Drupal 7 Views 3 custom field handler

mymodule.info

dependencies[] = ctools

; Views Handlers
files[] = views/mymodule_handler_handlername.inc

mymodule.module

<?php

/**
 * Implements hook_views_api().
 */
function mymodule_views_api() {
  return array(
    'api' => 3,
    'path' => drupal_get_path('module', 'mymodule') . '/views',
  );
}

mymodule.views.inc

<?php

// This file must be at mymodule/views directory.

/**
 * @file
 * Views definitions for mymodule module.
 */

/**
 * Implements hook_views_data_alter().
 */
function mymodule_views_data_alter(&$data) {
  $data['node']['handlername'] = array(
    'title' => t('Name of my handler'),
    'help' => t('Description of my handler.'),
    'field' => array(
      'handler' => 'mymodule_handler_handlername',
    ),
  );
}

mymodule_handler_handlername.inc

<?php

// This file must be at mymodule/views directory.

/**
 * @file
 * Definition of mymodule_handler_handlername.
 */

/**
 * Description of what my handler does.
 */
class mymodule_handler_handlername extends views_handler_field {
  /**
   * Add some required fields needed on render().
   */
  function construct() {
    parent::construct();
    $this->additional_fields['field_something'] = array(
      'table' => 'field_data_field_something',
      'field' => 'field_something_value',
    );
  }

  /**
   * Loads additional fields.
   */
  function query() {
    $this->ensure_my_table();
    $this->add_additional_fields();
  }

  /**
   * Default options form.
   */
  function option_definition() {
    $options = parent::option_definition();

    $options['option_a'] = array('default' => '');
    $options['option_b'] = array('default' => '');

    return $options;
  }

  /**
   * Creates the form item for the options added.
   */
  function options_form(&$form, &$form_state) {
    parent::options_form($form, $form_state);

    $form['option_a'] = array(
      '#type' => 'textfield',
      '#title' => t('Label'),
      '#default_value' => $this->options['option_a'],
      '#description' => t('Some description.'),
      '#weight' => -10,
    );

    $form['option_b'] = array(
      '#type' => 'textfield',
      '#title' => t('Label'),
      '#default_value' => $this->options['option_b'],
      '#description' => t('Some description.'),
      '#weight' => -9,
    );
  }

  /**
   * Renders the field handler.
   */
  function render($values) {
    // This ensures that even if Views changes the field name within the query, the handler will still work.
    // Inspect the $this->aliases array to find the key of the field that you need.
    $value = $this->get_value($values, 'field_something');

    return format_string('<div class="@option_a" data-tag="@field_something" data-follow_name="@option_b"></div>', array(
      '@field_something' => $value,
      '@option_a' => $this->options['option_a'],
      '@option_b' => $this->options['option_b'],
    ));
  }
}

Definitely makes things a lot more clearer 👍

For people who are also looking for more examples/explanations of view_handlers, I found some articles. Some of them can be very confusing but I think along with this gist, it makes everything a lot more comprehensible.

A Views handler, the easy way
Creating Views 3 Programmatically

:)

Great write up, many thanks!

This is really helpful. Thank you.

One thing: I think you should use hook_views_data_alter() instead of hook_views_data(), and modify the existing $data['node].

You should not use $values->field_data_field_something_field_something_value as the alias can change depending on base table or relationships.

Instead you should use the field_alias property:
$alias = $this->field_alias;
if (isset($values->{$alias})) {
$my_value = $values->{$alias};
}

@aaronbauman, $field_value = $this->get_value($values); would be even better for getting the value of the field.

Awesome!

Hello,
Thanks for this article. My difficulty is I need to create a "My Account" page with views not by profile2.
I have a totally custom registration form with a custom table. So how can I add my all 7-8 custom fields into view to create "My Account" page. Please suggest me.

Thanks,
Priya Roy

If you want a simple "render only" field (maybe it calcualtes output based on existing values)... Then you need to implement two methods in the class.

1. override the query() method and simply do nothing in it.
2. overrider render() and return the string you need to display, based on the other field values.

Thanks @aaronbauman! Added an alias to the renderer. Then I looked at @Neograph734's comment and decided to use $this->get_value().

Good point @robme. Updated to use hook_views_data_alter().

Added https://gist.github.com/juampynr/27df316e7dab89f02a6d18bbff252bc2 to show a sample Views filter handler in Drupal 7.

Thanks for this example. Very clear