Drupal & Astro

Drupal is an open-source content management tool.

Prerequisites

To get started, you will need to have the following:

An Astro project - If you don’t have an Astro project yet, our Installation guide will get you up and running in no time.
A Drupal site - If you haven’t set up a Drupal site, you can follow the official guidelines Installing Drupal.

Integrating Drupal with Astro

Installing the JSON:API Drupal module

To be able to get content from Drupal you need to enable the Drupal JSON:API module.

Navigate to the Extend page admin/modules via the Manage administrative menu
Locate the JSON:API module and check the box next to it
Click Install to install the new module

Now you can make GET requests to your Drupal application through JSON:API.

Adding the Drupal URL in `.env`

To add your Drupal URL to Astro, create a .env file in the root of your project (if one does not already exist) and add the following variable:

DRUPAL_BASE_URL="https://drupal.ddev.site/"

Restart the dev server to use this environment variable in your Astro project.

Setting up Credentials

By default, the Drupal JSON:API endpoint is accessible for external data-fetching requests without requiring authentication. This allows you to fetch data for your Astro project without credentials but it does not permit users to modify your data or site settings.

However, if you wish to restrict access and require authentication, Drupal provides several authentication methods including:

You can add your credentials to your .env file.

DRUPAL_BASIC_USERNAME="editor"
DRUPAL_BASIC_PASSWORD="editor"
DRUPAL_JWT_TOKEN="abc123"
...

Read more about using environment variables and .env files in Astro.

Your root directory should now include this new files:

.env
astro.config.mjs
package.json

Installing dependencies

JSON:API requests and responses can often be complex and deeply nested. To simplify working with them, you can use two npm packages that streamline both the requests and the handling of responses:

JSONA: JSON API v1.0 specification serializer and deserializer for use on the server and in the browser.
Drupal JSON-API Params: This module provides a helper Class to create the required query. While doing so, it also tries to optimise the query by using the short form, whenever possible.

npm install jsona drupal-jsonapi-params

pnpm add jsona drupal-jsonapi-params

yarn add jsona drupal-jsonapi-params

Fetching data from Drupal

Your content is fetched from a JSON:API URL.

Drupal JSON:API URL structure

The basic URL structure is: /jsonapi/{entity_type_id}/{bundle_id}

The URL is always prefixed by jsonapi.

The entity_type_id refers to the Entity Type, such as node, block, user, etc.
The bundle_id refers to the Entity Bundles. In the case of a Node entity type, the bundle could be article.
In this case, to get the list of all articles, the URL will be [DRUPAL_BASE_URL]/jsonapi/node/article.

To retrieve an individual entity, the URL structure will be /jsonapi/{entity_type_id}/{bundle_id}/{uuid}, where the uuid is the UUID of the entity. For example the URL to get a specific article will be of the form /jsonapi/node/article/2ee9f0ef-1b25-4bbe-a00f-8649c68b1f7e.

Retrieving only certain fields

Retrieve only certain field by adding the Query String field to the request.

GET: /jsonapi/{entity_type_id}/{bundle_id}?field[entity_type]=field_list

Examples:

/jsonapi/node/article?fields[node--article]=title,created
/jsonapi/node/article/2ee9f0ef-1b25-4bbe-a00f-8649c68b1f7e?fields[node--article]=title,created,body

Filtering

Add a filter to your request by adding the filter Query String.

The simplest, most common filter is a key-value filter:

GET: /jsonapi/{entity_type_id}/{bundle_id}?filter[field_name]=value&filter[field_other]=value

Examples:

/jsonapi/node/article?filter[title]=Testing JSON:API&filter[status]=1
/jsonapi/node/article/2ee9f0ef-1b25-4bbe-a00f-8649c68b1f7e?fields[node--article]=title&filter[title]=Testing JSON:API

You can find more query options in the JSON:API Documentation.

Building a Drupal query

Astro components can fetch data from your Drupal site by using drupal-jsonapi-params package to build the query.

The following example shows a component with a query for an “article” content type that has a text field for a title and a rich text field for content:

---
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

// Get the Drupal base URL
export const baseUrl: string = import.meta.env.DRUPAL_BASE_URL;

// Generate the JSON:API Query. Get all title and body from published articles.
const params: DrupalJsonApiParams = new DrupalJsonApiParams();
params.addFields("node--article", [
        "title",
        "body",
    ])
    .addFilter("status", "1");
// Generates the query string.
const path: string = params.getQueryString();
const url: string = baseUrl + '/jsonapi/node/article?' + path;

// Get the articles
const request: Response = await fetch(url);
const json: string | TJsonApiBody = await request.json();
// Initiate Jsona.
const dataFormatter: Jsona = new Jsona();
// Deserialise the response.
const articles = dataFormatter.deserialize(json);
---
<body>
 {articles?.length ? articles.map((article: any) => (
    <section>
      <h2>{article.title}</h2>
      <article set:html={article.body.value}></article>
    </section>
 )): <div><h1>No Content found</h1></div> }
</body>

You can find more querying options in the Drupal JSON:API Documentation

Making a blog with Astro and Drupal

With the setup above, you are now able to create a blog that uses Drupal as the CMS.

Prerequisites

An Astro project with JSONA and Drupal JSON-API Params installed.
A Drupal site with at least one entry - For this tutorial we recommend starting with a new Drupal site with Standard installation.

In the Content section of your Drupal site, create a new entry by clicking the Add button. Then, choose Article and fill in the fields:
- Title: My first article for Astro!
- Alias: /articles/first-article-for astro
- Description: This is my first Astro article! Let's see what it will look like!
Click Save to create your first Article. Feel free to add as many articles as you want.

Displaying a list of articles

Create src/types.ts if it does not already exist and add two new interfaces called DrupalNode and Path with the following code. These interfaces will match the fields of your article content type in Drupal and the Path fields. You will use it to type your article entries response.

export interface Path {
    alias: string
    pid: number
    langcode: string
}

export interface DrupalNode extends Record<string, any> {
    id: string
    type: string
    langcode: string
    status: boolean
    drupal_internal__nid: number
    drupal_internal__vid: number
    changed: string
    created: string
    title: string
    default_langcode: boolean
    sticky: boolean
    path: Path
}

Your src directory should now include the new file:

.env
astro.config.mjs
package.json
Directorysrc/
- types.ts

Create a new file called drupal.ts under src/api and add the following code:
src/api/drupal.ts
```
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {DrupalNode} from "../types.ts";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

// Get the Drupal Base Url.
export const baseUrl: string = import.meta.env.DRUPAL_BASE_URL;
```
This will import the required libraries such as Jsona to deserialize the response, DrupalJsonApiParams to format the request url and the Node and Jsona types. It will also get the baseUrl from the .env file.

Your src/api directory should now include the new file:
- .env
- astro.config.mjs
- package.json
- Directorysrc/
  - Directoryapi/
    drupal.ts
  - types.ts

In that same file, create the fetchUrl function to make the fetch request and deserialize the response.

import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {DrupalNode} from "../types.ts";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

// Get the Drupal Base Url.
export const baseUrl: string = import.meta.env.DRUPAL_BASE_URL;

/**
 * Fetch url from Drupal.
 *
 * @param url
 *
 * @return Promise<TJsonaModel | TJsonaModel[]> as Promise<any>
 */
export const fetchUrl = async (url: string): Promise<any> => {
    const request: Response = await fetch(url);
    const json: string | TJsonApiBody = await request.json();
    const dataFormatter: Jsona = new Jsona();
    return dataFormatter.deserialize(json);
}

Create the getArticles() function to get all published articles.

import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {DrupalNode} from "../types.ts";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

// Get the Drupal Base Url.
export const baseUrl: string = import.meta.env.DRUPAL_BASE_URL;

/**
 * Fetch url from Drupal.
 *
 * @param url
 *
 * @return Promise<TJsonaModel | TJsonaModel[]> as Promise<any>
 */
export const fetchUrl = async (url: string): Promise<any> => {
    const request: Response = await fetch(url);
    const json: string | TJsonApiBody = await request.json();
    const dataFormatter: Jsona = new Jsona();
    return dataFormatter.deserialize(json);
}

/**
 * Get all published articles.
 *
 * @return Promise<DrupalNode[]>
 */
export const getArticles = async (): Promise<DrupalNode[]> => {
    const params: DrupalJsonApiParams = new DrupalJsonApiParams();
    params
        .addFields("node--article", [
            "title",
            "path",
            "body",
            "created",
        ])
        .addFilter("status", "1");
    const path: string = params.getQueryString();
    return await fetchUrl(baseUrl + '/jsonapi/node/article?' + path);
}

Now you can use the function getArticles() in an .astro component to get all published articles with data for each title, body, path and creation date.

Go to the Astro page where you will fetch data from Drupal. The following example creates an articles landing page at src/pages/articles/index.astro.

Import the necessary dependencies and fetch all the entries from Drupal with a content type of article using getArticles() while passing the DrupalNode interface to type your response.
src/pages/articles/index.astro
```
---
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

import type { DrupalNode } from "../../types";
import {getArticles} from "../../api/drupal";

// Get all published articles.
const articles = await getArticles();
---
```
This fetch call using getArticles() will return a typed array of entries that can be used in your page template.

Your src/pages/ directory should now include the new file, if you used the same page file:
- .env
- astro.config.mjs
- package.json
- Directorysrc/
  - Directoryapi/
    drupal.ts
  - Directorypages/
    Directoryarticles/
    index.astro
  - types.ts

Add content to your page, such as a title. Use articles.map() to show your Drupal entries as line items in a list.

---
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

import type { DrupalNode } from "../types";
import {getArticles} from "../api/drupal";

// Get all published articles.
const articles = await getArticles();
---
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>My news site</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>My news site</h1>
    <ul>
      {articles.map((article: DrupalNode) => (
        <li>
          <a href={article.path.alias.replace("internal:en/", "")}>
            <h2>{article.title}</h2>
            <p>Published on {article.created}</p>
          </a>
        </li>
      ))}
    </ul>
  </body>
</html>

Generating individual blog posts

Use the same method to fetch your data from Drupal as above, but this time, on a page that will create a unique page route for each article.

This example uses Astro’s default static mode, and creates a dynamic routing page file with the getStaticPaths() function. This function will be called at build time to generate the list of paths that become pages.

Create a new file src/pages/articles/[path].astro and import the DrupalNode interface and getArticle() from src/api/drupal.ts. Fetch your data inside a getStaticPaths() function to create routes for your blog.
src/pages/articles/[path].astro
```
---
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

import type { DrupalNode } from "../../types";
import {getArticles} from "../../api/drupal";

// Get all published articles.
export async function getStaticPaths() {
  const articles = await getArticles();
}
---
```
Your src/pages/articles directory should now include the new file:
- .env
- astro.config.mjs
- package.json
- Directorysrc/
  - Directoryapi/
    drupal.ts
  - Directorypages/
    Directoryarticles/
    index.astro
    [path].astro
  - types.ts

In the same file, map each Drupal entry to an object with a params and props property. The params property will be used to generate the URL of the page and the props values will be passed to the page component as props.

---
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

import type { DrupalNode } from "../../types";
import {getArticles} from "../../api/drupal";

// Get all published articles.
export async function getStaticPaths() {
    const articles = await getArticles();
    return articles.map((article: DrupalNode) => {
        return {
            params: {
                // Choose `path` to match the `[path]` routing value
                path: article.path.alias.split('/')[2]
            },
            props: {
                title: article.title,
                body: article.body,
                date: new Date(article.created).toLocaleDateString('en-EN', {
                    day: "numeric",
                    month: "long",
                    year: "numeric"
                })
            }
        }
    });
}
---

The property inside params must match the name of the dynamic route. Since the filename is [path].astro, the property name passed to params must be path.

In our example, the props object passes three properties to the page:

title: a string, representing the title of your post.
body: a string, representing the content of your entry.
created: a timestamp, based on your file creation date.

Use the page props to display your blog post.

---
import {Jsona} from "jsona";
import {DrupalJsonApiParams} from "drupal-jsonapi-params";
import type {TJsonApiBody} from "jsona/lib/JsonaTypes";

import type { DrupalNode } from "../../types";
import {getArticles} from "../../api/drupal";

// Get all published articles.
export async function getStaticPaths() {
    const articles = await getArticles();
    return articles.map((article: DrupalNode) => {
        return {
            params: {
                path: article.path.alias.split('/')[2]
            },
            props: {
                title: article.title,
                body: article.body,
                date: new Date(article.created).toLocaleDateString('en-EN', {
                    day: "numeric",
                    month: "long",
                    year: "numeric"
                })
            }
        }
    });
}

const {title, created, body} = Astro.props;
---
<html lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>{title}</title>
  </head>
  <body>
    <h1>{title}</h1>
    <time>{date}</time>
    <article set:html={body.value} />
  </body>
</html>