Drupal 7 introduced the powerful concepts of Entities and Fields, a powerful and flexible data model. In this session we will show how Fields are changing the way we write modules, for the better.

Note: this is an (revised and improved) version of the session I gave at Drupalcon San Francisco.

• From columns to fields: In the beginning, there was tables and columns. Now here are fields, a dynamic way to build data models.

• From nodes, users and comments to entities: In the beginning, there was separate realms. The concept of entity unify those realms and bring them to a whole new dimension.

• Case study: Rewriting Case Tracker in 200 lines: Spanning across entities, fields can be used to easily build powerful data models. Here we will see how to rewrite, from the ground up, the Case Tracker module in less then 200 lines.

• Guidelines for using fields and entities efficiently in your modules: We will describe how to use fields and entities efficiently in your modules, taking the example of Drupal Commerce module as a case study.