Beginning Drupal 8

Chapter 5 ■ Content Types
Figure 5-11. Setting the date type and number of allowed values
The next form that Drupal displays (shown in Figure 5-12) enables you to set additional detailed
parameters for the event Start Date field. On this form you have the ability to
• Change the label that we previously defined for this field. Unless you made a mistake
or changed your mind, you can leave the value as it is shown.
• Enter content in the “Help text” field to be displayed beneath the text field on the
screen. This is a great place to describe requirements for data that will be entered
in this field, such as requesting that authors enter dates as mm/dd/yyyy. This is an
optional field.
• Define whether this field is required. A required field is displayed with a red asterisk,
and Drupal forces the user to enter a value in this field before the content item
can be saved. Because our content type is about an Event and dates are important
attributes of an Event, you want a date to be required, so check the “Required field”
check box.
• Define whether a default value is assigned to the field before the content creation
screen is displayed to the author. Because our field deals with dates in the future,
providing a default value doesn’t make sense. There may be cases for other fields
where a default value does make sense, such as selecting a seating preference for the
event: you may wish to set a default value to “best available.” In those cases, this is
the place where you would enter the default value.
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