Using the Content Construction Kit (CCK) Module
The Content Contruction Kit is a way of creating your own 'content types'. Drupal comes with two content types already installed by default, Story and Page. These allow you to enter a Title, and text in to a Body field. There are also other modules that can be installed which come with predefined fields, for example the Audio module. If you install the Audio module and go to the Create Content page in Drupal and click on Audio with an aim of posting an audio file, Then you'll be asked to fill in a form with various bits of information, Title, Producer, Length, Bitrate etc.
Some of these fields may be appropriate to what you need, some may not. The CCK framework was put in place so you can create a custom content type who exactly and only what you need. This can happen in a couple of ways. When you have installed the CCK module the you can add custom fields to existing content types or you create your own new content types and define which fields you want to for it.
Installing CCK
Using CCK effectively involves installing a number of modules. The most vital is the core module. The other modules are optional and give you either more flexibility about the information you can input into forms or the way that information can be displayed.
- CCK core module: provides teh which has its home here - http://drupal.org/project/cck
- date: creates an timestamp date field - http://drupal.org/project/date
- image field: an image field - "http://drupal.org/project/imagefield
- link: a URL field - http://drupal.org/project/link
- Embedded Media: a field for multimedia often from other sites - http://drupal.org/project/emfield
- content template (contemplate): allows for control over the form and display of fields, including teaser and RSS feeds - http://drupal.org/project/contemplate
- views: provides many types of listings of content; CCK exposes its fields to the Views system - http://drupal.org/project/views
Introduction to Creating Content Types
There is good help for using CCK to create content types in the Drupal handbook here - http://drupal.org/node/162247 What follows is a short introduction to the process.
The flexibility of the CCK system means that you can plan your content type to include many different field types. If you create a new content type then you'll have the options manage field and you'll be able to add extra CCK fields.
On the install I'm working on I've got quite a few field types enabled for CCK. You can see a dialogue box with the choice below.
