The Devel module serves as a toolkit for developers, aimed at enhancing transparency when interacting with Drupal’s internal systems. It offers beneficial tools for examining and assessing variables, displaying arrays, entity information, and SQL queries. In simple terms, it provides developers with a comprehensive understanding of the workings occurring behind the scenes in a Drupal site.
In Drupal development, developers frequently install the Devel module as one of their initial tools after creating a new site. This is not a module designed for production use; instead, it serves as a robust development tool that assists developers and site creators in examining, troubleshooting, and enhancing their Drupal applications.
The Devel module serves as a toolkit for developers, aimed at enhancing transparency when interacting with Drupal’s internal systems. It offers beneficial tools for examining and assessing variables, displaying arrays, entity information, and SQL queries. In simple terms, it provides developers with a comprehensive understanding of the workings occurring behind the scenes in a Drupal site.
Initially designed to aid in debugging, Devel has evolved into a collection of tools that improve development processes and facilitate the exploration and comprehension of complex Drupal elements—such as render arrays, entities, and configurations.
Key Features and Tools
Variable and Object Inspection
A primary strength of Devel is its capability to present structured data in an easily understandable format. By utilizing functions such as dpm() (Drupal Print Message) and kint(), developers can display comprehensive details regarding variables, objects, and arrays straight onto the page. This functionality is essential when diagnosing intricate data configurations
Kint Integration
Devel incorporates the Kint debugging tool, offering a visually appealing, interactive interface for examining variables. Kint assists developers in expanding and collapsing nested data, simplifying the process of navigating multi-dimensional arrays and objects without the confusion of raw data dumps
Entity and Route Information
Developers may easily examine entities, routes, and configuration once Devel is setup. It adds handy links to content pages that display routing information or raw entity data, which is useful for comprehending the internal organization of nodes, taxonomy words, and users.
Devel Generate
You can create sample content, such as nodes, users, or taxonomy words, using the Devel Generate submodule. When testing site layouts, views, or performance without manually creating data, this function is quite helpful. For instance, developers only need one command to produce 100 sample articles.
Query Logging and Performance Insight
In order to find sluggish queries or performance bottlenecks, developers might log database queries that are conducted during a page request. This knowledge is essential for maximizing the scalability and speed of websites.
Why Use the Devel Module?
The development and debugging processes depend heavily on the Devel module. It streamlines operations that might otherwise call for intricate print statements or SQL queries. Devel offers the necessary tools to make the process quicker and more visible, whether you're debugging a theme problem, examining render arrays, or evaluating performance.
It's crucial to remember that production sites should never use Devel. Its data generating and debugging output features may reveal private information and use resources that could affect security or performance.
Best Practices
Use solely in environments for development. Before putting your website into production, disable or remove Devel.
Combine with additional tools. For more in-depth understanding of setup and performance, integrate Devel with modules such as Config Inspector or Webprofiler.
Make use of Drush integration. Drush commands provide access to several Devel functions, allowing for quicker workflows straight from the command line.