execution and to optimize the cron run time. It's important to examine which cron tasks consumed more time during their run. Now to overcome all these limitations, Drupal provides us with modules like Ultimate Cron, Super Cron (abandoned module), Elysia Cron (Drupal 7), etc.. All these modules are one or the same with more added features. Now Super Cron is unsupported, the module is abandoned due to some security issues. The module is no longer developed by the maintainer whereas Elysia cron is for Drupal 7. How does Ultimate Cron Help? Parallel Execution of Cron Tasks: Error Isolation and Independence: Tasks are no longer executed sequentially; they now run in parallel. This means that if one cron task encounters an error, it won't affect the independent execution of other tasks. Individual Configuration for Cron Jobs with Differing Schedules: You can configure each cron job separately. For example, you can set up your cron job to run every hour and another cron job (cron job B) to run every two hours. Independent Logging for Each Cron Job: Each has separate logs. Let's install the Ultimate cron module and create our first custom cron job. So, to install the module you can visit https://www.drupal.org/project/ultimate_cron and download the module using composer. Use this command: composer require 'drupal/ultimate_cron:^2.0@alpha'This will install the Ultimate cron module, the next step is to enable it. You can enable the module via the site or by drush command. Use this drush command to enable the module: drush en ultimate_cronAfter installing Ultimate cron, we get some predefined cron jobs that the module provides, for example, cleanups (cache, temp files), removing expired log messages, and history deletion. Path: xyz.domain.name/admin/config/system/cron/jobs How to Configure Custom Ultimate Cron Job Create a config/install directory in the root of your custom module’s directory. Make a new file called ultimate_cron.job.jobname.yml (replace jobname with the name of your job). In our case we are creating a custom cron job to publish all the unpublished article contents, therefore let's name our job as publish_article_job. 3. Next step is to edit the ultimate_cron.job.publish_article_job.yml file. Inside ultimate_cron.job.publish_article_job.yml, we’ll add the details which will include a callback function, cron job ID, and rules for scheduling the task. langcode: en status: true dependencies: module: - custom_cron_example title: 'Custom job for publishing articless' id: publish_article_job module: custom_cron_example callback: custom_cron_example_publish_article_job scheduler: id: simple configuration: rules: - '* * * * *'4. Once editing the configuration file, we will now define a callback function inside the custom_cron_example.module file. <?php use Drupal\node\Entity\Node; /** * Custom ultimate cron callback function. */ function custom_cron_example_publish_article_job() { $message = "Voila ! Ultimate cron works."; \Drupal::logger("custom_cron_example")->notice($message); // Query to fetch all article unpublished nodes. $query = \Drupal::entityQuery('node'); $query->condition('status', 0); $query->condition('type', 'article'); $entity_ids = $query->accessCheck(FALSE)->execute(); foreach ($entity_ids as $entity_id) { $node = Node::load($entity_id); $node->setPublished(TRUE)->save(); } }Once all steps have been completed, it's time to activate the module in order to ensure that the new configurations we've created are applied to the website. Once the module is enabled, you will be able to view your custom cron job on the cron job dashboard.   Now this cron job will run every 1 minute since we added the cron expression as * * * * *. You can alter the rule as per your requirement. Feel free to use crontab guru for references. I believe there’s no harm in that ;) Results: Before the cron run, the article was unpublished.   Once the scheduled task (cron) is completed, the article gets published on the website. Additionally, there's a record in the database log that displays our unique message, which we included in the custom callback function we created.   Enabling Cron using External Calls By using crontab on the server. External cron job services like easycron or cronless. You can configure the time as per your requirement.  Easycron Cronless It may be beneficial to disable the automated cron system for performance reasons or to ensure that cron can only ever run from an external trigger. To disable the automated cron: Change the value of "Run cron every" to "Never."                    (OR) Add the following line to your settings.php: (so that no other user can enable it). $config['automated_cron.settings']['interval'] = 0;Final Thoughts In today's world, Drupal's cron job system remains essential for automated site maintenance. However, its design limitations and potential resource impact are better addressed with modern alternatives like scheduled tasks in server or external cron services, ensuring smoother website performance and management. Automated technology and machines are fascinating aspects of the future that hold the potential to revolutionize various aspects of our lives. However, adopting automation will also require careful consideration of its impact on the workforce and society as a whole Is your online presence ready for an upgrade? Let's discuss how Specbee can be your strategic partner in Drupal development.  

Today we are talking about Portals, Community Websites, and Drupal with guest Ron Northcutt. We’ll also cover Private Message as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: www.talkingDrupal.com/432

Topics

• Why are you passionate about community sites
• Different types of portals you’ve worked on
• Common features
• Why is Drupal a great fit
• Why would you choose Drupal over a Saas or PaaS
• What is unique about each community
• How important is UX
• What common content models do you see
• Most important tip

Resources

• Lego sorting
  • https://news.lugnet.com/storage/?n=709
  • https://brickarchitect.com/guide/bricks/
• PHPBB
• discourse
• Open Social
• Monday

Guests

Ron Northcutt - community.appsmith.com rlnorthcutt

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu

• Module name/project name:
  • Private Message
• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to include a full-fledged, ajaxified system for private messages between users on your Drupal site? There’s a module for that
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Apr 2017 by Jaypan, a fellow Canadian, but the most recent release is by Lucas Hedding, who hails from Nicaragua, and is a prolific contrib maintainer in his own right
  • Versions available: 8.x-2.0-beta18 and 3.0.0 versions available, the latter of which works with D9 and 10
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained, latest release in Oct 2023
  • Number of open issues: 130, 4 of which are bugs on the 3.0.x branch
  • Test coverage
• Documentation: does have a handbook, though the pages seem to date back to 2017, so hopefully the installation and setup hasn’t changed too much since then
• Usage stats:
  • Almost 2,000 sites
  • Maintainer(s):
• Module features and usage
  • With the Private Message module installed, users on your site can have permissions-based access to send private messages to each other
  • Messages and threads are fieldable entities, and in general the module is made to be highly configurable, so you can tailor it to meet your site’s specific needs
  • That includes the frequency for asynchronous operations like loading new messages, which can be done without a full page refresh. There’s also a companion module to use Node.js for the asynchronous operations, to reduce load on both the browser and the server
  • That also allows for browser push notifications, or you can use the integration with the Message module to send notifications via email, SMS, and more, including aggregating the notifications into digests
  • Companies often have a dedicated messaging solution like Slack or Teams that they use internally, but this can be a good solution for an extranet or vendor portal, where the users may represent a variety of organizations
  • It’s also worth mentioning that both Private Message and Message are included in the Open Social distribution, so that could be a way to try out a preconfigured setup

Drupal 7 security support will end - now is the time to plan a migration to Drupal 10!

Nina Holzapfel

Project Manager 08.01.2024

Drupal has been a robust choice for building and maintaining websites for decades. Like all other CMS systems, technological advancements and security requirements continually evolve at rapid speed and older software versions will be taken off the market.

In January 2025 Drupal 7 will finally reach its End of Life after 14 successful years and the necessity to transition to Drupal 10 has never been more critical.
Source: Drupal 7 End of Life | Drupal.org

What does Drupal 7 End of Life mean for your business?

This means the Drupal community and the official development team will stop providing support, including crucial security patches and updates. Without these updates, weaknesses in the system remain unaddressed, leaving websites vulnerable to dangerous cyber threats and data exploitation.

46,5% of all Drupal sites are still running on version 7

Source: Usage Statistics and Market Share of Drupal, January 2024 (w3techs.com)

Your company isn't just facing a hard deadline to relaunch your new site as January 2025 grows closer. You’re also competing with a vast number of organizations just like yours that need to coordinate the same migration process.

It is important to understand that depending on the complexity of the website the migration from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 is not just a simple update. The data structure and design need to be rebuilt and major technical updates executed. Ramsalt has migrated numerous of clients from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 and have built a team of migration experts for a successful migration process.

Get an offer for the migration and make sure that your company stays agile and competitive:
Yngve Bergheim, yngve@ramsalt.com

Get a Drupal 10 upgrade offer

Why should you migrate from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10? 

The foremost reason to migrate from Drupal 7 to Drupal 10 lies in security. Yet, Drupal 10 brings automated updates, improved user experience, along with several other feature improvements. See our blog article: A new year, A new shiny Drupal 10 | Drupal | Ledende leverandør | Ramsalt.

Below we want to list some of the Drupal 10 highlights:

Improved content editing

CKEditor 5 update from CKEditor 4 - With a thorough rebuild and an exciting new feature set, CKEditor 5 gives Drupal 10 a modern, collaborative editor experience. Users of programs like Microsoft Word or Google Docs will be used to the new CKEditor's interface. It also offers common tools for collaboration like comments, change suggestions, version histories, and other accepted editing practices. 

CKEditor 5 in Drupal

Try it our yourself here: Feature-rich editor - CKEditor 5 demo

Gutenberg Editor - With the latest Drupal 10 update, we are capable of using the most loved content editor. Here are some key points about the Gutenberg editor in the context of Drupal:

User-Friendly Interface: Gutenberg provides a more intuitive and visual editing experience. It uses blocks to represent various content elements like text, images, and videos, making it easy for users to build and design their content layout.

Enhanced Content Creation: With Gutenberg, content creators can design more complex layouts without needing any extensive technical knowledge. It offers a wide range of customization options within each block, making it easier to design diverse and dynamic web pages, we even have our own Gutenberg landing page builder in-house. the limits are your imagination.

Responsive Design: Blocks in the Gutenberg editor are inherently responsive, ensuring that content created in Drupal looks good on all devices.

Extensibility: Just like Drupal, Gutenberg is highly extensible. Developers can create custom blocks to add new functionalities, tailored to specific needs.

• 
• 

Gutenberg in Drupal

Try it out for yourself: Drupal Gutenberg demo

Improved Admin and Design Themes

Drupal 10 introduces a significantly enhanced theming system, characterized by its streamlined single-directory component structure. This advancement not only boosts overall performance but also accelerates the rollout of new features. Furthermore, it offers comprehensive editing capabilities, enabling a seamless top-to-bottom customization experience. This modernized approach in Drupal 10 ensures a more efficient, user-friendly, and agile development process, catering to the evolving needs of end-users and editorial teams alike.

Improved Website Performance & Security

Drupal 10 improves your site security by including up-to-date protocols and technical dependencies such as PHP 8.2, Symfony 6.2. This means a faster and more modern website out of the box.

With enhanced dynamic caching (BigPipe) reduces page load times by invalidating only the content that has changed and therefore provides a faster and better user experience.

Drupal 10 also marks the end of Drupal 7’s jQuery. A large JavaScript library, jQuery was a powerful tool, but modern browsers perform many of the same functions. The up-to-date JavaScript used by Drupal 10 also decreases page load times and snappier behavior for the end users.

Source: Drupal 10 | Drupal.org & Drupal 10.2 is now available | Drupal.org

The Goal

When a store has customers that are businesses or institutional, the standard Address field properties and formatting may not align well with actual billing and shipping addresses. For example, a business address may not include the customer's first and last name as the first line; instead, an organizational name may be used. If a contact name is included, it may be an "Attention" line. Additionally, businesses may require a line with reference or purchase order number.

The Goal

Drupal Commerce order types can be configured to email the customer a receipt when an order is placed, with or without a BCC copy sent to a specified email address. Additionally, administrative users can use a "Resend receipt" button to send a receipt to the contact email address set for the order; no copy is sent to an additional email address.

When re-sending an order receipt, administrative users may want to:

The Goal

Administrative users creating and updating orders in the backend may want to:

• Preview the order receipt before emailing customers.
• Send a copy of the order receipt to an email address other than the contact email address for the order.

Developers may want to:

• Preview the order receipt for testing purposes when working on environments with outgoing emails disabled

A Solution

We can add a button to the right of the existing, "Resend receipt" button that appears on Order View pages, like this:

The Goal

Core Drupal Commerce provides Order Receipt functionality. An Order Receipt is an email notification sent to a customer when an order is placed. It lets the customer know that the order has been received and includes a summary of the order. For each Order Type, you can turn order receipts on/off and, if enabled, specify that a copy be sent to a specific recipient.

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