This document discusses using the Content Construction Kit (CCK) and Views modules in Drupal to create a book catalog. [CCK] is used to define content types for publishers, authors, and books with relevant fields, while [Views] builds displays of content sets and provides filters. For example, a "Catalog view" could show a book's title, author, description, cover image, and publish date, filtered by author or date. [Theming] and [taxonomies] are also discussed to further organize the catalog information.

1. Photo by Montrasio International
CCK & Views
ASU Drupal Users Group
April 2008 / April 2010

2. Content Creation Kit
• Use to:
• Create new content types
• Add and organize additional fields to the
node creation form
• Simple content display controls

3. Views
• Views are sets of content
• Creating a view is like building a database
query on your nodes.
• Use Views to:
• Create displays of sets of content
• Provide a UI to filter sets of content

4. Creating a book catalog
• Content types: publisher, author, book
• Views: publishers, authors, books

5. Publisher content type
• Fields:
• Name (title)
• Description (body)

6. Author content type
• Fields:
• Name (title)
• Biography (body)
• Birth date (date)

7. Book content type
• Fields:
• Title (title)
• Description (body)
• Author (node reference)
• Pages (number)
• Publisher (node reference)
• Publish date (date)
• ISBN (text)
• Cover image (imagefield)

8. Catalog view
• Show: title, author, description, cover,
publish date
• Filter by: author, publish date

9. Further refinements
• Don’t forget about taxonomies:
• Book genre (non-fiction, sci-fi, mystery,
etc.)
• Book format (paperback, hardcover, etc.)
• What else?

10. Theming the output
• CCK: Use the theme layer and / or Panels
• Views: Use Theme Information from View
to get sample template files

11. Things to keep in mind
• Keep content types as generic as possible.
Use taxonomies to differentiate when
reasonable.
i.e. Just “book” not “non-fiction book”
• Conversely, use new content types when
taxonomies aren’t “enough.”

12. CCK + Views
• Events and events calendars
• Podcasts
• Galleries
• Course catalog
• Directory

13. Links
• CCK and Views modules
• Imagefield module
• Filefield module
• Date module
• Views Bulk Operations
• Full list of CCK-related modules