Anth, > I feel your pain here. I just went through something similar to have a > timesheet application up and going. One content type representing a > timesheet but users with different roles accessing different versions/parts > of it at different stages of a workflow. > > What I found a reasonably elegant solution and gave me a bit of re-use was > to set up different templates in the preprocess function (using template > suggestions) that will load the same content in a completely different way. > Using this with a multi form/step I got it all working without doing any > theme work or worrying how it looked and then added all my theme stuff > afterwards.
That's certainly an approach I've considered -- for 'new' form content. My "hurdle", atm, is (re)using the existing forms & modules (user_login, search, captcha, etc -- in my case) to the greatest extent possible. normally, i'd talk to the module designers about extending their modules -- but, so far, they're basically not interested. which is fine. > I do totally agree that this can feel harder than just writing > your own stuff from scratch sometimes though. Tbh, I can get all this 'back end' controller workflow and logic, as well as site-wide theming, MUCH faster & easier using just about any PHP framework (Zend, Cake, Symphony), or even some of the newer CMS (apostrophe). A matter of days-to-weeks -- not this weeks to months business. I keep telling myself that the *eventual* payoff -- huge community and mgmt of the community/content -- will make itself known using Drupal. For quick up-n-running out-of-the-box stuff, Drupal really can't be beat. But for non-standard extension, although the inner workings are there, i'm finding it's not the 'friendliest' environments. Like I said earlier -- *maybe* a lighting bolt will hit. But, atm, I'm having a Margarita and re-considering the wisdom of my choice -- or lack thereof. Ben
