Any ideas on exporting Panel Nodes?

Hey Merlin. I decided to poke around on this and came up with this:

--- panels_node.module (revision 2699)
+++ panels_node.module (working copy)
@@ -223,6 +223,13 @@
// Create a new display and record that.
$display = panels_new_display();
$display->layout = $node->panels_node['layout'];
+
+ if($node->export_display) {
+ // This works by overriding the $display set above
+ eval($node->export_display);
+ unset($node->export_display);
+ }
+
panels_save_display($display);
$css_id = $node->panels_node['css_id'];

@@ -352,3 +359,14 @@
$contexts['panel-node'] = $context;
return $contexts;
}
+
+/*
+ hook_export_node_alter
+*/
+function panels_node_export_node_alter(&$node, $original_node, $method) {
+ if($method == 'export') {
+ $display = panels_load_display($node->panels_node['did']);
+ $export = panels_export_display($display);
+ $node->export_display = $export;
+ }
+}

I've tested it and it seems to be exporting/importing correctly. Only issue is that it does not work with the prepopulate import option. The node has to be saved. I also have a form.inc line 1200 error dealing with default values. But the panel content/layout looks to have carried over correctly.

Your thoughts on this? Is this a worthwhile avenue to go down? I'll offer up a proper patch after I do some better testing and such.

Sad to hear since I really dig panel nodes. But I probably use them atypically.

I have a patched panels_node module that allows me to use panel nodes as templates. Basically content types like articles and galleries have a nodereference field for Template, Right Column, and Left Column. If a panel node is selected for Template, then that panel-node's layout/content will be rendered with the "node being viewed" supplied as a context (I actually provide other context like site channel terms, etc). Same thing goes for Right and Left column.

The main templating is accomplished via a modified panels task handler that overrides the page handler's display if the Template nodereference is set. So the node will default to the page handler if no template is selected. The defaults for left and right column are handled via a custom Context(the module) reaction.

This allows us to provide multiple article templates that are editor controlled. Also, it allows the editors to make their own template without destroying the whole site using the Pages admin. This is incredibly useful for sponsored articles as well.

I also use the same idiom for Taxonomy pages. With a combination of the panel node templating system and nat editors can select more complex layouts for term pages such as "Obama" vs something like "rubber ducky".

I don't think it's possible to get the equivalent flexibility with any of the other panels variants.

Index: panels_node.module
===================================================================
--- panels_node.module (revision 2699)
+++ panels_node.module (working copy)
@@ -223,6 +223,13 @@
// Create a new display and record that.
$display = panels_new_display();
$display->layout = $node->panels_node['layout'];
+
+ if($node->export_display) {
+ // This works by overriding the $display set above
+ eval($node->export_display);
+ unset($node->export_display);
+ }
+
panels_save_display($display);
$css_id = $node->panels_node['css_id'];

@@ -352,3 +359,14 @@
$contexts['panel-node'] = $context;
return $contexts;
}
+
+/*
+ hook_export_node_alter
+*/
+function panels_node_export_node_alter(&$node, $original_node, $method) {
+ if($method == 'export') {
+ $display = panels_load_display($node->panels_node['did']);
+ $export = panels_export_display($display);
+ $node->export_display = $export;
+ }
+}

This is what I added to panel_node. You gotta make sure that node_export uses the Save node then edit.

I will clean this up into something proper. Just saw this and wanted to put it out there.