New D6 version just a few weeks away

rconstantine - April 2, 2009 - 17:23

Project:	Address field for CCK
Version:	5.x-2.x-dev
Component:	Code
Category:	feature request
Priority:	normal
Assigned:	rconstantine
Status:	needs review

I must apologize for basically falling off the grid for so long. I know many folks are annoyed that this module has just sat here for like a year. I've been working two jobs that whole time. Fortunately, my day job has allowed me to start using Drupal and I need to update most of my old modules. This is one of them.

Why not use the addresses module? Frankly, I don't like it. I don't like how it works, I don't like the admin options (or lack thereof), I don't like its display and several other things. That said, there are a couple of things it has that I like.

What will this new D6 version have?

I already stole the country and state lists from the addresses module. Database-stored, not Drupal variables.
Full AHAH support for country/state
Full Views 2 support
Full Token support
Full Diff support
Full Location support
Maybe the microformat stuff from addresses
Ability to validate against a known list of addresses (as before, this is set up for my needs but could be expanded to a more general case if there's a demand)
A validation API (a rework of the existing one from cck_address - no longer need separate modules for each country)
Both global and per instance settings
The same customization settings as before
Better theming support
Separation of functions into many files to minimize memory usage

I'll also go through the issue queue and make sure I don't carry forward any nasty bits you've all found lacking.

Questions?

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#1

rconstantine - April 2, 2009 - 17:26

I forgot, I will also support multiples and I'll look at the idea of address books for users. I won't have phone and fax included in this. There's already a dedicated module for that http://drupal.org/project/phone.

#2

Aren Cambre - April 2, 2009 - 18:31

Excellent! (subscribing)

#3

Jagg3d - April 7, 2009 - 17:08

Nice!

#4

Michelle - April 7, 2009 - 17:33

"Full Location support"

Does that mean this could be used instead of the location form and still have all the other functionality?

Michelle

#5

quinn - April 8, 2009 - 21:10

can you upload a patch file? i'd love to try it out right now

#6

rconstantine - April 8, 2009 - 21:32

No patch is ready yet. Got side-tracked with other work (thank my boss!) but am back on this tomorrow (tonight actually). I need this for both my day job and my side work, so this is a priority for me.

@Michelle, by "Full location support", what I mean is some kind of Geocoding. Originally, I thought I'd make this compatible with the Location module, but now I'm leaning toward Geo and Geocoding modules instead. But in any case, that will be the last thing implemented most likely and I'll have a release which includes support for diff, views, token, etc. before that. Those are all much smaller and easier to crank out.

#7

Michelle - April 8, 2009 - 22:38

@rconstantine: Ah, too bad. I use location/gmap but don't care for the form that comes with location. I'd prefer a CCK based one and was hoping this would do it. Thanks anyway. :)

Michelle

#8

quinn - April 9, 2009 - 16:55

does this module store the address's lat and long?

#9

rconstantine - April 14, 2009 - 15:53

A few days has turned in to many, but progress is being made.

#10

deviantintegral - April 14, 2009 - 22:14

+1 for a patch for testing, or a CVS branch for Drupal 6. I'm working on a D6 site and I think this will be more appropriate than Addresses.

As for Location integration, my patch against D5 may be useful if you haven't seen it: #424698: Location Integration

#11

neilnz - April 16, 2009 - 03:01

I can't wait - building a site now that could use this. Subscribing.

#12

quinn - April 17, 2009 - 20:44

@deviantintegral yeah, a super buggy patch is better than no patch at all.

#13

rconstantine - April 28, 2009 - 16:18

Title:

New D6 version just a few days away

» New D6 version just a few weeks away

Folks,

I wanted to take a moment to explain why this is taking so long. It comes down to two things. First, I'm working on this at work, for work, but it is not yet critical, so other things are fighting for my attention at the moment. Second (and this is the big one) there is a major hurdle to overcome which nobody has been able to figure out in any CCK module for D6. That hurdle is the 'simple' function of updating one select field based on the selection from another one. For regular modules, this is really easy. For CCK, not so. However, based on my work on the 'nested fieldgroups' patch which will make its way into core CCK (after the row delete and multigroups patches), I may have a solution. I'm working on it, but it's going slower than I want it to. The module is unusable at this point due to this, but once this part is accomplished, the rest is pretty easy, including Views 2 integration, token, diff, etc. Even the geocoding (or whatever I choose in that regards) is easier than what I'm trying to get over now. If my current path doesn't work, I may need to patch CCK itself.

One funny thing about this is that supposedly when D7 comes out and fields are part of core, there will exist a function that would solve this issue. Unfortunately, a back-port of that is not possible due to other constraints.

So be patient, cross your fingers, wish me luck. If I do succeed at this, then that will also mean that modules such as 'hierarchical select' should also be able to use my methods to update their CCK portions as well.

#14

AmitV - May 6, 2009 - 11:18

subscribing, excellent been waiting for this, good luck

#15

AmitV - May 6, 2009 - 11:22

"Ability to validate against a known list of addresses (as before, this is set up for my needs but could be expanded to a more general case if there's a demand)"

Please convert this into dependant select lists, i.e. Country->State. Rather than use what the addresses modules uses, where we need to type out the State/Province and wait/check for validation.....

#16

rconstantine - May 7, 2009 - 01:52

@AmitV's #15... that's the hard part and why nobody else has done it before. I have literally been down a dozen or more dead ends trying to get this to work. I have about 4 or 5 more things to try, but each one takes a lot of effort and so that is what is taking so long. I'm about to scrap the current method and try the next one. This may be impossible, but I'm going to keep at it because not only would it be worth the effort, but it would be cool! ...and useful to know the method that works in order to use it on other CCK projects.

#17

setfree - May 11, 2009 - 02:26

Sub

#18

goodeit - May 13, 2009 - 19:14

subscribing

#19

monotaga - May 26, 2009 - 19:13

Subscribing

#20

Craig Gardner - June 3, 2009 - 23:51

subscribing.

Also +1 for a D6 branch for testing.

#21

rconstantine - June 5, 2009 - 19:54

Looks like this is going to require a patch to CCK. Once done, I'll see about CCK taking the patch so you all don't have to hack CCK.

#22

csc4 - June 9, 2009 - 16:59

Subscribing

#23

Poieo - June 15, 2009 - 21:31

Subscribing

#24

Shai - June 22, 2009 - 14:46

Subscribing

#25

asak - July 3, 2009 - 22:40

subscribing.

#26

izmeez - July 3, 2009 - 22:44

#27

will_in_wi - July 11, 2009 - 14:28

Do you have any kind of timeframe for a working version? I have a short timeline to upgrade a site to d6 which uses this module. The more I use addresses, the more I hate it, but I will make it work if necessary. Can you post a dev version of the 6.x port once it will upgrade from 5.x and allow entry and display?

Have you submitted the patch for cck mentioned in #21?

Thank you

#28

Parkes Design - July 13, 2009 - 16:10

Awesome I've been waiting for this module...

Subscribing

#29

momendo - July 24, 2009 - 12:18

+1 A very interesting module indeed!

#30

m_d_mcbride - July 29, 2009 - 15:13

Also very intrested in this module, especially since it will support multiples

#31

cimb - August 6, 2009 - 05:11

subscribing

#32

tristan.oneil - August 6, 2009 - 12:02

Also it would be great if you built in hooks for Node Import.

#33

jimi089 - August 9, 2009 - 21:03

Any update on this upgrade? Last update was 6/5, and the original post stated "a few weeks away" on 4/11. Regardless of the state of the upgrade it would be good to know so I know whether it's worth waiting or if I should look elsewhere for my needs.

Thanks!

#34

BenK - August 13, 2009 - 21:22

Subscribing

#35

rconstantine - August 19, 2009 - 16:18

Sorry for no updates. As you may or may not know, this is going to require a patch to CCK itself as the current framework won't allow for the functionality we desire here. I am waiting to do this until the nested fieldgroups patch is included in the 3.x version of CCK. The maintainers want it in, but are having time issues themselves in reviewing it. So this is on hold again. Sorry folks. I do really want this as much as you all.

Note, the 3.x version of CCK offers a work around - multigroups. It at least lets you put all of the fields required for an address together as a unit. However, you don't get extra validation, or other functionality you would get from an address module.

#36

donquixote - September 16, 2009 - 13:53

#37

SeanBannister - September 20, 2009 - 09:15

Sub

#38

Alan D. - October 4, 2009 - 00:29

Just wondering on progress. Are active changes in HEAD or another branch in case someone can jump in and help. And this is a bit premature, but do you have any Drupal 7 plans yet? I'm starting a personal project that will probably take 5 months, so I doing this in D7 and I've already written three new multipart fields and a simple address one is on my list of requirements.

Any plans on an adapter class for your data sources? I am considering using the geonames database, which would allow a single autocomplete at the town / city level to populate the state / country fields automatically for any significant population on the planet. See TaxiSelect if you are wondering how such a claim is justified. A simple 3 table join would be able to do a similar thing for this module, or a single query if the data source is denormalised.

Cheers