Simple Field Module: Introducing a Simpler UI for Creating Fields

Need a simpler UI to let administrators manage fields? We recently created a new contributed module called Simple Field. This module simplifies the UI for creating fields and adding them to content types and entities. It also provides granular permissions, so you're not stuck with a single catch-all permission for managing fields. You can see a demo of the module in action at simplefield-demo.ewdev.ca (login: demo/demo).

Why do I need Simple Field?

Imagine you're creating a Drupal site and you want to let your users create fields, but you don't want to give them the 'Manage Fields UI'. The Manage Fields UI is very powerful, but it also provides a lot of settings and configuration that can be confusing for non-technical users. Giving users permission to manage fields allows them to delete fields, and you might want more granular permissions to prevent users from deleting data on the site.

Simple Field Types

The Simple Field module includes a set of Field Types. Instead of a long list of cryptic types which can intimidate non-technical users, field types are things like 'Multiple Choice' or 'Yes/No'.

List of built-in Simple Field types

Simple Field types include a core field type, plus some field widget settings. For example, rather than choosing 'Boolean', users can choose 'Yes/No', which is a Boolean field with pre-configured options for yes or no. The user adding the Simple Field will not see the 'Options' field and won't be able to change the option values.

Of course, we can't anticipate all the Simple Field types that other sites will need, so the module is extensible and allows developers to define additional Simple Field types in code.

Creating Fields is as Easy as Pie

With pre-defined field settings, creating fields becomes much easier for users. Users just need to enter the label, whether the field is required, and help text. Some Simple Field types, such as 'Multiple Choice', have an options field, but that's it.

Creating a 'Yes or No' Simple Field

Attaching Simple Fields to Content Types

You can enable Simple Field on a per content type basis, which provides a nice UI for managing the Simple Fields for that content type. The module uses modals to keep the UI concise. You can create and attach files from the same page.

UI for attaching Simple Fields to a Customer content type

An Alternative UI for Creating Fields

The Simple Field module provides an alternative UI for creating fields, which only exposes some of the field settings to users. Other administrative roles can still be given access to all of the more advanced settings through the Manage Fields UI. The fields are stored in the database in exactly the same way, so everything like Views integration still works. All settings and weights are synchronized between the two interfaces.

Simple Fields appear in the Manage Fields UI

Granular Permissions for Fields

Permissions for the Simple Field module are very granular. You can control which roles have access to which field types and whether users can delete fields or remove fields from a particular content type or entity. For example, you can configure your site so that the users with the 'service rep' role can add Yes/No, Multiple Choice, and Short Answer simple fields to the customer content type. This way, service reps can add fields on-the-fly if they realize that collecting a particular piece of information from customers is valuable.

Simple Field Permissions

Adding Simple Fields to Entities: Fields as Content

While the Simple Field module can be used to add fields to bundles (i.e. content types) it can also be used for adding fields to entities. This opens up a ton of new possibilities. For example, you can create a survey entity and allow users to attach fields to each individual entity. Used this way, the Simple Field module is kind of like an alternative to the Webform module, allowing you to add fields to pieces of content.

Presentation at DrupalCamp NJ

Alex Dergachev presented a case study at Drupal Camp NJ on February 4, 2012 and included a demo of the Simple Field module. The case study shows our original use case for the module in the context of a Drupal project for a university.

Documentation

For information on creating new types, among other things, take a look at the documentation.