Issue 13 : Eager

Introduction

Word of the month: Eager

Last month eager loading came to Craft with version 2.6.2771. A quick definition of an eager-loading request is a request for one type of entity that also loads some related entities along with the same request which can help make your templates more efficient in some cases. If you're interested in that, be sure to check out the recording of the Straight Up Hangout on the topic in Top Stories below.

You'll notice a lack of plugins in this issue, except for one that is eager-loading-specific and a funny one since today is April Fools Day. This issue's lack of plugins means we're set for another mid-month plug-in issue in a couple of weeks.

A big thank you to Fortrabbit who is back sponsoring this issue. If cool things like using git to deploy your site appeal to you, check them out. Tell them Craft Link List sent you.

Enough talk. Let's hit the links.

-John

News

Craft CMS 2.6 and Commerce 1.1 Released

Along with eager-loading support, this release added some charting Javascript classes, namespaced under Craft.charts.

Fix getTemplatesPath() / setTemplatesPath() deprecation errors

If you're a plugin developer hit with deprecation warnings about your plugin after the update to Craft 2.6.2778, check out this Stack Exchange post on making things copacetic again.

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Tools, tips, and fundamentals

Check if a variable or value exists using Twig

Some helpful charts to help you understand your conditionals.

Using macros to improve consistency in your Craft CMS

This post contains a number of examples of macros and why you'd use them in Craft templates.

What's up with uptime monitoring?

This round up of uptime monitoring services was sparked by a question in Slack.

Reset password with MySQL

Ever locked your keys inside your house? This Stack Exchange post won't help, but if you've locked yourself out of your Craft site, it just might.

Craft CMS: The (very) basics of templating

Is it possible to use Twig in a Rich Text Field?

Yeah... pretty much.

Contact Form in Craft CMS

Mijingo teaches how to create a simple contact form in Craft.

Perfecting your technique

Examples of Eager Loading Elements in Twig and PHP

Hiding Out-of-Stock Products in Craft Commerce

For when your widgets run out.

An In-Depth Guide To Launching Your Own Podcast with Craft CMS

Integrating Craft CMS with Apple News

The Rye Agency files a report.

Craft CMS Manager

Use git, docker and docker-compose to get a Craft install built quickly.

Update Craft without doing a database backup

Last month in Slack someone mentioned a manual Craft installation getting stuck on "Backup Database." The "Finish Up" button wouldn't actually finish the upgrade process. This Stack Exchange link helped get the problem solved.

Campaign Monitor integrated with Craft CMS

Chief talks through their solution to emailing users with content created in the Craft control panel using Campaign Monitor.

Syncing remote Craft sites to your development machine

Because phpmail on a production box is a bad idea

There was a good exchange on Slack last month about using the P&T contact form plugin and then relying on phpmail because it is an unreliable way to send mail on a production server. What are your options? A few were mentioned:

Responsive Images with Craft

Stephen Bowling discusses the <picture> element, the PictureFill polyfill and using them in Craft.

Responsive Images using srcset with Craft

On the same topic, Viget discusses the <img> element and the srcset attribute to build responsive images in Craft.

Easy Responsive Background Images in Craft and WordPress

Viget also wrote up a post about responsive background images for Craft and some other CMS.

Going Off-the-Shelf: WordPress vs. Craft vs. Drupal vs. Shopify

Megan Zlock compares CMS's. Also, if you haven't read her stuff before, check out her presentation from the Craft Summit 2015 which was mentioned in a previous issue of CLL.

10 reasons to migrate to MariaDB (if still using MySQL)

After a recent switch from MySQL to MariaDB and getting some impressive results (along with a transition to PHP7) Andrew Welch shared this link. Also, Brad Bell mentioned on Slack that nearly 10% of Craft installations are now running on MariaDB too. Might be time for a switch.

Sponsor

Pic Puller for Craft

Instagram is back in Craft CMS with the updated Pic Puller version 2.

Add authorized image & video feeds to your site. Plus use the Instagram Image Browser field type to add Instagram media into individual entries.

Plugged In

Craft MN Eager

On the topic of eager-loading, Marionne Levant showed this plug-in during the Hangout mentioned in the Top Stories section. It offers simplified fetching of possibly eager-loaded fields.

Transform Craft to Wordpress

This is the only April Fool's joke in this issue, thanks to Fred Carlsen.