Is there a way to generate dummy content for custom entities?

Question

Since the Devel module allows to generate content only for core entities:

Accelerate development of your site or module by quickly generating nodes, comments, terms, users, and more.

Is there a module or a proper way to generate fake content for custom entities?

I mention that I found Devel contrib module that includes the Devel Contrib Generate module, which allows generating of dummy entities of any entity type, but I've not been able to figure out how to use it with D8.

Answer 1

I've just wrote a blog post on this topic, it's in french but the code should be easily understandable : https://kgaut.net/snippets/2021/drupal-utiliser-devel-generate-pour-generer-des-entites-personalisees.html

You can write a plugin that extend DevelGenerateBase, I used ExampleDevelGenerate as an inspiration : https://api.drupal.org/api/devel/devel_generate%21tests%21modules%21devel_generate_example%21src%21Plugin%21DevelGenerate%21ExampleDevelGenerate.php/class/ExampleDevelGenerate/8.x-1.x

Answer 2

To create some demo entities programmatically, you can use a while loop in your function. To create 100 entities:

$i = 1;
while ($i <= 100) {
  $i++;

  // Create an entity here.  See https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/api/entity-api/working-with-the-entity-api#s-create
  // To create random strings (e.g. for fake titles), refer to the comments at https://www.php.net/manual/en/function.rand.php -- In here you will find different ways to create random strings.
  // Generate some Lorem Ipsum text if you like: https://stackoverflow.com/a/20633400/861826

}