An introduction to the ctools modal API

So, I finally did a first screencast with my new gear. Over the past few months, I had to implement a so called ‘modal’ pop-up on occasion. These popups are used for instant actions: login forms, selecting stuff, etc. without reloading the entire page. The Chaos Tools suite contains a nice Modal API subset. Instead of using all kinds of 3rd party Javascript/CSS libraries, it’s more practical to rely on CTools to get a popup. In fact, it’s the same API used to create those fancy popup’s you see when using Panels or the Panels In-Place Editor.

Without further ado: view the screencast on YouTube.

While I’ve done the odd screencast in the past, this is the first attempt in a long time with proper equipment. Obviously, I’ll need to practice to tone down the rough edges. But overall, I’m pretty pleased with this result.