Creating a node programmatically

the node id is inserted directly in the node...

node_save($node); //insert or update
$nid = $node->nid;

P.

What I normally do is use an array.

$node = array(
  'title' => $title,
  'uid' => $uid,
  'body' => $body,
  'promote' => 0,
  etc...

);

if ($node = node_submit($node)) {
  node_save($node);
}

Dave

My site: http://www.unitorganizer.com/myblog

I meet the same problem as you.
according to you mentioned, becaue of the $user, we get uid = 0, so we can add these code

global $user;
$user = user_load(array('uid') => $account->uid); // or    $user = user_load(array('name') => $account->name);

then we get proper uid

I'm trying to define the user name to a node created programmatically using drupal_execute() via cron, but it insists on inserting uid 0 for anonymous. I have confirmed the user name being passed actually exists in the system. Other fields like the node title are defined correctly as expected.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks Ciallella for this helpful information.

Yes, Drupal 6 came with changes to drupal_execute(). Likewise, CCK has changed to the point where a Drupal 6 specific example is necessary. This is modified from the basic code snippet shown in the D6 API to include CCK fields.

Drupal 6 Example Code

$form_state = array();
module_load_include('inc', 'node', 'node.pages');  // new for Drupal 6
$nodeTmp = array('type' => 'story'); // a variable holding the content type

$form_state['values']['type'] = 'story'; // the type of the node to be created
$form_state['values']['status'] = 1; // set the node's status to Published, or set to 0 for unpublished
$form_state['values']['title'] = 'Some Node Title Here';   // the node's title
$form_state['values']['body'] = 'whatever body you might want, or else, leave blank'; // the body, not required

  // the username of the node's author, must be a valid user with access to create this node. 
  // Otherwise, see (http://drupal.org/node/178506#comment-726479) above about using user_load() to create nodes as any user, even when not logged in
$form_state['values']['name'] = 'someusername';  
$form_state['values']['op'] = t('Save');  // this seems to be a required value

 // CCK field examples for CCK in D6
$form_state['values']['field_mydropdown']['value'] = 3;    // a select (dropdown, where 3 is the "option" value saved to the db
$form_state['values']['field_myuserref'][0]['uid']['uid'] = 'someusername';  // a user reference example
$form_state['values']['field_mycheckbox']['value'] = 1;  // a checkbox example
$form_state['values']['field_mynoderef'][0]['nid']['nid'] = '[nid:9]';  // a node reference example. In this case, 9 is referring to node 9

  // call the function to create the node, node_revisions, and CCK values.
  // Replace "story" with the name of your form / content type
$errs = drupal_execute('story_node_form', $form_state, (object) $nodeTmp); 

  // if there were any validation errors, drupal_execute will return them, then you have a chance to do something
if (count($errs)) {
  // optional code here
}

If you compare the Drupal 5 example to the Drupal 6 example you'll notice quite a few differences.

• module_load_include('inc', 'node', 'node.pages') is now required, as it eliminates the First argument is expected to be a valid callback, 'node_form' error
• The second argument changed name in the API and syntax. Notice it is now, $form_state['values']..., instead of $form_values
• CCK changed syntax of their arrays as well. Remember, you can always go to /node/add/yourContentType and look at the source code of the form. For example, the HTML source for the checkbox would look like <input type="radio" name="field_mycheckbox[value]" which translates to $form_state['values']['field_mycheckbox']['value'] as the array in PHP code.
• There is a new 'op' field which seems to be required.
• The D6 API code now shows casting the $nodeTmp array to an object, whereas D5 API left it out. I'm not sure which function, but one of the processing functions must need this value as part of an object. Note: the API used the variable name of $node. I changed it to avoid confusion with the $node variable available within template scopes.

Hope this answers them questions.

OrangeCoat.com

There's lots of examples of people using drupal_execute() to programmatically create CCK nodes, but I won't deny it's a potential minefield and not for the faint of heart.

If you're not concerned about other modules and hooks reacting to a node insertion then using node_save() might suffice.

For me using drupal_execute() to create regular nodes has proven to be quite successful. I don't rely on drupal_execute() for validation. Since the node is being created programmatically (i.e. transparently) I insure all the data is pre-validated before insertion.

-------------------------------------------------------

"The sting in any rebuke is the truth." - Benjamin Franklin

for others who stumble on this thread... hope this helps.

i attempted to get drupal_execute to work for a very long time. as referenced by karen's link above, the first node bulk inserted in the loop will work fine, but in my case, all after that would be oddly corrupted (optionwidget values would only have the first character and nodereference fields would link to node 1 even when they were not specified). this behavior is due to static variables being used which were designed to prevent forms from being validated multiple times, the problem is that we want the same "type" of form to validate on each drupal_execute, but this does not happen. i applied the fix 260934 and all seemed good. the problem then was that automatic node titles were failing, inserted nodes would all take the title of the first node created in the loop. looking at the node that automatic node titles received there were "_error_element" references next to the 'value' element on each field. i gave up on drupal_execute at this point.

node_save seems to be working. the only major issue was phone cck fields which this http://drupal.org/node/146882 issue refers to. i changed their database field attribute to allow nulls like the other cck fields and everything is working.

a few points on this that are interesting. 1 - your source data can have yet to be defined taxonomy terms, this will read them into the node, create the terms, and link them (this was the primary reason i stayed with drupal_execute so long, i didn't realize you could do free tagging with node_save). 2 - this shows how to do node references and 3 - get the node id of the newly created node.

my code shows how to load nodes from content stored in a local temp table. i am creating a contact cck type and the process to integrate with salesforce (http://drupal.org/node/455838)

include_once './includes/bootstrap.inc';
drupal_bootstrap(DRUPAL_BOOTSTRAP_FULL);
module_load_include('inc', 'node', 'node.pages'); 

$queryPopQueue = "select * from custom_contact_insert where drupal_node_id is null limit 50";
$queryResult =  db_query($queryPopQueue);
while ($data = db_fetch_object($queryResult)){
	$node->type = 'contact';
	node_object_prepare($node);
	$node->uid = 1;
	$node->title = $data->field_contact_first_name_value . ' ' . $data->field_contact_last_name_value;
	$node->body = "";
	$node->teaser = "";
	$node->filter = variable_get('filter_default_format', 1);
	$node->format = FILTER_FORMAT_DEFAULT;
	$node->language = '';
	$node->revision = 0;
	$node->promote = 0;
	$node->created = time();
	$node->comment= 0;
	
	$node->taxonomy = array('tags' => array('11' => ($data->categories)));
	$node->field_contact_first_name[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_first_name_value;
	$node->field_contact_last_name[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_last_name_value;
	$node->field_contact_job_title[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_job_title_value;
	$node->field_contact_organization[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_organization_value;
	$node->field_contact_organization_r['nid']['nid'] = '463'; //this is a sample hard coded value
	$node->field_contact_account_sfid[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_account_sfid_value;
	$node->field_contact_sfid[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_sfid_value;
	
	$node->field_contact_email_optout[0]['value'] = 'false';
	$node->field_contact_phone_optout[0]['value'] = 'false';
	
	$node->field_contact_add1_city[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add1_city_value;
	$node->field_contact_add1_country[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add1_country_value;
	$node->field_contact_add1_zipcode[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add1_zipcode_value;
	$node->field_contact_add1_state[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add1_state_value;
	$node->field_contact_add1_street[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add1_street_value;
	$node->field_contact_add1_type[0]['value'] = 'Work';
	
	$node->field_contact_add2_city[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add2_city_value;
	$node->field_contact_add2_country[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add2_country_value;
	$node->field_contact_add2_zipcode[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add2_zipcode_value;
	$node->field_contact_add2_state[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add2_state_value;
	$node->field_contact_add2_street[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_add2_street_value;
	$node->field_contact_add2_type[0]['value'] = 'Home';
	
	$node->field_contact_mobile_phone[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_mobile_phone_value;
	$node->field_contact_home_phone[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_home_phone_value;
	$node->field_contact_work_phone[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_work_phone_value;
	$node->field_contact_asst_phone[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_asst_phone_value;
	
	$node->field_contact_email1[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_email1_email;
	$node->field_contact_email2[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_email2_email;
	$node->field_contact_email_asst[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_email_asst_email;
	
	$node->field_contact_assistant[0]['value'] = $data->field_contact_assistant_value;
	$node->field_contact_notes[0]['value'] = $data->notes;
	  
	node_save($node);
	$nid = $node->nid;
	unset($node);
	
	//update status and drupalid in the queue
	$queryUpdate = "update custom_contact_insert set drupal_node_id = '$nid', status = '1' where id = '" . $data->id . "'";
	db_query($queryUpdate);
}

there is code on http://drupal.org/node/128038 to fix the validation issue, works well for import scripts creating multiple nodes with CCK fields using drupal_execute()

If I remember correctly, ['node_name'] is the required value used by the CCK node reference module.

In your case, I believe you'd use

$values['field_mls'][0]['node_name'] = '[nid:' . $nid . ']';

where $nid should be the node id of the referenced node.

Look at the way a node reference field works normally on a /node/add/someType form. You'll notice as you type the name of a node it will search for the node by title and then ends up putting something like "The title of the Node Here [nid:123]" in the text field via AJAX

I assume the CCK node reference field just processes the string value in the form textfield and if it sees the pattern [nid:*] in the string it uses the number specified. So, technically I think you could set the value to 'Blah Blah Blah [nid:234] and it should still work still recognize node 234 as the referenced node.

OrangeCoat.com

It sounds like you're asking how to add taxonomy terms to a node programatically.

If so, I'd suggest trying the following. As an example, lets assume you have a node of type Book and you want to add to it a taxonomy term of "Fiction", where Fiction has a term ID (tid) of 22 and it part of the vocabulary "Book Type" with a vocabulary ID (vid) of 1. Also assume the vocabulary allows for multiple select and no free tagging.

If you go to the normal /node/add/book page you can look at the HTML source and see something like

<select name="taxonomy[1][]" multiple="multiple" ....
<option value="22">Fiction</option>

or if you use print_r($node) on _nodeapi() hook or print_r($form_values) with a _validate() hook you'd see something like this

[taxonomy] => Array
        (
            [1] => Array
                (
                    [22] => 22
                )

        )

So, without actually testing this I'm going to suggest the syntax to add a tag or tags to a node programatically for multiple select, no free tagging vocabulary would be

$values['taxonomy'][1][] = 22;

OR

$values['taxonomy'][1][22] = 22;

Again, where 1 = the vid of your vocabulary and 22 is the tid of your term.

I'm not sure if either or both of these would work, so this is just pointing you in a direction. Also, the syntax for free tagging or no multiple select could very well be different.

In general, if you look at the the "name" attribute of a form element on the /node/add/yourType page's HTML then it should provide insight into what to use following $values. Also, using print_r() within the _validate() _submit() or nodeapi() hooks should show you what the array of values looks like after Drupal has built it.

OrangeCoat.com

Is there any way to update a node with drupal_execute? I've went with nmd's method, as it's the only way I've been able to update a node in this way. I've explained my issues with using drupal_execute() here.

My issue was that I had a form made entirely of cck fields to process in my module. After tons of var_dump'in and what not, I've come up with something worth exploring, because it works (at least for me). While it's unfinished, it will hopefully give other developers some clues. Here's the function (to place in your module). Couple notes:

1. I only wanted to process the 12 fields from the actual form on the web page. But limiting it to this, I bypass any errors from the other hidden form elements that Drupal puts in there (tokens and such). I do it this way because I'm lazy and just wanted to loop over everything instead of hard-coding the form name elements.
2. I intentionally assign a title to the node, based on the combined values of the first and last name.

/** 
  * Process the form (cck handles validation) 
  */
function my_module_form_submit(&$form_id, &$form_state) {
	module_load_include('inc', 'node', 'node.pages');
	global $user;
	$node = new StdClass();
	$node->type = 'your type';
	node_object_prepare($node);  // not sure if this is needed or not
	$node->uid = $user->uid;
	$node->status = 0;  // change to 1 to publish
	$node->comment = 0;  // allow comments?
	$node->promote = 0;	  // promote to front page?
	// work with the first x many fields from the form (avoid processing stuff like tokens)
	$total_fields = 12; // change this to however many form fields you want to work with, or hard-code instead of loop
	$i = 0;
	foreach($form_state['values'] as $key => $value) {
		if ($i < $total_fields) {
			$node->$key = array(array('value' => $value[0]['value']));
			$i++;
		}
	}
	$node->title = 'Entry from: ' . $node->field_first_name[0]['value'] . ' ' . $node->field_last_name[0]['value'];
	node_save($node);
	// if there's a nid now, then we saved it
	if ($node->nid) {
		echo "Node saved with id of: " . $node->nid;
	} else {
		echo "Node failed to save.";
		var_dump($node);
		unset($node);
		exit();
	}
}

Thanks for your answer. Well what I want to do is parsing an XML file and creating nodes from this data, so I guess it is what you call "mimicing node form submission"?

er..no..that also uses node_save

If it's a CCK field, the field is an array. You'll want something like
$node->field_myfield[0]['value'] = $default_value;