| Attribute | Average |
|---|---|
| Features | 4.83 / 5 |
| Reliability | 4.67 / 5 |
| Ease Of Use | 4.67 / 5 |
| Documentation | 3.67 / 5 |
| Vote Count | 6 |
The Node Relationships module provides methods to complete two way relationships between content types enhancing the features of node reference fields. Almost all the settings to administer the features of this module can be located at Administer -> Content management -> Content types -> [type]... [More...]
| Maintainer: | markus_petrux |
| Links: |
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| Categories: | Content Construction Kit (CCK), Multilingual, Views |
| Version | Date | Files | Release notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.x-1.6 | 2010-May-16 | Download | Recommended |
| 6.x-1.x-dev | 2011-Jul-25 | Download | Development |
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I've been experimenting with the modules noderelationships and nodereference_views. These two works very well in tandem, the only awkwardness is the need to open a lot of modal windows to create nodes that are needed downstream.
Example:
I would like to create a track from an album. I have several content types: Track, Album, Role and Artist.
The Role is a content type which links an artist to a role, which is specific for this album; thus I would use a flexifield, for this and create a view to attach to collect all the backreferences from albums the person appears in. Unfortunately the extra widgets which noderelationships adds to the nodereference field is not retained when used within a flexifield; so my only option is to nodereference Role from Track.
The Album has a nodereference to Track which is unlimited and where I'd configure noderelationships to add extras (found at the url /admin/content/node-type/<type name>/relationships/noderef) like "View reference in new window", "Edit reference" and "Create and reference". Be sure to set the "Search and reference view" you would like to use. Pro tip: You can add a view display to the existing view by clicking the "Edit view"-icon to the right of the View-dropdown. This can be useful if you want to add a display which shows images, media or other info you need; as well as filters.
The Track has a nodereference set to Role.
The Role has a nodereference set to Artist as well as a taxonomy vocabulary "Role".
Now, to create the track I would first have to create the album. In the nodereference field to tracks there will be one line, and additional widgets. One of them is to create a new track.
Up pops a modal dialog that lets me create the track. In the nodereference field to roles there will be one line, and additional widgets. One of them is to create a new role.
Up pops a modal dialog that lets me create the role. And this repeats itself for the nodereference to person. After creating the person, I am able to save the person node, then the role node, then the track node, and finally the album node. Of course, at any point I could add more of the downstream nodes.
A note to anyone creating this kind of application. I would add yet another content type Role set. It would be pretty tedious to add all the roles manually for each track, especially if it is the same people every time. The nodereference to Role could be modified to accept both Role and Role set content types.
The Role set would have a list of roles, you could call this a group, as in a collection of artists performing together on a (semi)permanent basis, which you wouldn't have to enter manually every time.
Perhaps even an Group would be apropriate, add start year and end year, to show the time the group was assembled etc. And modifiy the role reference in Track to also allow content of type Group.
But I digress, the point here is that there is a lot of modal dialogs going on.
Now to the icing.
There is a first layer of icing, namely noderelationships' backreference views. You can select any view (as long as it is tagged "noderelationships_backref") as the backreference. Therefore, in a Group node you could enable the view Group performs on these albums in /admin/content/node-type/<type name>/relationships/backref.
This is pretty nifty, as you can now add a view showing the album cover of each album, order it by release year and bob's your uncle.
The second layer of icing is the nodereference_views. The title is a bit misleading, as it omits the important keyword "formatters". In the Content management, Display fields tabs (/admin/content/node-type/<type name>/display) you can select the formatter for your fields, among them the nodereference fields.
The nodereference_views ads a formatter called "View" to the list of available formatters. This assumes you have created a view with the name of the field, so for the nodereference field field_tracks, you would have to create a corresponding view field_tracks. And you now have total control of how you present this field in your node!
Add into the mix: computed_field and you'll have a very powerful solution for almost any use case.
I'm envisioning using computed field to import data from dbpedia, imdb or similar (unless the module createfromweb starts working again and gets all the plugins working).
This module is somewhat useful. Definitely needs to be more developed to become a truly great module, which it could be though.
The ERD is nice for helping certain types of users understand how node references work.
The biggest thing is the back reference fields need to work as a Views field IMO; they currently do not.
This module really surprised me how well it worked and the features it offers. Relating nodes, creating new nodes on the fly as you relate them, search interface that uses Views etc.
The install was tough cause it needs modalframe with then needs jquery_ui 1.7 see notes here
http://drupal.org/node/855836
See here is the video good luck and enjoy.
http://blip.tv/file/3889945
I am indebted beyond belief for this module which I have just explored this morning, after already some years working with Drupal.
As a long time graphical UML enthusiast used to working with UML-driven Java, I find working with Drupal types sometimes quite infuriating. This module, with its generative E-R diagrams, goes a long way to easing the pain.
Well done, and my most sincere thanks to the developers.
This is a great module. No less than an aha-effect when you first enable it. Whenever you use nodereference fields in a slightly more demanding setup, go with this module.
End users will like the interface it provides for selecting nodes to reference. An autocomplete widget might just not be enough for them. This module gives you the full power of Views to let end users select the nodes they want to reference.
Node Relationships is one of those modules you can not live without once you discovered them.
After trying so many different modules that offered a way to manage node reference fields, I found everything I needed in Node Relationships. Beautiful interface, completely configurable, intuitive user experience. In particular, I was looking for a clean way to embed a view of referenced nodes with the original node page. The Auto Backreference function was perfect. I also hoped to find a reliable and intuitive way for users to search for and find new nodes for a nodereference field. After days of beating my head against my desk trying every other module out there, this one had everything I needed, and within minutes I had achieved what I was looking for. I highly recommend this module for all of the features it provides in regards to node references.
