Views in Drupal are a powerful tool for creating dynamic and customized content displays. This comprehensive guide will take you through the ins and outs of mastering Views, exploring every option, use case scenarios, and providing real-world examples.
Why Master Views?
Views are essential for:
- Displaying content lists, grids, and tables.
- Creating complex queries without writing code.
- Building dynamic filters, sorting, and pagination.
- Showcasing content based on specific criteria.
- Enhancing user experiences with custom displays.
Prerequisites
Before diving into mastering Views in Drupal, make sure you have the following prerequisites in place:
- A working Drupal 8/9 website (ensure the Views module is enabled).
- Familiarity with basic Drupal site building concepts.
- Content already created on your Drupal website.
Now, let's begin exploring the fundamental concepts of Views
View Basics
1.1. Understanding Views
Views, at their core, are a powerful tool that allow you to create dynamic and customized content displays on your Drupal website. They offer a user-friendly interface for querying your site's content, transforming it into lists, grids, tables, and more. This section will provide a solid foundation for understanding what Views are and how they work.
What are Views?
Views in Drupal are essentially database queries packaged into a user-friendly interface. They let you fetch content from your website's database and present it in various formats. Unlike traditional database queries where you'd write code, Views enable you to configure these queries through the Drupal admin interface.
Views vs. Traditional Drupal Queries
In traditional Drupal development, retrieving and displaying content often involved writing custom code using the Drupal API. While this approach is flexible, it can be complex and time-consuming. Views simplifies this process, making it accessible to site builders and administrators.
Views Terminology
Before we dive deeper into creating Views, let's familiarize ourselves with some key terminology:
Displays: These are different ways of presenting your content, such as pages, blocks, feeds, and more.
Filters: Filters allow you to specify criteria for selecting content.
Relationships: These define how different pieces of content are connected.
Contextual Filters: Also known as arguments, these allow you to create dynamic Views based on contextual information, like the URL.
1.2. Creating a Basic View
Now that we have a grasp of what Views are, let's create a basic View. In this example, we'll create a simple list of articles.
Step 1: Accessing Views
- Log in to your Drupal website's admin panel.
Navigate to
Structure>Views(admin/structure/views).Step 2: Adding a New View
- Click on the "Add view" link.
- Provide a name for your View (e.g., "Article List").
- Choose the content type you want to display (e.g., "Article").
Click the "Save and edit" button.
Step 3: Configuring Fields
- In the "Fields" section, click the "Add" button.
- Search and select the "Content: Title" field.
Click the "Apply" button.
Step 4: Previewing and Saving
- Scroll down to the "Preview" section.
- Click the "Save" button to save your View.
Click the "Preview" button to see your View in action.
Congratulations! You've created a basic View that displays a list of article titles.
Advanced Views Configuration
2.1. Relationships
In this section, we'll explore one of the powerful features of Views: Relationships. Relationships allow you to connect different pieces of content and retrieve information from related entities. They're particularly handy when you need to display data from related content types or reference fields. Let's dive in.
Understanding Relationships
In Drupal, content entities can be related to each other in various ways. For example, an article may be associated with an author, and a product might have multiple related images. Relationships in Views enable you to leverage these connections to create more informative displays.
Building a View with Relationships
Let's walk through an example where we'll create a View that displays articles along with their authors.
Step 1: Accessing Views
- Log in to your Drupal website's admin panel.
Navigate to
Structure>Views(admin/structure/views).Step 2: Editing an Existing View
Find the View you created in Chapter 1 ("Article List") and click on its name to edit it.
Step 3: Adding a Relationship
- In the "Advanced" section, click the "Add" button next to "Relationships."
- Search and select the "Content: Author" relationship.
Click the "Apply" button.
Step 4: Configuring Fields
- In the "Fields" section, click the "Add" button.
- You can now add fields related to the author, such as the author's name or email.
Click the "Apply" button.
Step 5: Previewing and Saving
- Scroll down to the "Preview" section.
- Click the "Save" button to save your updated View.
- Click the "Preview" button to see the View displaying articles along with their authors.
- By adding the "Content: Author" relationship, you've expanded the capabilities of your View to include information from related content entities. This is just one example of how Relationships in Views can be used to create more complex and informative displays.
2.2. Contextual Filters
Contextual Filters, also known as arguments, enable you to create dynamic Views that respond to contextual information, such as the URL or user input. In this section, we'll explore how to use Contextual Filters to customize Views based on user interactions.
Understanding Contextual Filters
Contextual Filters allow you to filter content dynamically based on contextual information, making your Views more interactive and user-specific. For instance, you can use Contextual Filters to create a product catalog that filters products based on user-selected categories.
Creating a Dynamic View with Contextual Filters
Let's create a View that displays articles filtered by author name. Users can access this filtered View by clicking on author names on the website.
Step 1: Accessing Views
- Log in to your Drupal website's admin panel.
Navigate to
Structure>Views(admin/structure/views).Step 2: Editing an Existing View
Find the View you created in Chapter 1 ("Article List") and click on its name to edit it.
Step 3: Adding a Contextual Filter
- In the "Advanced" section, click the "Add" button next to "Contextual Filters."
- Search and select the "User: Name" contextual filter.
Click the "Apply" button.
Step 4: Configuring the Contextual Filter
- Under the "When the filter value is NOT available" section, select "Provide default value."
- Choose "Raw value from URL" as the default value type.
- Specify the position of the author's name in the URL (e.g., 2nd position).
Scroll down and click the "Apply" button.
Step 5: Previewing and Saving
- Scroll down to the "Preview" section.
- Click the "Save" button to save your updated View.
Click the "Preview" button to see the View displaying articles filtered by author name based on the URL.
With Contextual Filters, you've created a dynamic View that adjusts its content based on user interactions. Users can access filtered content by simply clicking on author names, enhancing the user experience on your website.
Add new comment