Complex Tables

By steve_fister on 19 Jul 2016 at 20:14 UTC

Hello,

I've tried out using some of the modules for Field Collections/Views/etc. but have not been able to achieve what I need for formatting the table.

What I'm trying to achieve is this table structure:

Ideally, I'd like to keep this all in one content-type, think a "course". Any ideas?

Thank you!

Comments

Did you try using "Group By"

Sam Moore

he/him

Sandy Hook, CT

commented 20 July 2016 at 04:40

Did you try using "Group By" in a Views table?

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Yes, I tried that. It didn't

steve_fister commented 21 July 2016 at 15:38

Yes, I tried that. It didn't give the results I was looking for unfortunately..

In that case I think your

Sam Moore

he/him

Sandy Hook, CT

commented 21 July 2016 at 17:28

In that case I think your best bet is to alter the table at the theme layer. Have a look at @nitin.k's response below.
You might find it easier to output the View as something like an unordered list, since I've always found it kind of a pain to take tables apart programatically. Then you can assemble the table yourself in code.

Thanks Sam. This is where my

steve_fister commented 21 July 2016 at 17:45

Thanks Sam. This is where my ineptness shows, unfortunately. I don't yet understand what "Alter the query using hook_views_query_alter" means. Some googling around shows this in the context of using in custom modules. However, I don't believe I need a new module, just some new templates. I've searched for some examples, but most seem to use a field--field-my-collection.tpl.php template whereas I am creating a views-view-fields--my-course--default.tpl.php (lack of understanding /where/ the template needs to go?)

It's not entirely clear

Sam Moore

he/him

Sandy Hook, CT

commented 21 July 2016 at 21:38

It's not entirely clear whether you need to alter your query, if you can get your rows to come in with all of the info you need to build your table; but yes, that hook would be implemented in a module.
If you don't, then what you need to do is theme the Views output so that it's structured as you wish.
If you need to do some logic to your output, that's best done in your theme's template.php file. In general any PHP more complicated than "if this thing exists, render it now" should go there.
To just change the markup - say, from UL elements to TR and TD?, or changing the order of presentation - you can do that in the templates, in this case Views field or row templates.
Views itself will give you theming template suggestions - look in the admin interface in the advanced section.
If you do create a template with one of the suggested names (likely by copying one of the ones that came with Views, with the intention of changing it), it goes in your theme's Templates directory.

If you're going down this road, you may want to edit your original post and move it to the Theme Development forum (https://www.drupal.org/forum/3), where people with a deep interest in theming are more likely to be found; or perhaps the Views issue queue, especially the Support Request category (https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/views).
This particular forum is for people who are building custom modules.

Thanks Sam. I was able to

steve_fister commented 25 July 2016 at 19:27

Thanks Sam. I was able to finally get some basic templates working. The examples I referred to, and my Drupal installation didn't quite jive as to the field naming conventions. In either case, I think the templating is the way to go for my needs! Thanks for your help!

RE: Complex Tables

nitin.k commented 20 July 2016 at 06:19

Below can be the ways to solve the issue

1. Alter the query using hook_views_query_alter
2. Views tpl can be created and display changes can also be modified.
3. Use hook_views_pre_render for customizations.