Custom Entity Types in Drupal 10/11: How We Create Real-World Data Models from Scratch

Drupal isn’t just nodes. If you’re building serious applications like vendor portals, ticketing systems, or SaaS dashboards, you’ll eventually need custom entity types — your own data models with full CRUD, fields, permissions, and routing. Here's how we build them in real projects.

📦 Step 1: Create Your Custom Module

Let’s create a module called wpc_vendor.

drupal generate:module

Enable it with:

drush en wpc_vendor

🧱 Step 2: Define the Entity Type with Annotation

Create the file src/Entity/Vendor.php:

namespace Drupal\wpc_vendor\Entity;
use Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityBase;
use Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityTypeInterface;
use Drupal\Core\Field\BaseFieldDefinition;
/**
 * Defines the Vendor entity.
 *
 * @ContentEntityType(
 *   id = "vendor",
 *   label = @Translation("Vendor"),
 *   base_table = "vendor",
 *   entity_keys = {
 *     "id" = "id",
 *     "label" = "name",
 *     "uuid" = "uuid"
 *   },
 *   handlers = {
 *     "list_builder" = "Drupal\Core\Entity\EntityListBuilder",
 *     "form" = {
 *       "default" = "Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityForm",
 *       "add" = "Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityForm",
 *       "edit" = "Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityForm",
 *       "delete" = "Drupal\Core\Entity\ContentEntityDeleteForm"
 *     }
 *   },
 *   admin_permission = "administer vendor entities",
 *   links = {
 *     "canonical" = "/vendor/{vendor}",
 *     "add-form" = "/vendor/add",
 *     "edit-form" = "/vendor/{vendor}/edit",
 *     "delete-form" = "/vendor/{vendor}/delete"
 *   },
 * )
 */
class Vendor extends ContentEntityBase {
  public static function baseFieldDefinitions(EntityTypeInterface $entity_type) {
    $fields['name'] = BaseFieldDefinition::create('string')
      ->setLabel(t('Vendor Name'))
      ->setRequired(TRUE)
      ->setDisplayConfigurable('form', TRUE)
      ->setDisplayConfigurable('view', TRUE);
    return $fields;
  }
}
    

📊 Step 3: Add Schema and Install File

Create wpc_vendor.install:

function wpc_vendor_install() {
  \Drupal::entityTypeManager()
    ->getStorage('vendor')
    ->installSchema('vendor');
}
    

Also create wpc_vendor.schema.yml for fields (optional for config).

🛠️ Step 4: Provide Admin UI

Use list builder to show vendors in admin panel.

// Add this to handlers
"list_builder" = "Drupal\wpc_vendor\VendorListBuilder"
// Implement listBuilder at src/VendorListBuilder.php
    

🧠 Real Use Cases We Built

• 👨‍💼 Custom Vendor Entity with files, approval status, contact fields
• 📦 Inventory entity with pricing, variations, stock
• 📅 Booking entity with multi-step forms and calendar view

🔐 Permissions and Access

Define in wpc_vendor.permissions.yml:

administer vendor entities:
  title: 'Administer vendor content'
  description: 'Full access to vendor data'
    

🚀 Bonus: Fieldable + Bundle Support

Add:

*   bundle_entity_type = "vendor_type",
*   field_ui_base_route = "entity.vendor_type.edit_form"
    

This makes it like content types — with field UI support.