Changing decimal field scale and precision using database

Question

I'm using a custom decimal field in a custom product type in Drupal commerce. It has a precision of 10 and a scale of 2 (2 digits to the right of the decimal place).

I have a client with a large number of products that use this field, but their specification has now changed to require a decimal to 3dp.

By default Drupal "locks" the field to avoid data loss:

Because the field already has data, some settings can no longer be changed.

I took to editing the database, and it seems to have worked fine. I did three things:

1. Changed the structure type of field_THIS_FIELD_value field in the drupal_field_data_THIS_FIELD table from decimal(10,2) to decimal(11,3)

2. Repeated the same for the field revision table

3. I downloaded the BLOB from table 'drupal_field_config' for field_THIS_FIELD and altered {s:9:"precision";s:2:"10";s:5:"scale";s:1:"2" to {s:9:"precision";s:2:"11";s:5:"scale";s:1:"3"

I cleared cache and existing data now has an extra 0 after the decimal place, and when I alter the data it stores it to 3 decimal places.

So it seems to work fine. But am I missing anything? Is there anywhere else where field data is changed that I might need to change?

Does the system integrity remain intact? I think I've done what's necessary but don't want to inadvertently break something else or cause any weakness in the system.

Answer 1

you could create a new field with the settings you need and import the data from the old field. see: https://www.drupal.org/node/1491590#comment-9682599