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   1  $Id: README.txt,v 1.1.2.1 2010/06/29 20:47:56 yhahn Exp $
   2  
   3  Strongarm 2.x for Drupal 6.x
   4  ----------------------------
   5  Strongarm gives site builders a way to override the default variable values that
   6  Drupal core and contributed modules ship with. It is not an end user tool, but a
   7  developer and site builder tool which provides an API and a limited UI.
   8  
   9  An example of such a variable is `site_frontpage`. In Drupal this defaults to
  10  `node`, which ensures that the front page gets content as soon as some exists,
  11  but for many Drupal sites this setting is simply wrong. Strongarm gives the site
  12  builder a place in the equation - an opportunity to set the default value of
  13  `site_frontpage` to something that makes sense for their site.
  14  
  15  
  16  Installation
  17  ------------
  18  Strongarm can be installed like any other Drupal module -- place it in
  19  the modules directory for your site and enable it (and its requirement,
  20  CTools) on the `admin/build/modules` page.
  21  
  22  Strongarm is an API module. It does absolutely nothing for the end user out of
  23  the box without other modules that take advantage of its API.
  24  
  25  
  26  How Strongarm works
  27  -------------------
  28  Strongarm uses the CTools export API to make entries in the system module's
  29  `variable` table exportables. Exportables are Drupal configuration objects that
  30  lead a dual life -- they may be *defaults* set by code exports in modules, they
  31  may be *overridden* if a user chooses to change the value in the database, or
  32  they may be *normal* if the configuration object lives only in the database but
  33  not in code. To learn more about exportables and the CTools export API, see the
  34  CTools advanced help on "Exportable objects tool."
  35  
  36  
  37  Exporting variables
  38  -------------------
  39  If you are a developer or site builder Strongarm gives you tools to export the
  40  settings of variables in your site database and manage any overrides to default
  41  values.
  42  
  43  To export variable values, you will need to enable either the [Features][1]
  44  module or the [Bulk Export][2] module provided by CTools (as of June 29, 2010
  45  you must use a recent checkout CTools `DRUPAL-6--1` in order to use Bulk Export
  46  with Strongarm). Features provides a UI for adding variable exports to a
  47  feature. Bulk Export provides a UI for generating defaults hooks with exported
  48  variables that you can add to your own modules. You do not need to enable both
  49  modules.
  50  
  51  
  52  Maintainers
  53  -----------
  54  
  55  - jmiccolis (Jeff Miccolis)
  56  - yhahn (Young Hahn)
  57  
  58  
  59  [1]: http://drupal.org/project/features
  60  [2]: http://drupal.org/project/ctools