Data module
===========

The Data module provides

* An API for dynamically allocating tables for single-row records
* An API for insert/update/delete operations
* Automatic views integration
* Together with CTools module: exportable configurations
* Together with schema module: schema inspection and fixing

Its companion Data UI provides

* UI to add new database tables
* UI to add or alter columns to existing tables managed by Data module
* Default views for tables managed by Data module

Use Data Entity module if you would like to declare your data tables as entity
types, and thus each record as an entity:

* Install Data Entity
* Go to admin/structure/data
* Edit table to be declared as an entity type
* Click on "Entity type" tab
* Select the "Define table as an entity type" checkbox
* Select a field to use as the entity ID (this must be integer or serial)

Use Data Search module if you would like to search one or more columns of your
data tables:

* Install Data Search
* Go to admin/content/data
* Edit table to be indexed
* Click on "Configure search" tab
* Check table columns to be indexed

Working with HTML Fields

If you are working with a feed that has one or more fields that contain markup
you can specify that those individual fields to be output with the HTML as
opposed to escaped when using views.

1. Navigate to admin/build/data
2. Select 'Edit' for the table that you are working with
3. Click on the 'Configure views' tab
4. Identify the field that contains HTML. For the 'Field handler' column, select
   the 'views_handler_field_data_markup'

Working with Views and date fields

A field on your table can be declared as a date field to Date Views module if
it contains data in one of the following formats:
- Unix timestamp
- MySQL DATETIME format
- ISO date format (as supported by Date module)
Once a Data table field has had its date settings configured, it will be
available in the combined date filter and argument handlers.

For the field handler, use the views_handler_field_date handler. Fields whose
formats is other than unix timestamp will need the patch to Views at
http://drupal.org/node/2178287.

Recommendations
===============

Check out Feeds for importing content into Data tables. A working example
thereof can be found in Managing News.

http://drupal.org/project/feeds
http://managingnews.com