Remember back in Drupal 6 (and 5) when fields weren't in core? We could create custom content types but we couldn't add new fields, rearrange them, set display settings and all the other fun stuff we can now do through Drupal's UI. Then along came the Content Construction Kit (CCK) and a revolution was born! We were creating content types and adding custom fields until the cows came home. And when the cows did come home they were happy cows. They gave us loads of milk which we used to make cheese. Tasty, tasty cheese.

Fast forward to Drupal 7 and that lovely cheese making goodness is baked into Drupal core. The cows were already happy, and we were making cheese much easier. But also baked into Drupal core were entities, which made the cows even happier, but we couldn't get those cows to make more milk.

The problem was that we had all this new power, but couldn't access it through the UI. We couldn't easily make our cows produce more milk for the exotic varieties of cheese we wanted to make. So we were like: “What the 'eck? How do we create custom entities? I need cheese, yo!” And the Entity Construction Kit (ECK) was born.

Let's talk a bit about what ECK can do, when you should use it and why you should use it. How ECK integrates with our favourite friends Views and Rules. And also how we can use it in our Tasty Backend strategy to create features on our website our clients can manage. (Like carousels or slideshows, everyone loves those, right? Right??)

During the session I'll demonstrate how to create custom entities, discuss when they should be used, and even recreate a part of Drupal core with ECK! While somewhat technical, this presentation also focuses on Drupal content modelling and the importance of creating entities to suit your needs instead of just throwing everything into nodes.

This session will be safe for individuals who are lactose intolerant.