Allow default image to be changed

After IRC discussion, and based on our limited understanding of what KarenS was saying in the post joachim links to, this looks like a potentially nasty bug - it removes functionality that exists in D6 and is really important. We prepared to stand corrected, but unless we're wildly wrong I +1 this bug... =(

#drupaluk reprazenttt

+1 - changing defaults is something I do *all* the time.

This is not possible in CCK / Fields D7 model. A default value is just a value that gets proposed to the user in the 'object create' form (or gets saved when incoming field is not specified in the case of programmatic object creation).
Once the object is created, the value is a 'regular' value, there's no way to keep track that it was saved as a 'default value' instead of an explicit user choice.

This is a won't fix. The case of "change branding of the 'no picture' user avatar" will need to be adressed differently (change the actual image file behind the stored fid - imagefield / filefield just store an fid...). I think imagefield / filefield have their own handling of default values anyway.

You've got to be kidding.

So default values in imagefields, default text in textareas, this *essential* stuff is all gone? Why?

What about the dozens of use cases where I want to set defaults with tokens and then not show the user the form??

Simple scenarios:

• Hosting changes,
• * Requirements changes,
• * You tried something out, discovered it didn't work, now want to set it to the settings you know will work.

This needs to be fixed.

re NikLP #4 : "this *essential* stuff is all gone? Why?"
Er, gone compared to what ? This is how 'default values' have always worked in CCK contrib from D5 (when we added the feature), nothing new here. We won't be automatically mass updating your existing data, never have, never will. This is just not the definition of the 'default value' feature.
What was previously possible that isn't possible anymore ?

Now, as I said above, fielfield has always had its own way of handling default value, so I'm not sure if and how the original use case described here (change 'no avatar' image) is actually problematic here.

re DamienMcKenna #5:
Your scenarios are far too vague. Unless you provide an actual, detailed scenario of something that was previously possible and is not anymore, there's nothing that "needs to be fixed".

re #8: Spot on.
CCK / Field API 'default value' is and has always been a).
b) is something else, more pertaining to the 'display' side. Can very well be done by formatters, or from a contrib module. Not in core.

Back to won't fix.

isn't this very easy, if we're not duplicating the default value across each instance where the default value get's used, and instead store NULL in the instance to indicate the default value needs to be used instead.

an actual empty field (for example, with an optional field) will be stored as ''

I suspect to see a checkbox toghether with an imagefield that says "use default image."

the behavior is that when the checkbox is checked it stores NULL and when it's unchecked it stores the content of the imagefield.
while displaying, if it sees null, it checks for the default value and uses that instead.

It seems to me there is a potential option, c, such that:

c) the global option to be displayed if the "default option" is shown, for instance, the "default user picture."

This is not necessarily a comment on any of the debates above.

Hi , i just created a text field in article bundle . Then i created a node of Article Content Type. After creating the node, when i go to edit the field, i am watching an error screen.If a user can not edit field after creating node of that specific content type, then edit link should not work, or something else. I think, this error should not come.

hm, now that I actually read this issue... yeah, that's a WTF -- somehow, I'd assume certain fields to not store a value if the value happens to be the field's default value, but instead load/apply that default value dynamically.

A nice example is an image field... a "default image" should not really end up in the DB. You'd "naturally" assume that the default image is only applied when the user did not save something.

Again, default values always worked liked that since they were introduced in CCK 3 years (?) ago - and we're not changing that now (if ever...). A "default value" is just a suggestion used to prepopulate the entity creation form. That's all. Once the form is submitted, the submitted values are regular field values.

If you want a specific display for NULL values, do that in the formatter.

I cannot reproduce the bug mentioned in #16. Thus, setting as 'by design'

@joachim : that's the case for regular field types, the default value is an instance-level property, and can be changed any time.

Image field choses to opt out of Field API's default handling of "default values", and provide it's own - 'default image' is a field-level setting. I'm sure there's a good reason for this, but if the default image cannot be changed once there are actual data, then it's an issue for image field.

If this is an issue for image field, which provides its own 'default image' code, any hope that we can change this? This would be different from changing a CCK tradition, and adds a lot of convenience.

@davidzz: sounds like a feature request.

I just checked with the Image field on the article content type in D7. Changes to default image do affect existing nodes. AFAICT, this is Fixed. Please reopen if I have it wrong.