Creating a Prototype for a Property Listing Manager module

I am writing a module that will create a node that includes a mini-gallery of images. Its primary intended use will be for displaying "Featured Properties" for real estate sites. If there's interest, once I've gotten it working, I'll post it here for other developers.

I originally had planned to use a flexinode, but it just wasn't doing what I wanted. Most of the functionality (as it stands now) comes from the Image module, although I have some questions (later in the post) about how to integrate with that module.

An authorized user ("agent") will be able to create nodes of this type. They will add the specific details of the property (address, town, type of property -- duplex, two-story, etc. -- features -- garage, basement, etc.). After these are entered, they will be able to upload one or more images associated with the property.

Ideally, I would like to have an "upload" button on the form (which flexinode gives). However, after one image has been uploaded, I would like to allow an indeterminate number of images to be added as well. I could set an arbitrary limit, such as 4 or 8, and set up the appropriate fields, but that seems like a kludge.

In addition, I want to be able to have more control about how to display the node. For instance, to show one image at its "preview" size, with the others at "thumbnail" size.

I've been studying the Image module for inspiration, and have set up a database table that will hold an unlimited number of associated image nodes with a property. One of these can also be designated as the "primary image" (the first being the default).

When a property node is deleted, it also calls the image_delete function for the associated images. I plan to add a setting that will allow the "agent" to toggle this functionality (for instance, if they want images to remain in the database after a property has been deleted). Probably the default will be that images won't be deleted.

What's still to be done:

1) I do not know how to hook into the image node -- specifically, to put an upload button on the property node creation form. I'm assuming that I use image_form for this, but I can't figure out how to call it properly, making sure a new image node is created.

2) I want to hook into the taxonomy code for types of properties, so that the "agent" can create specific types and have them automatically be created as categories. I'll study how galleries are implemented for this.

3) I'd like to have a gallery created automatically for a property, so that the associated images could be viewed as a gallery rather than as a property. Also makes it more configurable for other uses. I'm not sure that I'll implement this right away (or at all, necessarily), because my current client won't need this functionality.

I'd appreciate any help or advice anyone would like to give for this project. Should I set up a sandbox for this? Or am I going about all this the wrong way, and is there an easier way to do it?

Thanks,
Aaron

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