A custom/optional Drupal teaser in a view using the Views Custom Field module

A client needed implementing a custom teaser/short description for a CCK field (not the body) in his Drupal 6 site. The requirements: if the short description/ teaser is available use it otherwise get the data from the CCK field. It is important to note that Display Suite Drupal module was not available as I think it provides a much better approach (will post about in the future).

I have used the Views Custom Field module , this adds a PHP field that allows us to add PHP code to a view.

Setting it up:

Install the views Custom Field Drupal Module

Add two fields to your Content Type in my case it was field_biography & field_teaser

Create your view and add the two fields make sure you check “Exclude from display” as we are going to use the PHP field to determine the output

Add the a customfield: PHP code and put in the following code:

<?php
  if ($data->node_data_field_teaser_field_teaser_value)
  {
    $txt = strip_tags($data->node_data_field_teaser_field_teaser_value);
  }
  else {
   $txt = strip_tags($data->node_data_field_biography_field_bio_value);
  }
  // check if empty text
  if ($txt == '') {
    // msg for empty text
    $txt = 'Content coming soon';
  }
  else {
    // trim if to long
    if (strlen($txt) > 300) {
      $last_space = strrpos(substr($txt, 0, 300), ' ');
      $txt = substr($txt, 0, $last_space);
      $txt .= '...'; 
    }
  }
  // output
  print check_plain($txt);
?>

The $data variable holds information about the form, note that it only stores the fields that you have added to the view.

The best way to figure out what fields are available is to put in the following debug line into the field

  print_r($data);

The first stage is to figure out what field to use if we have a teaser use it otherwise use the biography cck field, we use the strip_tags function to remove HTML formatting, we are doing this for two reasons, the first is that our CCK field can hold links to other content and this will clutter our view, the second is that it looks like the views custom field holds non filtered text, and as the content dosent go through the Drupal filler system the string will need Sanitising.

 if ($data->node_data_field_teaser_field_teaser_value)
  {
    $txt = strip_tags($data->node_data_field_teaser_field_teaser_value);
  }
  else {
   $txt = strip_tags($data->node_data_field_biography_field_bio_value);
  }

If our $txt veritable is empty i.e. both of the CCK fields are empty, we should set a 'Content coming soon' Message

  // check if empty text
  if ($txt == '') {
    // msg for empty text
    $txt = 'Content coming soon';
  }

The last step in preparing the text is to make sure it is not to long, if it is longer than our set limit (300) we will trim it without choping any words off, same as the views “Trim this field to a maximum length” & “Trim only on a word boundary” option

  else {
    // trim if to long
    if (strlen($txt) > 300) {
      $last_space = strrpos(substr($txt, 0, 300), ' ');
      $txt = substr($txt, 0, $last_space);
      $txt .= '...'; 
    }
  }

Finally output the text make sure you use the Drupal check_plain to sanitise the string

  // output
  print check_plain($txt);