Upgrades
Releasing updates and upgrades to custom modules is likely something that is needed to be done at some point. If those modules need to modify the database structure or perform other functions that would be handled in the _activate function, then you need some way of handling that.
With the Addon Modules system, this is a breeze with the upgrade function. The upgrade function is called the first time a module is accessed following an update. The update is detected by a change of version number in the _config array of the module. The upgrade function is passed the previous version number so that the module can then decide what updates to run within that function. This allows the module to bring it up to date with your latest version.
Example Upgrade Function
An example of how this function can be used is demonstrated below:
function addonmodule_upgrade($vars)
{
$currentlyInstalledVersion = $vars['version'];
// Perform SQL schema changes required by the upgrade to version 1.1 of your module
if ($currentlyInstalledVersion < 1.1) {
$schema = Capsule::schema();
// Alter the table and add a new text column called "demo2"
$schema->table('mod_addonexample', function($table) {
$table->text('demo2');
});
}
//Perform SQL schema changes required by the upgrade to version 1.2 of your module
if ($currentlyInstalledVersion < 1.2) {
$schema = Capsule::schema();
// Alter the table and add a new text column called "demo3"
$schema->table('mod_addonexample', function($table) {
$table->text('demo3');
});
}
}