Drupal 7 View Modes - Various ways to See your content

Drupal 7 uses an advanced feature ‘view modes’ which enables proper presentation of data across a website. View modes were previously available on Drupal 6 but the focus has been changed in Drupal 7. API for other modules has been introduced in Drupal 7. This allows modules to register Entity types. This is a functionality that works well in creating entities such as like, comment, user and taxonomy. There are several related fields attached to entities. View modes allow defining great themes for content.

A Drupal Entity is the foundation of view modes. There are entities that represent singular things and properties. When the question of a user arises, a single entity represents a single user on the website. Information like username, email address and password are contained within entities. Every field in Drupal allows users to collect data in ways more than one. Drupal developers can add multiple fields for users by collecting required information.

Previous Drupal node view modes enabled simple content listings. In order to bring better flexibility view modes have been injected with additional features. Same content can be used in different contexts and ways adding variation in display. ‘hook_entity_info_alter’ can be implemented in custom module to introduce additional view modes in Drupal 7. A simple command prompt comprising of ‘module_entity_alter_info’ and entity info such as teasers and nodes along with labels and arrays can be used to implement new view mode. Custom settings must be checked true before getting the output right. Coders can expect to have a comfortable time in delivering the ways.

Soon after a fresh view mode is defined, it becomes necessary to click on “Manage Display” and select a field required for display. Other fields for selection are image style and image fields. Under label and format tables, one must select a style like unformatted and also set a row style like node before selecting the option ‘another teaser’. In applying themes and custom layout for the content we need to add a custom node.tpl.php template. There are several ways in which this same command can be presented.

In Drupal 7 content type configuration is done best. By entering “Manage display” page, we need to select structure, content types before selecting manage display. “Teaser”, “Default,” and “Full content” are the standard default view modes that are involved in any standard Drupal 7 installation. View modes are able to define content by allowing customization for every content type. View modes are generated with the help of programs which are able to change field displays.

View modes require custom formatters to rightly implement joining of fields, image style selection and incorporating the selections. There are blogs and forums that provide free codes for developers to learn extensively about view modes. Once the display for a content type is defined, designers are left with styling of CSS and templates. This will let you acquire design specs according to your view modes.

View mode will surely open up a brand new world of content management and display possibilities. Check out Drupal modules and ongoing developer projects by directly entering drupal website. Learn about latest tool boxes and features introduced in view modes along with articles on content display.

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This article is contributed by ValueCoders, an IT outsourcing company, specialized in web and cms development. One can hire Drupal programmer here for effective Drupal development services.