content_fixtures
Introduction
Do you want to build a running website straight from your repository, but you realized that you have to get some dummy content from somewhere? Search no more. This module will give you an API to program your own content generators, that you will be able to run with one command, and fill your website with content required either for development or presentation.
This module is different from data_fixtures in that it aims to mimic as much as it's reasonably possible DoctrineFixturesBundle.
It was made with a workflow of programmatically building your website from scratch in mind, and tries to avoid any ambiguous states, that's why it deletes all content before loading any fixtures (don't worry, it will warn you :) ).
Great match with Docker, if you are looking for ultimate automation.
How to
This module has API very similar to DoctrineFixturesBundle, with some Drupal-specific differences/simplifications.
Basics
Minimally, your fixture class has to implement FixtureInterface, and be registered as a service tagged with a content_fixture tag.
Sharing objects between fixtures.
The easiest way of achieving this is to extend AbstractFixture class, that will provide you with some additional sugar - this abstract class implements SharedFixtureInterface that will give you a way of sharing created objects between fixtures.
Order of execution of fixtures
For this to work, you have to be able to decide on the order of execution of fixtures, and you can do this in two ways:
1. By implementing OrderedFixtureInterface - this will allow you to assign a value to each fixture, that will be used for ordering.
2. By implementing DependentFixtureInterface, that will allow you to declare dependencies between fixtures, and order of execution will be calculated by using this information.
Groups
You can also implement FixtureGroupInterface in your fixture, to assign it to some custom groups. It will allow you to run fixtures by groups they belong to. This way you can have different set of fixtures for presentation, different for development etc.
Execution
You need drush to run your fixtures. Module provides you with three commands:
content-fixtures:listcontent-fixtures:loadcontent-fixtures:purge
See: drush help content-fixtures:list, drush help content-fixtures:load, and drush help content-fixtures:purge.
Other
If you like code quality of this module but you would rather like to have exportable hand-made content, then you may consider content_snapshot module.
Happy coding!