Article Update: Creating a Compound Field Module for CCK in Drupal

Thanks for this guide.

I'm in a similar position to Horace, trying to adapt the example to use a link field & an imagefield. I can't figure out why only the image data is saved, not the link's url & title.

I have added the link fields to the hook_elements(), should the data be saved by CCK?

It's not clear to me if hook _widget_process() should adjust the data to make it savable. What part of the returned $element is saved? If I have no code active in hook _widget_process() the image data still gets saved.

Sorry if this is inappropriate to ask in your comments, I just can't find much info anywhere else.

Thanks for the guide, at least it give us somewhere to start.

Drew -- If you put the extra information inside the "data" array that FileField/ImageField provides for extra data, it should be saved. If you do not use the "data" array, then you will need to use the 'database settings' operation of hook_field_settings to tell CCK to save your information.

Hope this helps,
Jennifer

The link module would only be involved if you explicitly call link module functions, they way I called FileField functions in my sample module. Then you would have to look at the link module functions you are calling, to see what they do. There is nothing automatic about it!

You are correct about _ functions. Generally, calling module functions that start with _ (such as _link_xyz() or whatever) is not recommended. Module authors put the _ prefix on a function to indicate that the function is for internal use only, and is subject to change.

Good luck!
Jennifer

I'm trying to get the CCK Time module to work in D6. It uses three select fields for holding the time elements (hr, min, meridian). Only one database column is used to store the data. So that means the three time elements need to be merged when the node is saved. I can't figure out how to merge the fields. Or maybe they are merging BUT right now all that is saving to the database is the first numeral. So for example, when I save 12:00PM, only "1" is saved to the database! If I save 8:00AM, only "8" is saved, etc. Any ideas, tips? Thanks in advance... and thanks for the article.

Thanks for the quick response! I checked the columns and they are text(longtext). How do I serialize the data?

Hey Jennifer,
Thank you for this tutorial its helping me to get where I want.. I have a few questions tough.
In the end there is little information to what to do with some functions if youre following the \Office\ example.
Here:

Q-Do I need the img_cap_tax_fld_field.inc if Im doing the “Office” example?

Q-What do I do with this part if I im doing the “Office” example?

function img_cap_tax_fld_widget_settings_form( $widget ) {
$form = imagefield_widget_settings_form( $widget );

$form['custom_alt'] = $form['alt_settings']['custom_alt'];
$form['custom_alt']['#type'] = 'hidden';
$form['custom_alt']['#value'] = 1;
$form['alt'] = $form['alt_settings']['alt'];
$form['alt']['#type'] = 'hidden';
$form['alt']['#value'] = '';
unset( $form['alt']['#suffix'] );
unset( $form['alt_settings'] );

$form['custom_title'] = $form['title_settings']['custom_title'];
$form['custom_title']['#type'] = 'hidden';
$form['custom_title']['#value'] = 1;
$form['title'] = $form['title_settings']['title'];
$form['title']['#type'] = 'hidden';
$form['title']['#value'] = '';
unset( $form['title']['#suffix'] );
unset( $form['title_settings'] );

$rows = (isset($widget['rows']) && is_numeric($widget['rows'])) ? $widget['rows'] : 5;

$form['rows'] = array(
'#type' => 'textfield',
'#title' => t('Number of rows in caption field'),
'#default_value' => $rows,
'#element_validate' => array('_text_widget_settings_row_validate'),
'#required' => TRUE,
'#weight' => 8,
);

$cols = (isset($widget['cols']) && is_numeric($widget['cols'])) ? $widget['cols'] : 40;

$form['cols'] = array(
'#type' => 'textfield',
'#title' => t('Number of columns in caption field'),
'#default_value' => $cols,
'#element_validate' => array('_text_widget_settings_row_validate'),
'#required' => TRUE,
'#weight' => 9,
);

$form2 = content_taxonomy_options_widget_settings( 'form', $widget );
$form2['settings']['#title'] = t( 'Settings for Taxonomy' );

$form = $form + $form2;
return $form;
}
Q-Also this part:

function img_cap_tax_fld_widget_settings_save( $widget ) {
$arr = imagefield_widget_settings_save( $widget );
$arr[] = 'rows';
$arr[] = 'cols';
$arr2 = content_taxonomy_options_widget_settings( 'save', $widget );
$arr2[] = 'allow_multiple';
$arr2[] = 'required_term';
return array_merge( $arr, $arr2 );
}

Q-And what to do with this part for the Office example since there is no image/taxonomy field to return?

function theme_img_cap_tax_fld_formatter_default( $element = NULL ) {

if( empty( $element['#item'] )) {
return '';
}

$img = theme( 'imagefield_formatter_image_plain', $element );

$cap = $element['#item']['safe_caption'];

$tax = '';
$sep = '';
$val = $element['#item']['data']['value'];
if( !is_array( $val )) {
$val = array( $val );
}
foreach( $val as $tid ) {
$term = taxonomy_get_term( $tid );
$tax .= $sep . check_plain( $term->name );
$sep = ', ';
}

return '' .
'' . $img . '' .
'' . $cap . '' .
'' . $tax . '' .
'';
}