Provide a simple function for validation of CCK choices

Just thinking, better to make it tablemanager_get_array($tablename, $columname) for better flexibility - can be called as tablemanager_get_array($tablename, $locale) for language purposes.

Ok, sorry for not making it clear...

CCK allows you to define your own types of node, and data types (fields) that will be stored there.

So, let's say I have a data type of "Operating System", which stores an integer representing various choices, maybe 11=Windows 2000, 12=Windows XP, 13=Windows Vista, 21=Ubuntu Linux, 22=Debian Linux ... etc.

CCK allows me to define this lists of options in two ways, a simple list like this:

11|Windows 2000
12|Windows XP
etc.

... or PHP code which returns an array, e.g.
return array(11=>'Windows 2000', 12=>'Windows XP', etc)

Problem 1: I don't want to have to duplicate this list or code every time I create a data-type which represents "Operating System".
Problem 2: How can this list of OSs be easily updated when a new OS version/name comes out?
Problem 3: Access to these CCK lists and PHP code normally requires Admin rights - what if I want a lower-privilege user to be able to update the list of allowed values?
Problem 4: Some lists may be multi-language. There are ways of doing this, but it's messy.

So, I need an easy way to create and manage a list of "Operating Systems" where OS_CODE=>OS_NAME, and people who I grant access to can add, edit and delete etc. All CCK needs is PHP code returning an array, so a function like: return tablemanager_get_array('OS') would suffice, where 'OS' is the name of a table.

In summary, the following functions would be great

tablemanager_get_array($table_name)

Returns an array where key=column 1 and value = column 2 from the table

tablemanager_get_array($table_name, $key_column_name, $value_column_name)

Returns an array where key and value come from the named columns. This allows flexibility, including "multi-language" use.

Example if the table named "Colors" contains:

ColorCode ColorName-en ColorName-es
1 Red Rojo
2 Green Verde
3 Blue Azul

... then when $local=='es', tablemanager_get_array('Colors', 'ColorCode', 'ColorName-'.$locale) would return array(1=>'Rojo', 2='Verde', 3='Azul')

Hope it's clearer now?

Ok, thanks for the pointers, I'll take a look myself. Another way would be a separate module which called the tablemanager_display function and parsed its output, but that would seem messy at best. The final array has to be in the format required by CCK - a simple array(key->value, ...)

I see you're looking at CSV import/export (or only import?) Parsing CSV data would be easier. Or maybe it makes more sense to work directly with the SQL tables. I'll take a look.

I'll let you know how I get on.