How to build a Drupal site with Composer AND keep all of your hair

Composer is an essential part of the Drupal developer toolbox. Like it or not, it's here to stay. But we're here to help! Take the plunge and learn Composer now.

This session will cover everything you need to know to build and maintain a Drupal application using Composer. We'll start Merriam Webster's definition of Composer (not really) and walk you through step-by-step until you have a fully built Drupal codebase. There's no prior knowledge or experience required. But if you're already a seasoned Composer user, we've got a few tips for you too!

We will cover:

• What Composer and "dependency management" are
• The advantages and pitfalls of using Composer
• The basic anatomy and behavior of Composer
• How to install and update Drupal projects (modules, themes, profiles) with Composer
• How to install and update third party (non-Drupal) packages
• How to handle frontend dependencies (e.g., javascript libraries) with Composer
• How to do "All The Drupally Things" with Composer, like apply patches and use the "contrib" directory.
• How to troubleshoot common Composer issues

Pre-requisites

To participate in the hands-on portion of this session, please bring a laptop with PHP 5.3.2+ installed.

Linux or OSX operating systems are strongly suggested, but not strictly required. If you have a Windows machine, please consider installing a Linux virtual machine, like Drupal VM, prior to the lab.