Published: Wed, 03/23/16Download this episodeGroup Module

• What is the Group module?
  • A really awesome tool to basically create subsites within one site, private content, manage groups of people or all that combined.
• Why did you create it instead of just using OG?
  • OG DX experience...
• There are versions for D7 and D8. Which are you more focused on?
  • D8
• How is the Group module different from Organic Groups?
  • Good question! The key difference is how the modules decide to structure their data, how that affects the user flow and how the configuration model is built.
• What is the underlying architecture? OG uses entityreferences heavily. How does Group work?
  • Dedicated Group Entity
• What’s the status? Is it usable now? (D7 and D8)
  • Available for Drupal 7 and 8, with the 8 version being a large improvement over D7. There’s a few minor things I need to add to the D8 version, but it looks and works great already!
• Is there much difference between the Drupal 7 and 8 version?
  • Yes and no: the key concept remains the same, but the UX and data model was improved even further. I would really recommend going forward with D8 from now on if you have the chance.

Use Cases

• Why should I use Group instead of OG?
  • UX, UX, UX
  • data structure
  • DX
  • But most of all: dedicated functionality, it will all make sense!
• Users that get something special that you can’t do with Roles
• Groups of people
• Groups of content
• There are so many!!!

Questions from Twitter

• Michelle Lauer @bymiche
  How many subgroups can you nest? How are permissions inherited?
• Michelle Lauer @bymiche
  Can you easily categorize roles within a group?
• Michelle Lauer @bymiche
  If you have many roles and want to expose them to "managers" - for UX purposes, roles in categories would be easier to look at
• Erich Beyrent @ebeyrent
  Sounds like a great UX, what about DX - is there a well-defined API as well?
• Damien McKenna @DamienMcKenna
  Any plans to port some OG modules, e.g. og_menu or og_menu_single?
• Damien McKenna @DamienMcKenna
  Would it be possible to create og_forum's functionality out of the box or will it require custom work?
• Damien McKenna @DamienMcKenna
  Are the join forms configurable/fieldable?
• Ted Bowman @tedbow
  Interested in this. Can you add fields to a membership?
• Erich Beyrent @ebeyrent
  What doesn't Groups do? Are there features that you feel need to be added before 1.0 release?

Episode Links: Kristiaan on drupal.orgKristiaan on TwitterThe Group ModuleDrupal 8 Entity Relationship DiagramsConfiguration inspector for Drupal 8Tags: GroupOrganic Groupsplanet-drupal