At the moment, the XML output for a multiple value field looks like 

<field_resource_type>diagramexercisefiguregraphsimulationstudent activity</field_resource_type>

Any chance it could be something like

<field_resource_type>
  <item>diagram</item>
  <item>exercise</item>
  ...
</field_resource_type>

Thanks for the v.useful module,

DT

CommentFileSizeAuthor
#19 1102298-multiple-values-support-16.patch1.53 KBcamerongreen
#17 1102298-multiple-values-support-16.patch1.5 KBshiraz dindar
#15 multiple-item-nodes.patch6.84 KBomerida
#7 1102298-multiple-values-support-7.patch1.47 KBrudiedirkx
#5 1102298-d7_multiple_value_field_support-5.patch4.49 KBerikwebb

Comments

BenK’s picture

BenK commented

Subscribing

idflood’s picture

idflood commented

Subscribing

steven jones’s picture

steven jones commented
Category: bug » support

I suspect this is something that you could achieve by theming the field in some way?

dboune’s picture

dboune commented

Steven, you could, however consider template_preprocess_views_data_export_xml_body, which encodes the resulting field data to text.

Unless I am missing something, this means you can't write out the desired xml and have it properly parse since any additional entities you add will be treated as text.

I think this ticket should be changed to feature request.

In my case, the desirable behavior would be to provide a mechanism to prevent encoding of a particular field such that the use of a field template in this way would work. At least, that seems appropriate at the moment.

I wanted to print the image URL, along with the alt and title text, for each image assigned to a particular multi-value image field. I accomplished this using a views field template, and modified the above mentioned function of views_data_export to allow for it.

erikwebb’s picture

erikwebb commented
Version: 7.x-3.0-beta2 » 7.x-3.x-dev
Category: support » feature
Status: Active » Needs review
StatusFileSize
new 1102298-d7_multiple_value_field_support-5.patch4.49 KB

I've created a relatively clean solution that works generically for any multi-valued field. I'm not sure we want to override any of the separators (as I've done here), but this certainly keeps more with the overall philosophy and design of XML.

Here is the sample output -

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<nodes>
  <node>
      <Title>Test (with words)</Title>
      <Body></Body>
      <Words>
        <item>One</item>
        <item>Two</item>
        <item>Three</item>
        <item>Four</item>
        <item>Five</item>
      </Words>
  </node>
  <node>
      <Title>Sample page</Title>
      <Body></Body>
      <Words>Sample</Words>
  </node>
</nodes>
das-peter’s picture

das-peter commented

I just struggled over this and was thinking about how I could extend the options supplied by views_handler_field_field::multiple_options_form() when views data export is used.
I'd love to see a new option there like "XML child containers" with the ability to define the container name.
Unfortunately I can't think of a nice and generic way how to hijack that configuration.
If someone has an idea, let me know! :) In the meantime I'll probably use the approach of #5 - thanks for that!

rudiedirkx’s picture

rudiedirkx commented
StatusFileSize
new 1102298-multiple-values-support-7.patch1.47 KB

I've taken a different approach. I very much dislike my XML structure depending on its content. It feels wrong. It shouldn't sometimes look like

      <Words>
        <item>One</item>
        <item>Two</item>
        <item>Three</item>
        <item>Four</item>
        <item>Five</item>
      </Words>

and other times like

      <Words>Sample</Words>

and other times like

      <Words></Words> or <Words/>

My solution is simpler IMO: reuse the <Words> element. XPath will understand and the structure is always the same.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" ?>
<nodes>
  <node>
      <Title>I have a body and several words</Title>
      <Body>Look at my body!</Body>
      <Words>One</Words>
      <Words>Two</Words>
      <Words>Three</Words>
  </node>
  <node>
      <Title>I have no body and 1 word</Title>
      <Words>Sample</Words>
  </node>
  <node>
      <Title>I have no body and no words</Title>
  </node>
</nodes>

There's one potential downside (not in my case): if a field contains 0 values, there will be no output for the field, not even <Words/>. Exampled above in Body and Words.

donundeen’s picture

donundeen commented

#7 patch worked great for me,
however, when there's lots of other XML going on (I've also implemented the field-collections patch, which rubs up against this one),
if there's a comma in your xml, and you've got a , as your separator, you'll have problems.

So, for those multiple-value fields I wanted to have as separate XML elements, I had to make a very unique separator. then all was good.

chop’s picture

chop commented

I like you're approach here, except for one thing. I don't agree that when an element is empty, you should simply omit it. The structure of the xml document should be consistent. If an element is empty, output it as empty. Omitting it entirely may lead to confusion and is certainly not best practice.

I'm not sure how all that translates when writing an XSD. Perhaps we should check.

steven jones’s picture

steven jones commented
Status: Needs review » Needs work
Issue tags: +Needs tests

Good work guys, sorry we've been somewhat absent from the issue queue.

The patch in #7 looks like a very promising way to go. This needs some tests though to cover the expected functionality, so marking back to needs work.

rudiedirkx’s picture

rudiedirkx commented

@chOP Then how would you print an empty element? <Words />? But then it has a value (1 empty value). I think it's alright if it just doesn't exist. 0 values = no trace anywhere. I have no idea how you would define that in XSD.

juliusvaart’s picture

juliusvaart commented

The patch is working on both 3.0 Beta 6 and latest Dev but i get an error for every row:

Notice: Undefined property: views_handler_field_node::$multiple in template_preprocess_views_data_export_xml_body() (regel 390 van ../sites/all/modules/views_data_export/theme/views_data_export.theme.inc).

What could be causing this?

interdruper’s picture

interdruper commented
Issue summary: View changes

About #12, I could reproduce the error too. A check is required for the 'multiple' property of the field.

Just change this line of the patch:

if ($views_field->multiple && $views_field->options['multi_type'] == 'separator') {

to 

if (isset($views_field->multiple) && $views_field->options['multi_type'] == 'separator') {

By the way, patch #7 works fine for me.

rudiedirkx’s picture

rudiedirkx commented

You might want to check for !empty($views_field->multiple) instead of just isset(), because multiple could be FALSE.

omerida’s picture

omerida commented
Version: 7.x-3.x-dev » 7.x-3.0-beta8
Status: Needs work » Needs review
StatusFileSize
new multiple-item-nodes.patch6.84 KB

This is a re-roll of #5 that supports CDATA/No-encoding settings for fields.

Status: Needs review » Needs work

The last submitted patch, 15: multiple-item-nodes.patch, failed testing.

shiraz dindar’s picture

shiraz dindar
Location Sooke, BC
commented
Version: 7.x-3.0-beta8 » 7.x-3.2
StatusFileSize
new 1102298-multiple-values-support-16.patch1.5 KB

Here's the patch in #7 re-rolled to apply to 7.x-3.2, with thanks to rudiedirkx.

Also, fyi, I too ran into the issue donundeen in #8, with a comma separator resulting in multi vars if the data has a comma in it. I also resolved by using a very unique separator.

camerongreen’s picture

camerongreen commented

#17 works for me, but I do get the undefined property error for multiples.

It's a pity we just can't do something simple like use this as a separator.

</Word><Word>

camerongreen’s picture

camerongreen commented
StatusFileSize
new 1102298-multiple-values-support-16.patch1.53 KB

Here is latest patch with check to stop undefined property notices.

Max_Headroom’s picture

Max_Headroom commented

It works, but I'm just going to throw a spanner in the works.
In the same XML file I got another multi list which I do want to be a comma separated single XML row, heh.

I've applied the patch manually to overriding pre process and template, so for now I'm just going to make changes there.

steven jones’s picture

steven jones commented
Status: Needs work » Closed (won't fix)

Sorry for the lack of attention to your issue, please accept my apologies.

Drupal 7 is going to be end-of-life'd by the community in approximately 1 month.

As such, I am closing all non-critical looking, non-PHP compatibility issues for Views Data Export to tidy up the issue queues and reduce the noise. You can read about this on #3492246: Close down Drupal 7 issues.

If you feel like this issue has been closed by mistake, please do comment about re-opening it.
If you feel like the ticket is still relevant for the 8.x-1.x version of the module, then please search for a duplicate issue first, and if there really isn't one (and you've looked properly) then change the version on the ticket and re-open.

Thanks to everyone involved in this issue: for reporting it, and moving it along, it is truly appreciated.
The Drupal community wouldn't be what it is today without your involvement and effort, so I'm sorry that we couldn't get this issue resolved. Hopefully we'll work together in a future issue though, and get that one resolved :)