ECK D7, D8 roadmap [#2382255]

Roadmap

There are currently 3 versions of ECK: 7.x-2.x, 7.x-3.x, and 8.x-1.x.

7.x-3.x

This version is dead in drupal.org, but there are lots of nice, but unstable, features in there. There is a copy of this branch on github, and the current plan is to move these features to 2.x: https://github.com/fmizzell/eck

These are the features in 3.x that will need to be backported:

Better permissions management
Full control of the schema of properties
Configurable behaviors
Property widgets
A full set of primitive properties
And some UI and UX improvements

mihai_brb is currently working on porting the UI and UX improvements that we did for properties in 3.x. If anyone is interested in moving some of the other features over, let me know.

7.x-2.x

The 7.x-2.x branch is pretty stable with rc releases for 2.0.

We will continue development on this branch with new features added, but my plan is to have very short feature release cycles.

The idea will be that we will not merge any new features without a nice set of behat tests. This should give us some confidence on the stability of the features. So as soon as the first new feature is merge, we can tag a 7.x-2.1-beta1 release.

After a month or so, we should be getting a nice set of bug reports related to the new feature, and once those bugs are fixed we can start tagging rc releases.

In a perfect world this will mean that we can have one new feature every month and a half, and keep a pretty stable module at the same time.

The features that we all would like to see during the 2.x cycle are the following ones #1971326: What functionality would you like in 3.x:

Full multilingual support
Export as code functionality
Entity reference property
More flexibility for paths
DB indexes
Pathauto integration (explore integration with pathauto_entity)
Entitizing existing db tables
Change administration pages to use views
Separate ECK Core and ECK UI
Bulk operation (Moving to views would solve this)

8.x-1.x

There is an alpha release which can be tested and further development is being done by legolasbo. A non-exhaustive list of planned changes can be found below.

Further clean up the codebase
Increase test coverage
Allow the entity lists paths to be user-configurable
Provide a view for each listing page
Improve twig templates
Depend on entity API when a stable-ish release is available to remove a lot of cruft from our codebase

Comments

Comment #1

fmizzell commented 26 November 2014 at 03:27

Issue summary:

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Comment #2

fmizzell commented 26 November 2014 at 04:02

Issue summary:

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Comment #3

computerbarry commented 28 November 2014 at 21:36

Great news! And like me, and many others no doubt we appreciate all your hard work and commitment, really helps fmizzell.
Lets hope we have no big issues with the progression and happy coding all :)

Looking forward to your updates and posts.

Comment #4

OnkelTem commented 18 March 2015 at 15:41

Nice to see the work is in progress!

I think this is one of the greatest modules for Drupal (along with Panels, Views and Rules). I'd gladly join 7.x-3.x branch testing and fixing.

Comment #5

fmizzell commented 31 March 2015 at 03:54

I am not having as much time as I would like to work on ECK. The time I am dedicating to the project is just enough to keep up with the issue queue. This means that I have not had much time to continue the work on 3.x. I see that there is quite a bit of movement in 2.x, and there are quite a few new features that people have worked on that are waiting to be committed, but I have refused in an effort to keep ECK 2.x stable and "continue" work on 3.x. As I mentioned, work in 3.x is at a stand still, and people are usually not encourage to put time an effort into something that they can't use right now, that is why most of the movement is in 2.x.

I would like to get some feedback. What If we focus the time we have in writing tests for the things that seem to be ready for 2.x, and then if time permits slowly back port each of the new things that ECK 3.x has to offer as tested patches to 2.x.

Does this sound like a good strategy?

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Comment #6

rodrigoaguilera

Spanish

Madrid

commented 31 March 2015 at 06:54

Given the situation seems like the best approach.

Thanks for the effort :)

Comment #7

computerbarry commented 1 April 2015 at 13:13

Cool and thanks for the update fmizzell!
Sounds good to me, I've also managed to add the EVA module for bulk entity deletion, for the meantime anyway if anybody else having this problem.

Cheers, Barry

Comment #8

lpalgarvio commented 9 June 2015 at 12:49

Issue summary:

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added entity translation issue and connected issues

Comment #9

fmizzell commented 31 August 2015 at 03:16

After working for a bit with this low bandwidth and seeing that a stable 3.x was nowhere near in sight, I thought that it would be better to continue to support 2.x as most people is most interested on incremental fixes there, and they are working on those fixes. I killed 3.x in drupal.org, but all that code is still in the github clone, and my plan is to slowly move some of the features from there to 2.x. There are some people already helping with this move, and working on new features to 2.x so I think the decision is already paying of.

If anyone is interested in moving stuff from 3.x to 2.x, or working in new features, let me know and I will be happy to help as much as possible.

Comment #10

fmizzell commented 31 August 2015 at 03:31

Issue summary:

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Comment #11

computerbarry commented 25 September 2015 at 10:41

Thanks for the updates, fmizzell.

Wondering if 7.x-2.0-rc7 now has all the features of 7.x-2.0-rc6? Is rc7 an improved version of rc6, can't see any release notes on the changes.

Barry

Comment #12

legolasbo

he/him

Dutch

Middelburg

commented 1 December 2015 at 08:38

Issue summary:

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Comment #13

damienmckenna

TN, USA

commented 18 January 2016 at 14:14

Title:	Roadmap	» ECK D7, D8 roadmap
Category:	Task	» Plan

Comment #14

legolasbo

he/him

Dutch

Middelburg

commented 24 January 2016 at 11:17

Issue summary:

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Comment #15

akalata commented 20 February 2016 at 23:32

I'm interested in helping out with the D8 version. Any plans for coordinating sprinting in the near future?

Comment #16

legolasbo

he/him

Dutch

Middelburg

commented 21 February 2016 at 06:50

Currently it's just me working on the D8 version and unfortunately I'm too tied up in other work at the moment. So there is currently no real coordination happening yet.
For now the focus should be on fixing reported bugs (And cleaning up the related code + adding regression tests while we are at it). Once that's done we can start adding new features.

Please contact me via a direct message if you need help with picking/solving issues.

Thanks for wanting to help out!

Comment #17

damienmckenna

TN, USA

commented 2 June 2016 at 17:33

Issue summary:

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Comment #18

avibrazil@gmail.com commented 19 June 2016 at 09:26

Is the D8 port already sufficiently well maintained or should we wait more to effectively use it ?

I'm asking cause I'm planing to massively use ECK for a site and can't have big design changes in the middle of the development due to missing functionality.

Unfortunately I don't have the skills to co-maintain.

Comment #19

akalata commented 22 June 2016 at 15:42

I've been using it for the past few months for 2 D8 sites (launch delayed due to client content). IMO it's solid enough, I've been active in the queue trying to fix a few "wish list" items but there aren't any show-stoppers I've seen.

Comment #20

bewhy commented 4 October 2017 at 13:27

My company is now requiring new sites to have modules with 1. stable releases and 2. covered by drupal's security policy.

Assuming that Akalata is right, in addition to my having used this in multiple high-volume production sites, could someone push this to stable release status?

Comment #21

damienmckenna

TN, USA

commented 4 October 2017 at 13:44

Agreed on pushing 7.x-2.0 out the door, everything else can be done later.

Comment #22

akalata commented 1 November 2017 at 23:31

@DamienMcKenna you asked for it! I'm working on getting a release in shape.

Comment #23

damienmckenna

TN, USA

commented 2 November 2017 at 09:11

Woohoo!

Comment #24

AndyThornton commented 11 April 2018 at 17:49

how is the D8 version of ECK? I use the module heavily on a D7 site and I am thinking of making it the basis of a D8 upgraded version of the site. I see that it is still in alpha and didnt have a release for a year. Could anyone comment on the production worthiness of the D8 branch (even the dev build)?

Comment #25

brandonratz commented 11 April 2018 at 18:23

@andy I had similar concerns about ECK and found that Drupal Console can generate the base code needed for custom content entities well enough I don't need ECK.

After creating the entity using console I can immediately move to the UI to add fields. This method is good because you don't have the added overhead of another module. In addition your entity is in code and formatted correctly, ready for advanced manipulation. But you aren't required to touch this code...

Comment #26

AndyThornton commented 11 April 2018 at 18:28

thanks @brandonratz ... useful info. i had wondered whether hand-rolled would be good enough, but maybe Drupal Console is the way to go. i've had a couple of failed attempts at installing it, but ... D8 is now a work priority rather than a home priority, so i have a bit more time.

Comment #27

cedewey

he/him

English

Denver, CO

commented 20 April 2019 at 20:03

Hi @akalata, would it still be possible for a 7.x-2.0 release to happen? We're in a similar situation as @BeWhy with some clients needing stable releases of modules.

Thanks!