Hi all,
Let me first describe what I'm trying to accomplish in general terms, so that you can point out errors in my general approach. I'm new to drupal but fairly seasoned with PHP, so my main obstacle is to figure out how the plethora of concepts and modules fit together, and where to do what.
Here's the setup: I have a custom node type, let's call it "Person". Using Page Manager and Panels, I'm setting up a custom display page for Person nodes, displaying different information related to the Person in different panes and tabs. This part I can do completely within the system, without touching code.
The tricky part is the following: One of the fields in the Person node is an identifier for queries to a remote XML API, api_id
. I want to use this identifier in the argument of a call to simplexml_load_file
, and putting the results of the XML I get back from that call into a pane. This part I can't do (?) by pushing configuration buttons.
So, I'm considering my options, and would appreciate input on what the most reasonable (and simple) approach is, as well as any help and pointers in solving the task.