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Generated content

Generated content provides a plugin-based system for programmatically generating deterministic content entities. Unlike random dummy content, generated content produces reproducible sets useful for visual regression testing and consistent demo environments.

This page covers how Vortex uses the module. The module documentation is the reference for its full API.

Plugin system​

Content generators are PHP classes placed in a module's src/Plugin/GeneratedContent/ directory, annotated with the #[GeneratedContent] attribute.

Creating a plugin​

namespace Drupal\ys_demo\Plugin\GeneratedContent\Node;

use Drupal\generated_content\Attribute\GeneratedContent;
use Drupal\generated_content\Plugin\GeneratedContent\GeneratedContentPluginBase;

#[GeneratedContent(
  id: 'ys_demo_node_page',
  entity_type: 'node',
  bundle: 'page',
  weight: 20,
)]
class Page extends GeneratedContentPluginBase {

  public function generate(): array {
    $entities = [];
    $storage = $this->entityTypeManager->getStorage('node');

    for ($i = 1; $i <= 20; $i++) {
      $node = $storage->create([
        'type' => 'page',
        'title' => sprintf('Demo page %s %s', $i, $this->helper::staticName()),
        'status' => 1,
      ]);

      $node->set('body', [
        'value' => $this->helper::staticRichText(3),
        'format' => 'full_html',
      ]);

      $node->save();

      $entities[] = $node;
    }

    return $entities;
  }

}

Attribute parameters​

ParameterTypeRequiredDescription
idstringyesUnique plugin ID
entity_typestringyesTarget entity type (node, taxonomy_term, etc.)
bundlestringyesTarget bundle
weightintnoExecution order (lower = earlier)
trackingboolnoTrack created entities for cleanup (default: TRUE)
labelTranslatableMarkupnoHuman-readable name shown in the admin UI
helperstringnoCustom helper class extending GeneratedContentHelper

Generation helpers​

$this->helper is a GeneratedContentHelper singleton that produces field values, creates file assets, and looks up entities that earlier plugins created. The examples below are a sample of what it offers - the module documentation lists the full set.

Static helpers return the same values on every run, which is what visual regression testing needs:

$this->helper::staticName();          // Fixed-length name.
$this->helper::staticSentence(5);     // Sentence of 5 words.
$this->helper::staticRichText(3);     // 3 paragraphs of HTML.

Random helpers vary on every run, which suits content that only needs to make the site look populated:

$this->helper::randomName();
$this->helper::randomSentence(5, 10); // Between 5 and 10 words.
$this->helper::randomEmail();
$this->helper::randomTimestamp('-1year', 'now');

Entity helpers reference content that earlier plugins produced. Use weight to make sure those plugins ran first, and pick the static variant when the reference itself must stay stable between runs:

// In a node plugin with weight: 20 (runs after terms at weight: 10).
$node->set('field_tags', $this->helper::randomTerms('tags', 3));
$node->set('field_author', $this->helper::staticUser());

Asset helpers create managed files from the dummy assets that ship with the module, covering image, document, audio and video extensions:

$node->set('field_image', $this->helper::createFile('png'));
$node->set('field_attachment', $this->helper::createFile('pdf'));

Triggering generation​

Drush command​

drush generated-content:create-content
drush generated-content:create-content node page

Admin UI​

Visit /admin/config/development/generated-content to generate content through the admin interface.

Environment variable​

Set GENERATED_CONTENT_CREATE=1 before provisioning to auto-generate content on module install. Optionally filter:

GENERATED_CONTENT_ITEMS="taxonomy_term-tags,node-page"

Provisioning​

Vortex installs the module from scripts/provision-10-enable-dev-modules.sh in the local, ci, dev and stage environments, passing GENERATED_CONTENT_CREATE=1 so the content is created as part of the install. Setting DRUPAL_GENERATED_CONTENT_SKIP=1 installs the module without the content.

➡️ See Generated content in the provisioning documentation.

Example in Vortex​

The ys_demo module ships a single generated content plugin, Page: it creates 20 page nodes whose titles and body text come from the static helpers, so the same pages appear on every rebuild. The nodes back the demo /pages view used by the Testmode example.