Programmatically create CCK fields

Programmatically create CCK fields

21st September

2008

written by david

I recently needed to programmatically create CCK fields for a custom module.
I wanted to be able to install my module and automatically create it's required CCK fields.
I ended up using the following code function:

PLAIN TEXT

PHP:

/**
* Programmatically create CCK fields and types using the content copy module
* @param $type string
* content type to create, defaults to new type, if type exists, only fields will be added
* @param $macro array
* exported array from content types -&gt; export. If file is not specified, macro will be used
* @param $file string
* path to file containing content copy exported macro data structure. no escaping needed.
*/
function base_create_content($type = '', $macro = '', $file = '') {
  if(!module_exists("content_copy")){
    drupal_set_message('Programmatically creating CCK fields requires the Content Copy module. Exiting.');
    return;
  }
  $values = array();
  $values['type_name'] = $type;
  //get macro import data, prefer file first
  if($file){
    if(file_exists($file)){
      $values['macro'] = file_get_contents($file);
    }else{
      drupal_set_message('Unable to read input file for import. Exiting.');
      return;
    }
  }elseif($macro){
    $values['macro'] = $macro;
  }
  //include required files
  include_once './'. drupal_get_path('module', 'node') .'/content_types.inc';
  include_once('./'. drupal_get_path('module', 'content') .'/content_admin.inc');
  //import content by executing content copy import form and passing macro
  drupal_execute("content_copy_import_form", $values);
}

I then call it like:

PLAIN TEXT

PHP:

//use absolute path to include file
base_create_content($type = 'my_type', $macro = '', $file = realpath('.') . '/sites/all/modules/my_module/cck/fields.inc');

where fields.inc contains the exported macro from admin > content types > export and my_module defines the my_type type in hook_node_info. You could also make 'my_type' into '' and create a new type.

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