Views: From the Beginning John Fiala Twitter: jcfiala Vintage Digital

Views in Brief ● Views allows you to control how lists and tables of content are presented, without having to write any code. ● Views comes with Views UI and Views exporter, but many modules exist to extend it. ● Although Views are stored in the database, they can be exported to code by hand or with Features

Views is more than Nodes ● You can make a view out of: – Nodes – Comments – Files (uploaded ones) – Node Revisions – Terms (Taxonomy module) – Users

Features and Context ● Features is a way to store Views in code easily along with associated fields, nodes, and the like. ● Context is a little like the blocks screen on steroids. Given a set of conditions, display your blocks where you need them.

Views Basics ● Style determines how the view is presented ● Fields indicates which fields are displayed in what order ● Sort criteria restricts the order ● Filter restricts which items are shown ● Basic Settings helps define a view generally.

Views Displays ● Views come with a Default Display, but additional displays can be added easily, and then customized by overriding parts of the Default. ● Block and Page are obvious ● Attach lets you add two views together ● Feed creates an RSS feed, like a Page ● Other displays can be provided by modules, like the Calendar module

So, Let's Make Some Views ● Demo

Arguments 1 ● An Argument is like a Filter, only the Argument's restriction depends on where the view is appearing on the site – specific page or context – and a Filter's restriction is fixed when the view is created. ● A filter says, “Only show type 'Artist'” ● An argument says “Show Artist 34 because we're on node/34”

Arguments 2 ● Page Views can get arguments from the path easily with the % wildcard. ● Other views can look at the current node, current user, or even delve into PHP for fancy results.

Argument View Demo

Relationships ● Relationships let you follow a connection between two items and bring the second item into the view. ● So, you could bring in the Artist Name from the Artist that an Album is referencing.

Relationship Demo

Useful Views Additions ● Views Bulk Operations ● Views Custom Field ● Views Attach ● Views Slideshow / Views Carousel ● Views Calc ● Ubercart Views ● Views OR ● Calendar