Add link to installer on module list for missing modules

[docwilmot]

Description of the need

There should be better integration between the module list and Installer module for missing modules. Currently if a module like Ubercart is missing a dependency (like Rules), there is a note, hidden in the "more..." details element. User would need to search and download that missing module, which seems unnecessarily complicated if we have an Installer.

Proposed solutions

1. have the "Rules (missing)" span be a link, or create a new link that adds the missing Rules to the Installer queue in the background
2. have a dropbutton in the operations column that says something like "Add missing module to install queue" which does that
3. have a filter checkbox/button in the installer that filters the Installers list to only missing modules. Link to that either from the previously mentioned dropbutton or details span

Example

Example of suggestion 1 above, but this looks cumbersome.

[olafgrabienski]

I like the idea, but I'm not sure if people who are missing a module will really be interested to use the Installer: Because if you use the Installer for a module from the start, the Installer already installs the dependencies for you. (For Ubercart it will install Rules which in turn will install Entity Plus etc.)

[docwilmot]

That's true too. Ok I'll leave this open in case anyone thinks it's still worth considering.

[argiepiano]

Because if you use the Installer for a module from the start, the Installer already installs the dependencies for you.

That's true. Still, it's a convenience feature that could be handy sometimes.

@docwilmot, curious: I see that the snapshot you posted shows several Ubercart modules with a version of "entity-uc-dev". Are you working on expanding Ubercart to use custom entities instead of nodes for products??? That'd be so cool.... 😸

[docwilmot]

Sharp eyes. 🙂 I was trying a while back but put it off, Can publish my repo if you think its worth it?

[argiepiano]

Can publish my repo if you think its worth it?

I think that'd be great. I was thinking about tackling that sometimes, so it's great to know you already got that started. It's a big change, made more complex by the need for backward compatibility.

On the other hand, I was thinking that commerce may also need a team effort, and may be more of a priority from the point of view of possible D7 upgrades...

[docwilmot]

https://github.com/docwilmot/ubercart/tree/entity-uc here.

On the other hand, I was thinking that commerce may also need a team effort, and may be more of a priority from the point of view of possible D7 upgrades...

Could start by getting tests working, one by one.

[kiamlaluno]

The only "issue" I could see is when a module's dependency is a sub-module. In this case, the code building the link would fail. (That's one of the reason why Drupal uses namespaced dependencies.)

[yorkshire-pudding]

I've come across this today. The installer does not download dependencies of sub modules. I think to do this you would need to download the main module, then look for a modules folder in the folder; if there is one, loop through each subfolder of that and examine the .info files, then kick of the downloader again to get any that are missing.