By rusloc on
A new Drupal user, who hasn't read all the manuals and books on the subject, how would he know that the field he's planning to use has already been included in the core or in a contributed module? The same question applies to selecting modules: How do I know that I don't need a contributed module because all necessary features are available in the core?
Is there a method or practice to avoid 'inventing the wheel'?
Note: It's a general question but advice applicable to D6 version will be most useful for me.
Comments
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If the feature isn't in drupal core thats when you seek out a contrib module.
with core you get a few generic fields, with CCK you get a few more, cck addons expands the fields you can use. examples, imagefield, filefield so on so forth.
Fields are exposed in CCK
When you create a field using CCK, it's not specific to the content type you're working on at the moment. It can be reused. It shows up in the list of existing fields the next time you go to add fields to a content type.
Fields in the list
Thank you for your answer!
Will this list show ALL existing fields? I mean fields from the (1) core; (2) CCK; and (3) activated contributed modules?
Can I use a non-CCK field while creating content with CCK?
Sorry if the question shows my ignorance, I haven't yet read the CCK manual.
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what is building a content in core is CCK. The parts of CCK that have been added since Drupal 5.x
therefore 1, 2 = yes
3 = yes, if the contrib modules are cck addons.
non cck fields when creating content with CCK doesn't really make much sense to me.
Reading the cck documentation and playing with it will help answer the questions asked.
Great, thank you
Read and play with CCK is what I'll do now.
Even if you use a contributed
Even if you use a contributed module, such as ed-classified, which creates it's own fields via the file system. The CCK module will allow you to extend it to add google maps, more fields for file upload, a specific field for an image file so that the image can be rendered in the ad, url links, validated email, media and even a clever way to reference other nodes in the system.
It's really a lot to take in and it's best integrated with the vies module. For the most part in Drupal, people use CCK and Views for everything.
The Lullabot people wrote a brilliant book called Using Drupal which is worth every cent. They go in depth with the views and cck modules explaining how to use them in an use fashion. They also on their website a video series that includes advanced theming which is awesome, the book does a better job explaining cck and views module. However, that costs an arm and a leg. I wish they would lower the price by a quarter. They would sell so many more to make up for it.
Using local library
That's good to know. As for the book you've mentioned, I am already reading it. Borrowed a hard copy from my library, and use 45-day trial Safaribooksonline to read it online. So far, I like it very much.
Well, if your into it you can
Well, if your into it you can continue with http://gotdrupal.com/ and http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast. This is not a drupal site but I enjoyed these videos too http://css-tricks.com/video-screencasts/