Data module: managing foreign database tables

The Data module lets you use database tables that are foreign to Drupal.

You can 'adopt' a table in your database that ordinarily Drupal would not be aware of. This might be external data you have imported, or a table that another application has created. You can modify this table's schema in Data's UI, and you can also create custom tables in the Data UI.

A table that Data is aware of can be shown in Views. It can also be declared as the base table for a custom Entity type. This allows Field API fields to be added, and relationships to be created to other entities with Entity Reference fields.

Adopting a Table

In addition to creating tables in your Drupal database, the Data module can provide access to existing, non-Drupal tables by "adopting" the

Data: Working with dates

This page covers how to use Views and Date module with fields in your Data table which contain date-related data.

How Data relates to Table Wizard

Needs review/summary update, but the main information is in this rather old support request: [#580650]

Guide maintainers

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