API integration with Drupal

[randomPaul]

Hi there, I've set up my site again after a server move (<brownnose>gotta love the ease of adjusting SMF to a new server by the way</brownnose>), and decided to ditch the bloated and nasty Mambo for the simple and sexy (although oddly named) Drupal.

I'm looking to get a few little content blocks for my left hand menu to display some info about the forum. Now I've never touched the SMF API so if there any FAQs or documentation I should be thumbing through before hitting the old php, then by all means link away.

What I'd like is a list of the latest posts, and some other stats, such as numbers of members, posts, threads etc... just a nice little bit of information to newbies to the site who see the minimalist layout and wonder if anyone bothers visiting, only to notice "oh look, forum stats... there's life afterall!" Oh and the ever popular list of members online.

Snippets of code, while generous, will not be well recieved.. one cannot learn and have fun through code snippets alone.