Drupal Views and how they work
Stick around because this time we are going to talk about Drupal Views, one of the most used and useful features provided by the CMS. Surely you have ever had to configure one, or maybe not; do you know all its ins and outs?
What are Views?
Views are a powerful tool that allows users to create and manage content presentations dynamically. And that means that, instead of displaying content directly from the database, Views provide a layer of abstraction that allows users to define how content should be displayed and what specific data should be included in the final output. Sounds wonderful, doesn't it?
Key Features of Views
The views have a series of characteristics and points to highlight. Let's review the most important ones!
Flexibility and customization
One of the biggest pros of Views is their ability to adapt to a wide variety of content presentation requirements. Users can easily define which fields should be displayed, how results should be sorted, what filters to apply, and what type of output to generate, whether it's a simple list, table, grid, or even an RSS feed.
Intuitive user interface
Drupal 10 offers a great, intuitive and easy-to-use user interface for creating and managing Views. The Views user interface is divided into several blocks, each of them allows you to configure the parameters of the view that will finally be converted into a query to the database. In addition, we also have a section that shows us a preview of how the data will be displayed depending on the configuration that we have applied to the view.
Integration with other modules
Views are tightly integrated with other Drupal modules and functionality, further extending their usefulness and flexibility. For example, Views can be combined with the Custom Fields module to display additional data associated with specific content, or they can be used in conjunction with the Access and Permissions module to control which users can see certain types of content. Let's not forget that Drupal is a modular system, and views precisely take advantage of this. They can become very powerful as we expand functionality on our website.
From the basics to the most advanced
You can complicate your life as much as you want. Views in Drupal starting with Drupal 8 provide many ways to customize and configure the SQL query you want to make to the database, all from a beautiful interface adapted to the Drupal API. You can move to the "Advanced" block and configure the query you are preparing more deeply, apply contextual filters that will reach the view in some way or change the behavior of how the data is displayed depending on whether a value is missing or does not arrive at all. . Almost anything is possible, and if not... (continues)
If it's not there, extend it yourself!
Views do not meet 100% of the requirements that a project may have. But do not worry! The Drupal API provides different ways to extend the functionality of views in a much more personalized way. You can extend anything: add custom fields, filter criteria, formats...
Conclusion
Views are an essential tool for any website built with Drupal that seeks to offer a highly personalized and dynamic user experience. With its flexibility, ease of use, and wide range of features, Views in Drupal allow users to create and manage content presentations in an efficient and personalized way. If you haven't yet explored the possibilities of Views in Drupal, don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today!
