I'm about to develop a module (or two) that makes it possible to select nodes from a list (using checkboxes) and then compare the nodes selected in a new list. The first list shows a lot of nodes with the most important fields as columns, while the second list shows a few nodes in great detail (each field in a separate row). This is quite common on various price comparing sites, but I haven't found a general way to do it with the modules currently available in Drupal 6.
First, to display the list of nodes, the Views module is the obvious choice. Next, to add the checkbox to each line I think I need something similar to the Views Bulk Operations module, but I don't think I can use this module as it is designed to perform actions on the selected nodes, such as deleting them. What I want to do is to pass the selected nodes as arguments to the next view that will display them in great detail for comparison, field-by-field.
In one thread people suggest using panels for displaying the nodes to be compared, but I don't see this as a good solution for me since I want to display an arbitrary number of nodes.
I plan to do all the coding myself and if I succeed I will make the module(s) available to anyone interested. What I need to know is if I am on the right track with the design outlined above or if there are other modules already available to do something like this.
Thanks!
