How can I add a new property type?

Look at eck.properties.inc. There are 2 relevant functions there: eck_property_types() and eck_property_type_schema(). Each of this function has an alter hook that will allow you to define new property types, and a schema for each of your new property types.

Ok, I understand, we need to add a regular module_invoke_all so modules that are defining new types can define a schema to begin with.. do you want to get this stuff working and submit the patch :)

I agree, I was simply suggesting what would be the fastest solution at the moment. I am currently working on a better architecture for how properties are handled, but there is still quite a bit of work to be done in that end. In the new system the type of the property will be the central factor, and all other metadata and functionality will be anchor by the property types. So the db schemas, the formatters, and widgets, they will all be dependent upon the property types. Since property types will be classed objects it will be easy to create hierarchies upon the basic types to handle more interesting cases. Maybe this was not what you had in mind when you said "This needs to be thought about", but if you are interested I have some code in a sandbox named "D8 Complex Data". Otherwise I am all ears on partial solution that would solve the problem according to your needs.

Vote for Adam S' eck-1650990-8.patch, add a $type variable will work.

@kolier: does #10 mean that you tried the patch and everything works as expected?

@fmizzell

Though after this change, any module implements 'hook_eck_property_type_schema_alter' will break.
But it's easy to fix, and the original hook is not much useful.

-  drupal_alter('eck_property_type_schema', $schema);
+  drupal_alter('eck_property_type_schema', $type, $schema);

The change make the hook has a true meaning.

This is definitely a simple patch, I doubt anybody is using the hook otherwise this issue would have been filed a sooner. Anyways, I think we need this fix to make that functionality of eck useful.

@kolier I understand your concern, I think I will just make it clear in the next release's notes of the change to the hook.

@Adam S: thanks for your work, I will try to get this committed as soon as possible

Ok.. I think I see a problem with this solution. @Adam S: in your module you redefine the schema for "decimal". Maybe that was what you needed for your stuff to work, but I don't guess that allowing people to do that is a good idea. The reason is that any module can unsync the schema array and the actual settings in the db. I am not sure this would have any adverse effects, but it just does not sound like a good idea.

Maybe that hook should be a module_invoke_all type of hook, that way we can check uniqueness (just enough for different modules not to override one another) on the schema definitions.

Any thoughts?

I too am trying to extend the properties available and as such, Adam S patch in #9 is good, however I think to be technically accurate to the drupal_alter function (http://api.drupal.org/api/drupal/includes!module.inc/function/drupal_alt...) declaration, the fields should be the other way around:

drupal_alter('eck_property_type_schema', $schema, $type);

as the 2nd parameter is technically the "data" while the tertiary parameter is context.

as for #15: I think this is what you want as architecture:
* create a new info hook, say hook_eck_property_type_schema_info()
* take the stuff from #2 code into a single array and return it from the implementation eck_eck_property_type_schema_info()
* collect all info with module_invoke('eck_property_type_schema_info');
* so other modules can also pass in some info, but not alter
* (if we really want other modules to be able to alter schema info, they should be responsible to provide a suitable update function. i'm not sure this is a good idea but i'm sure we should separate info hook from info alter hook.)

I vote for the solution suggested by axel in #18 - combine eck_property_types and eck_property_type_schema and make it one (normal, not alter) hook.

In 3.x we have a better architected system around property types. Check it out and give some feedback :)

A fix in 2.x was done also, while 3.x is out of the picture: https://drupal.org/commitlog/commit/22480/91bc0e0c18504ac74a4e4d059d774a...

hello,
i am also reading this because of the DECIMAL property type. Why is decimal a problem?
Cheers
Primoz

ok, it works for me like this... latest dev

/**
 * Implements hook_eck_property_types_alter()
 */
function hook_eck_property_types_alter(&$default_types) {
  $default_types['double'] = 'Double';
  $default_types['bigint'] = 'BigInt';
  $default_types['tdecimal'] = 'TDecimal';
}

/**
 * Implements hook_eck_property_type_schema_alter()
 */
function hook_eck_property_type_schema_alter(&$schema, &$type) {
  if ($type == 'double') {
    $schema = array(
      'type' => 'float',
      'size' => 'big',
      'description' => 'Double',
      'not null' => TRUE,
      'default' => 0
    );
  } else if ($type == 'bigint') {
    $schema = array(
      'type' => 'int',
      'size' => 'big',
      'description' => 'BigInt',
      'not null' => TRUE,
      'default' => 0
    );
  } else if ($type == 'tdecimal') {
    $schema = array(
      'type' => 'numeric',
      'precision' => 18,
      'scale' => 12,
      'not null' => FALSE,
    );
  }
}