VTiger Extension Module create custom field for Accounts Module

Question

I'm working on a VTiger 6.4.0 Extension Module that is used to get company data when entering a company name in the Accounts module.

The module is almost finished, i retrieve data from a API and enter them in the input fields using JQuery.

But the problem is that i have some data that is not relative to the existing fields in the account information, so i'm trying to create some new custom fields.

Only i can't seem to figure out how to create a custom field for the Accounts module from within my Extension module.

I googled around and watched some posts on stackoverflow.

I came up with the following part of code, but this doesn't seem to work.

public function addKvkfield(){

    $module = new Vtiger_Module();
    $module->name = 'Accounts';
    $module = $module->getInstance('Accounts');

    $blockInstance = new Vtiger_Block();
    $blockInstance->label = 'LBL_ACCOUNT_INFORMATION';
    $blockInstance = $blockInstance->getInstance($blockInstance->label,$module);

    $fieldInstance = new Vtiger_Field();
    $fieldInstance->name = 'KvKNummer';
    $fieldInstance->table = $module->basetable;
    $fieldInstance->column = 'kvknummer';
    $fieldInstance->columntype = 'VARCHAR(100)';
    $fieldInstance->uitype = 2;
    $fieldInstance->typeofdata = 'V~M';
    $blockInstance->addField($fieldInstance);
}

The addKvkfield function is being called in the vtlib_handler module.postinstall (Couldn't find any information if this is the right way of doing this within a Extenstion Module)

vtlibhandler:

function vtlib_handler($modulename, $event_type) {
    global $log;
    if($event_type == 'module.postinstall') {
        $this->addJSLinks();
        $this->createConfigTable();
        $this->addSettingsMenu();
        $this->addKvkfield();   
        $this->updateLabels();

        // TODO Handle post installation actions
    } else if($event_type == 'module.disabled') {
        // TODO Handle actions when this module is disabled.
    } else if($event_type == 'module.enabled') {
        // TODO Handle actions when this module is enabled.         
    } else if($event_type == 'module.preuninstall') {
        // TODO Handle actions when this module is about to be deleted.
    } else if($event_type == 'module.preupdate') {
        // TODO Handle actions before this module is updated.
    } else if($event_type == 'module.postupdate') {
        $this->updateLabels();
        // TODO Handle actions after this module is updated.
    }
}

Hopefully someone can give me a push in the right direction.

Thanks in advance :)

Answer 1

I managed to succeed in creating the custom fields that i needed in the Accounts Module.

Thanks to the Vtiger Mailing List! :)

What did the trick was a small alteration of the code I've written:

public function addKvkfield(){

        $module = Vtiger_Module::getInstance('Accounts');
        $blockInstance = Vtiger_Block::getInstance('LBL_ACCOUNT_INFORMATION', $module);

        $fieldInstance = new Vtiger_Field();
        $fieldInstance->label = 'KvKNummer';
        $fieldInstance->name = 'kvknummer';
        $fieldInstance->column = $fieldInstance->name; // Good idea to keep name and columnname the same
        $fieldInstance->columntype = 'VARCHAR(100)';
        $fieldInstance->uitype = 1; // No need to use 2 anymore. Setting "M" below will introduce the Red asterisk
        $fieldInstance->typeofdata = 'V~O';
        $blockInstance->addField($fieldInstance);

}

The above code will create a (optional)Custom Field in the Account module.

If your writing a new module and never installed this module before you can just call the function in the vtlib_handler as i did in my question.

But in my case this did not work because I've already installed the plugin before adding the code to create the customfields.

So what i needed to do is call the function above on the vtlib_handler module.postupdate (this will add the custom field on a module update)

Only problem with this is that it'll get run every time the extenstion is updated.

So i suggest creating a if statement in the function to check if the field already exists in the vtiger_field dbtable if not run the script.

Hopefully i saved someone else some time by writing this all down :P

Goodluck!

Answer 2

Please refer below link Add New Field in existing Module

Copy code from My Answer and create a new PHP file with ay name. Place that in CRM's root directory and Run into browser. Your Field will be added into your Module. You have to make sure about the parameters you set in code which you copy.