CCK 3: Introducing the multigroup module

Jun 08, 2009 in cck, drupal

Yesterday we saw the birth of the CCK 3.x dev branch. One of the many exciting new features is the addition of the multigroup module. A multigroup works exactly like a regular fieldgroup in that it allows you to group different widgets together. You can for instance create a custom address group with textfields for the street name, zipcode and city, or a profile group with a nickname textfield and an avatar image upload field. What's new is that you can create a multi-value widget from these groups. So you can now create your own image gallery widget by setting up an image upload field, a title textfield and a description textarea and combining them in a multigroup.

This is another powerful step in eliminating the middleman by allowing administrators and editors full control, not only over the content types, but the widgets as well.

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Comments

Mon, 2009-06-08 14:16 — Rick Lawson (not verified)

Like ingredients?

So, does that mean I can make a multigroup that represents, say, ingredients in a recipe? Lets say an amount as a number, a unit such as a teaspoon as a lookup and a final lookup of the actual ingredient. That would be great!

Mon, 2009-06-08 15:11 — Wim Mostrey

Exactly!

That's exactly what this module does. The original feature request has been worked on for about two and a half years, and this is the result. It's really a very powerful tool.

Mon, 2009-06-08 15:01 — Jay (not verified)

Is there a module out there right now that does this?

Do you know of a module for current CCK that does this or do we have to wait on CCK 3 entirely?

Mon, 2009-06-08 15:13 — Wim Mostrey

CCK 3

I don't know of any other module that does this. The multigroup module required several changes in the cck module itself so I don't think there's currently another clean solution available.

Mon, 2009-06-08 15:55 — Stefan Kudwien (not verified)

Flexifield

There's Flexifield that can do this, albeit with limitations (namely views integration is missing).

Mon, 2009-06-08 15:58 — Wim Mostrey

Flexifield uses content types

Flexifield uses content types as widgets, while the multigroup module offers a clean solution by adding actual content fields.

Mon, 2009-06-08 17:43 — joshmiller (not verified)

http://drupal.org/project/cnr

You can do something similar with node references. The problem is that making a "subordinate" content type is not what Drupal likes to do. I've successfully made this work using an embedded view on the form with edit links to the referenced nodes.

Mon, 2009-06-08 16:56 — Ben (not verified)

Deltas

The important thing to realize about multigroups is that values in fields in a multigroup are associated by delta. For instance, if you have a textfield and an imagefield in a multigroup and you add another value you'll have four fields total, and the second fields are associated.

Mon, 2009-06-08 17:13 — Sven Decabooter (not verified)

Exciting news! Let's hope

Exciting news!
Let's hope this functionality can grow stable quickly, as it would indeed be a very powerful feature for CCK.

Mon, 2009-06-08 17:47 — joshmiller (not verified)

How does CCK work with fields

How does CCK work with fields in Drupal 7?

Josh

Mon, 2009-06-08 23:18 — Wim Mostrey

Wim Mostrey Engaging Drupal

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