I saw an old post by Eric where he was suggesting that we post about projects we're working on in order to try to get the community rolling. Here goes...
I'm working on a site that correlates space_event data with observation data. Is there an easier, more Drupal, way to accomplish my mission than this?
Say there's a big astronomy event -- a solar eclipse, a nova, a comet fly-by. I have a CCK content type that describes that event (space_event):
-date/time
-description
-event-type (solar, planetary, etc)
-collection of observation_ref (node references to the observations)
And, I have a CCK content type called observation that contains observation information
-type (visible, x-ray, etc)
-spectrum
-data file(s)
-space_event_ref (a space_event node reference)
The customer requires that the app permit users to post space_events and observations separately. That's because it's possible to collect observation data without knowing exactly what the event was. It's also possible to know about some events ahead of time, and not have any observation data associated with them.
I use double-linked node references to associate space_events with observations. Using a module I'm developing, when a user specifies a space_event_ref within an observation node, the app automatically creates a node reference on the space_event node that points back to the observation. It works the other way, too, so that if a user is modifying a space_event by adding another observation_ref to it, the referred-to observation node automatically fills in a node reference field that points back to the space_event node.
Also, if a user is subscribed to a space_event, and someone adds, updates, or deletes an observation_node that refers to that space_event, the user is notified, just as if they were subscribed to that observation_node.
Challenges we still have to work out:
-A requirement to display several fields from the observation nodes on the space_event page.
If it makes sense to continue using my module, and there's any interest, I guess I'll post it to d.o.
What do you think? Comments/questions/suggestions welcome.
Comments
Views to the rescue?
So -- let me see if I understand you correctly -- your challenge is that 'space_event' needs to display fields from the matching 'observation' node based on observation_ref.
A thought - what if you embedded a view into your space_event.tpl.php file? You could do something like this:
<?php print views_embed_view("name_of_view_here", $display_id="default", $nid); ?>Build a view that takes $nid as an argument. Set up a relationship on the node reference field, and pull information from the 'observation' nodes that match that relationship. Set up the view to output whatever fields you're needing in the format you want.
Obfuscated, but I think it will work.
views_embed_view. Hmm
Thanks domesticat. I'll have to look at that and see if it doesn't do the trick. I never woulda thought of that. Since your post, I found http://drupal.org/node/48816, which also helps.
How in the world did you know about views_embed_view?
Stay tuned.
I blame work!
Okay, facetious but true. I had something rather similar come up at work.
The library has 12 locations, and so I created a 'location' content type on our intranet. For each location, I wanted to display a formatted list of that location's employees. I did something reasonably close to what I described for you. I got to that point after discovering the insert_view module.