Views examples/tutorials

I have figured out how to achieve scenario 1:

This solution creates a block on the parent node page listing all of the related child nodes.
Create your view (admin/build/views/add):

• Make sure you tick the box to 'Provide Block'.
• Give the block a sensible title as you will need to use it later.
• Add all the fields you want to display.
• Add a filter to show only nodes of type child.
• Add an argument for the nodereference field that refers to the parent node. I also selected 'Display all values' for the default so that I could use the view for a full page as well as a block.
• Add the following code into the Argument Code field:

  if ($view->build_type == 'block' && arg(0) == 'node' && is_numeric(arg(1))) {
    $args[0] = arg(1);
  }
  return $args;

• Save your view.

Configure your block (admin/build/block):

• Locate the block within the disabled section (should have the title you used earlier).
• Select the region where you want your block to display. I selected footer.
• Click on save blocks.
• Click configure next to your block and fill in any information you want. I kept all the defaults.
• Go to the 'Page specific visibility settings' section and select 'Show if the following PHP code returns TRUE (PHP-mode, experts only).'
• Add the following code into the Pages field:

  <?php
    // Only show if $match is true
    $match = false;
    // Which node types
    $types = array('PARENT');
    // Match current node type with array of types
    if (arg(0) == 'node' && is_numeric(arg(1)) && arg(2) != 'edit') {
      $nid = arg(1);
      $node = node_load(array('nid' => $nid));
      $type = $node->type; 
      $match |= in_array($type, $types);
    }
    return $match;
  ?>

  Replacing PARENT with your node type.

• Save your block.

You should now have a block which appears only on node pages of your parent node type and displays a list of related nodes of your child node type.

So that's scenario 1 sorted. The block stuff will be portable to any view, but I don't yet know how to define the view for scenario 2. Any help will still be greatly appreciated.

Ian

I have worked out how to achieve the goals described for scenario 2 above. It is not pretty... but it works.

It requires that a view is already setup with the name 'PARENT_CHILDREN'. This view should be similar to the one described for scenario 1 above, but with the arguements.

You then need to add an additional filter to that view using code within the content template form. Here is the code that I added to contemplate:

<?php
$nid_array = array();
$items = $node->field_CHILDREN;
foreach ($items as $delta => $item) {
  $nid_array[$delta] = $items[$delta]['nid'];
}
// define this section for CSS
print '<div class="PARENT_CHILDREN">';

// get the name of the view to embed as $view1
$view1 = views_get_view('PARENT_CHILDREN'); 
// add the filter
views_view_add_filter($view1, 'node', 'nid', 'OR', $nid_array, '');
views_load_cache();
views_sanitize_view($view1);

// build the view
print views_build_view('embed', $view1, array(), false, false);
print '</div>';?>

The things that you will need to change are shown in UPPERCASE.

Unfortunately, this code produced an SQL error when I first ran it. I tracked down the source of the error and found that there was already an issue raised against it: http://drupal.org/node/150517. So if you also get an SQL error when you add this code to contemplate, check out that issue. It involves modifying the code in the views module, but it's not a complex change.

I'm sure that hard-core drupal-hackers will tell me that this is completely the wrong approach to achieving the goals of scenario 2. But in the absence of any other solutions, I'm happy to run with it... for now!

Hope that helps someone.
Let me know if you get any problems with my solution.

Ian