CiviCRM Cookbook

Great reference book.

I want to learn this software. I bought the hardcopy, installed CiviCRM 4.3.5 on Drupal 7.23 on a cheap shared server. I know some Drupal, but new to CiviCRM. I have tried about 50% of the recipes, almost all of these work correctly (for me) Pros. The monkey-see/monkey-do format. A good way for me to learn. Mini-Screenshots are very informative. Does not use valuable page space with installation instructions. I found the Drupal and Views integration stuff very informative. Right up to date, Sept 2013 Cons. As expected, there are some typos/errors in the book. However, they tend to be minor (eg menu links, directory paths, slightly incorrect) and I could figure out the correct instruction, so these didn't prevent me from completing the recipe. Would be nice to have all code downloadable from Packt website. Not yet there, Sept 2013. A newbie complaint. Need to add 'Save' where appropriate.

A Plug for CiviCRM: If you've come here there's a chance that you're pondering the deployment of CiviCRM for your nonprofit, NGO, or what have you. For the record, CiviCRM would be one of the best choices you could make. It's open source. This means it won't be going away. You don't have to worry about your data being locked inside a barely functioning piece of software years from now because some company merged with another, or a bankruptcy occurred, or more money could be had going in "another direction". CiviCRM also doesn't carry licensing fees. You can use it on however many computers with as many users as you wish. And it's robust. It's in essence a database and you're free to mine all of the stuff inside to your heart's content. You won't be hamstrung into using the templates and forms that make you curse more than they ease your job. It's out of the box features do require you or a web savy tech to do some work setting things up. Some turn-key software out there will beat it in that regard. But in the end CiviCRM will grow and change to your needs rather than your staff having to adapt to the quirks of some turn-key software when you've outgrown it. About the Book: Do be aware that the book explores CiviCRM within a Drupal CMS. If you're thinking about running CiviCRM within WordPress or Joomla, this book will not offer you much help. It was just in the last year that CiviCRM was available for WordPress. It's hoped that many of the "Recipes" offered in this book might become plugins & recipes for WordPress soon. Like any cookbook you should familiarize yourself with the "recipe" before you begin to cook. Some things in here are suited for the beginner. Other recipes I'd say are more for an experienced chef. Not saying that you can't pull it off, but you need to have the courage to dig into some php code with a good text editor, like Bluefish. But as always, familiarize yourself with the recipe before you begin. Some of them are actually complimentary recipes to others in the cookbook. Such as a glaze would be to a ham. Again, read the full recipe before beginning. Pros: The book give clear instruction for the most part, but it is understood that you are somewhat familiar with Drupal. Excellent references. Need to discover more? The e-book has links to take you to more documentation at the CiviCRM wiki and other sites. And you've got to love copying & pasting code. If planning the deployment of CiviCRM, this would be a must have book. It goes beyond what you can find on the Internet. It will help you in deciding the features you need for your own unique situation. Plus it helps to support the fellows behind CiviCRM. Cons: My only fault with the book is that I'd loved to have seen a work flow described in an appendix section. Or give it it's own chapter(s). Give two or more common needs found at most nonprofits and take me through some of the decisions and options I would have in implementing them within CiviCRM. Fundraising banquet, donor requests, volunteer management, etc. Anyone of them could have jump started me on my own projects. Tl;dr CiviCRM is a great piece of open source software. This cookbook is a must have if you'll be implementing it. It will save you time.

This was pretty helpful in getting me up to speed.

The CiviCRM Cookbook is a collection of so called "recipes". Each recipe deals about a specific subject or problem in CiviCRM, and has a fixed structure: - 1 or 2 paragraphs to explain the topic or problem - a section "How to do it", with the actual steps to achieve the goal of the recipe - a section "How it works", with some background information - a section "See also", with links to online resources or other recipes in the book The book is well-written, and the provided examples in the recipes make sense. What I less liked is this cookbook format. I find this format too restrictive, because it leaves less room for background information. I prefer a regular book with a mix of explanations, examples and howto's. That said, I found the CiviCRM Cookbook an excellent supplement to the CiviCRM guides (see http://book.civicrm.org/). From a practical perspective you learn about a specific topic, and the "See also" section of the recipe provides pointers to the CiviCRM User and Administrator guide or other online resource. Besides CiviCRM, you'll also learn about Drupal modules, OpenRefine, geocoding, cron, jQuery, LAMP... That's why I gave the book 5 stars.

I have found this book a great help, with lots of practical recipes. It is easy to find what you want to know, and the topics are covered in a concise, accessible way so you can get on with trying out what you want to do.