Views integration with Imagefield Extended? [#857994]

I'm using ddblock regular version to make an advanced slideshow using images from a node uploaded with the Imagefield module. I am using the 'alt', and 'title', fields for the pager item and slide title respectively.

I've been looking for a way to use other fields for the pager item, slide title, and slide text as I often want to use 'alt' and 'title' exclusively for search engine optimization, keeping it separate from the ddblock functions. Then I discovered the Imagefield Extended module that offers the ability to add other fields to an Imagefield image. However it's not clear if the Views integration is working the way I'd expect it to and be able to add those fields in a ddblock view (there was some mention of using custom CCK formatters to help with this).

I also noted in the description of the ddblock Views Slideshow plug-in that you can map Views fields to the slide text, pager, and slide title. Will this work with Imagefield Extended fields, or is there another way to associate custom (text) fields with each imagefield in a node and map them to ddblock's fields?

Also I'd like to know if I use the ddblock Slideshow plug-in, will I still have to include pre-process functions in my node templates for my use case, i.e. displaying multiple images from a node.

Comments

Comment #1

ppblaauw CreditAttribution: ppblaauw commented 19 July 2010 at 04:59

Status:

Active

» Postponed (maintainer needs more info)

Answer on first three paragraphs

The image field extended module does not expose the fields to views at the moment. (see http://drupal.org/node/600594)
When it would do that the solution would be easy.

Answer on last paragraph:
version 2.x does not require preprocess functions in the template.php file of the theme you use anymore.

Conclusion: There is no option to use multiple images in a node with the imagefield extended module for ddblock and views_slideshow_ddblock. The image field extended module does not expose the fields to views at the moment.

Hope this explanation is clear enough and helps you further, please let me know.

Comment #2

druplicate CreditAttribution: druplicate commented 20 July 2010 at 00:37

Thanks!

I was just reading about a similar technique for overlaying text on images in a Views slide show, (see video podcast), here: http://mustardseedmedia.com/podcast/episode42

Here is what I wrote as a comment:

This is a useful technique when you have one image per node because you can overlay ANY Views fields from the node. I use the Dynamic Display block (ddblock) when I have more than one image per node. In that case you are limited to using the description, alt-text, and title fields that come stock when you upload images to a node using Imagefield. Those 3 fields map to ddblock's slider text, pager text, and slide title overlay fields, respectively. If the Imagefield Extended module ever solves its problem exposing extra Imagefield fields to Views, then you will be able to overlay those fields on images as well. This is useful because sometimes you want to reserve alt-text and title attributes for images for SEO purposes and keep them separate from slideshow functionality.

Not sure if or how you could use this technique for multiple images in a node, with properly associated text.

Ddblock has other advantages: you can apply all of the fancy fade, wipe, and other jQuery effects to the text overlays as well as the image, independent of image effects. See this example using ddblock: http://ackermanforcongress.com/ Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think you can do that with this technique. I'm also not sure if you would be able to use text labeled pagers either, but you can easily with ddblock.

Ddblock used to be a royal pain to setup because of the requirement to add some pre-process functions to the template.php file, but that has been obviated with the new ddblock Views Slideshow plug-in: http://drupal.org/project/views_slideshow_ddblock

I don't know if it's possible to use ddblock with a single image per node AND be able to overlay any Views field.
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Perhaps you could address this here and at Mustardseed Media as well.

...Jeff