How to change a field type

[codemaniac]

Using the Developer's Studio, I created a new module with several fields. It works great, but now I realize that I need to change one of the datatypes from an integer to a varchar. Sugar doesn't allow you to change a datatype. I thought I could just go directly into MySQL and change the datatype there, which I did, but the changes aren't reflected in Sugar.

What can I do to change the datatype from Integer to Varchar?

[Angel]

You could always go back into module builder to delete the field and recreate it with the appropriate type. Of course, that assumes you don't have data in that module as of yet.

Another option is to modify vardefs.php for the custom module and define the appropriate type there.

[codemaniac]

How do I modify the vardef file? Mine doesn't appear to have any information on the custom fields that I've created:

$dictionary['UBKS1_BOOKS'] = array(
'table'=>'ubks1_books',
'audited'=>true,
'fields'=>array (
),
'relationships'=>array (
),
'optimistic_lock'=>true,
);
require_once('include/SugarObjects/VardefManager.php');
VardefManager::createVardef('UBKS1_BOOKS','UBKS1_B OOKS', array('basic','assignable'));