Allow "add another" button instead of empty field collection item form when using the embedded widget

I really need this functionality for my site, and I'd be more than happy to simply patch my local copy of field_collection to fix this issue, but I have no idea which section of code from the various patches on that page contains the removed prototype of this functionality. Could someone please point me in the right direction, so that I can patch field_collection to quiet the complaints from my users?

Are this and related issues going to be addressed, or has development on this module been abandoned? Without fixing this, the module is only usefull for simple use cases (it is almost useless if you want a radio select without a N/A option). I would start writting the code myslef if I knew that it would be reviewed and commited, if not, I need to find a diferent solution than this module.

Is there any development about this issue ?

I'm fairly sure that the underlying problem here was fixed in the December release (7.x-1.0-beta5), but I'm not positive. I remember being very happy to see that something related to this had changed for the better, but I can't recall what, exactly.

With the last version of Field_collection and Entity, I still have the problem of an empty field_collection show in my form when i have required fields instead of a "Add another" button only.

attached adds setting to remove initial field collection form

@DaneMacaulay - thank you very much - your patch in #6 solved this issue for me

For single value collections the patch in #6 does not appear to do anything other than remove the field collection forms entirely.

headers

Patch #6 solves the issue perfectelly. Patched against 7.x-1.0-beta7.
Thank you!

Maybe changing the default value to FALSE will make pass the tests. Also existing sites relying upon showing the first blank item won't break.

Fantastic work! This is a lifesaver. Going into production now (patched 7.x-1.x-dev and yes running that), hope it will be committed soon.

There are issues with using this patch with the Field Collection Node Clone module. When you clone a node with field collections using this patch, it will remove the first item in every field collection.

I haven't had a chance to look into it further yet, however I thought I'd flag it up. We just had to temporarily remove this functionality whilst cloning content.

Patch #12 works perfectly. Thanks.

+++ b/field_collection.module
@@ -889,6 +890,19 @@ function field_collection_field_settings_form($field, $instance) {
+    '#description' => t("Remove the blank item that is always added to any multivalued field's form. If checked, user must explicitly add the field collection."),

Use single quotes when possible for consistency with Drupal code standards and the rest of the module.

+++ b/field_collection.module
@@ -826,6 +826,7 @@ function field_collection_field_info() {
+        'hide_initial_items' => FALSE,

@@ -889,6 +890,19 @@ function field_collection_field_settings_form($field, $instance) {
+  $form['hide_initial_items'] = array(
...
+    '#title' => t('Hide initial items'),

@@ -1473,6 +1487,11 @@ function field_collection_field_attach_form($entity_type, $entity, &$form, &$for
+      if($field['settings']['hide_initial_items'] && !isset($form[$field_name][$element_langcode][0]['#entity']->item_id)){

It should be singular since there will only be one initial item.

+++ b/field_collection.module
@@ -889,6 +890,19 @@ function field_collection_field_settings_form($field, $instance) {
+    '#states' => array(
+      // Hide the setting if the cardinality is 1.
+      'invisible' => array(
+        ':input[name="field[cardinality]"]' => array('value' => '1'),
+      ),

@@ -1473,6 +1487,11 @@ function field_collection_field_attach_form($entity_type, $entity, &$form, &$for
+      if($field['settings']['hide_initial_items'] && !isset($form[$field_name][$element_langcode][0]['#entity']->item_id)){
+        unset($form[$field_name][$element_langcode][0]);
+        unset($form_state['field']['#parents'][$field_name][$element_langcode][0]);
+      }

I think it needs a similar condition for hide blank items. The option doesn't make sense if hide blank items isn't checked so it shouldn't appear or work when it's not.

+++ b/field_collection.module
@@ -1402,7 +1416,7 @@ function field_collection_field_widget_form(&$form, &$form_state, $field, $insta
-        // add button is pressed the item count will be 2 and we show to items.
+        // add button is pressed the item count will be 2 and we show two items.

@@ -1473,6 +1487,11 @@ function field_collection_field_attach_form($entity_type, $entity, &$form, &$for
+      // remove blank form elements if set, force user to explicitly add a fc

Capitals letters at the start and periods at the end please.

Patch from #12 doesn't apply to beta8 anymore.

It applies to dev.

Sorry, it seems to me, that latest dev is currently identical with beta 8:

http://cgit.drupalcode.org/field_collection/log/

How are you trying to apply the patch? For me it applies without problem.

from original issue description i see:

When no created collections exist, field collection shows an "add an item" button, and nothing else.

would this suggest that when i am first creating a node which has a FC field with number of values = 1; i should see ONLY an "Add" button and no initial FC form? Even though the field setting states:

Remove the blank item that is always added to any multivalued field's form. If checked, user must explicitly add the field collection.

it sounds as though this would only apply for multivalued items. (and sure enough i do not get an Add button for my field but the single FC edit form as i used to get prior to patch)

i am not sure why we wouldn't want an Add button EVERY TIME when we state we want an Add button..

Apologies for amateurism, don't know how to propose a new patch properly (I have just attached mine) but patch #12 didn't work with 7.x-1.0-beta8+11-dev until I made the following tweak:

@@ -1402,7 +1416,7 @@ function field_collection_field_widget_form(&$form, &$form_state, $field, $insta
       }
       elseif (field_collection_hide_blank_items($field) && $field_state['items_count'] == 0) {
         // We show one item, so also specify that as item count. So when the
-        // add button is pressed the item count will be 2 and we show to items.
+        // add button is pressed the item count will be 2 and we show two items.
         $field_state['items_count'] = 1;
       }

I'm not quite clear about the "hide blank item" vs "hide initial item" distinction but ticking both boxes achieves what I want.

Nick

(accidentally created comment - please delete)

jmuzz posted some fixes that need to made when he changed the issue status to 'Needs Work'. The attached patch implements those fixes.

• Double quotes have been replaced with single quotes.
• 'hide_initial_items' has been renamed 'hide_initial_item'.
• 'hide_initial_item' is only shown on the form only if 'hide_blank_items' is TRUE.
• Initial item is only removed if 'hide_blank_items' is TRUE and if 'cardinality' is -1.
• Comment syntax has been corrected
  • "add button is pressed the item count will be 2 and we show two items." is the second line of a multi-line comment
• Patch has been run through Coder.

Regarding the Field Collection Clone module, we can open an issue to address the issue described by #14 once this patch has been committed.

Patch in #24 seems to be working fine.

#24 works, however, it would be nice if we had control of the button text. I use the custom add another module, which allows you to set the text that appears on the default 'add another' and 'remove' button. This module adds a third possibility, but we can't control the text. In my case, it's a form that is adding children, so my buttons normally say 'add another child', and 'remove child'.

When I enable this module, the button initially says 'Add another item', and then if i click it, I see the form for the blank item, but the button changes to 'add another child'.

@meecect - Have you tried using hook_form_alter?

I hade issues that the first item was detected as empty, when it wasn't. This was only when host node was new (not saved yet).
It was an easy fix, I switched !isset($form[$field_name][$element_langcode][0]['#entity']->item_id) to field_collection_item_is_empty($form[$field_name][$element_langcode][0]['#entity'])

#27 seems to seems to be a regression. The patch shouldn't limit other modules.

The issue described by #27 is not a regression. The "Custom Add Another" module is a dependent module. Custom Add Another needs to account for the change made by this patch downstream when it implements hook_preprocess_field_multiple_value_form().

Thank you! Patch #29 with Custom Add Another is a great combination. The only issue I see that the "Order" column is shown until I add the first row.

Applying the previous patch breaks the field collection subfields which bave their (css/js) attachements.
You can test this, for instance, with Geofield and Addressfield Autocomplete combination.
To reproduce it you have to add a field collection containing geofield populated from Addressfield Autocomplete field.

This patch fixes this issue.

Looks nice to me. +1 to RTBC.

Does the job. +1 RTBC

Thanks all. It's committed and will appear in the next dev version.

I also took the chance to change the wording on the help text for these options to try to make it more clear what the difference is.