Creating a formatter for CCK-field

CCK-formatters make up the code and are thus capable of displaying the fields the way a coder wants it. Website developers often come short of formatters, when performing tasks. In this article I will offer a review of creating the formatter for node refence field, which will simply be adding anchor to the link. 

First, we are to announce the formatter by causing the hook_field_formatter_info ():

/** 
 * Implements of hook_field_formatter_info(). 
 * 
 * Here we define an array with the options we will provide in display fields page
 * The array keys will be used later in hook_theme and theme_
 */ 

function example_field_formatter_info() { 
  $formatters = array( 
    'nodereference_anchor' => array( 
      // The name that the user will choose in the display fields configuration page.
      'label' => t('Link(with anchor)'), 
      // An array with the types of cck fields that the formatter supports.
      'field types' => array('nodereference'), 
      'description' => t('Displays a link to the referenced node with anchor.'),
    ), 
  ); 
  return $formatters; 
}

The hook returns an array to all arrays of all declared formatters in this module. Next, theming function in hook_theme() is to be announced and that will look after the field withdrawal:

/** 
 * Implements hook_theme(). 
 * 
 * We declare our theme functions according to the array keys in  hook_field_formatter_info.
 */ 
function example_theme() {  
  return array(  
    'example_formatter_nodereference_anchor' => array(  
      'arguments' => array('element' => NULL),  
    ),  
  );  
}

Well, here is the theming function itself:

/* 
 * Theming functions for our formatter. 
 * 
 * And here we do our magic. You can use dsm($element) to see what you have to play with (requires devel module).
 */ 
function theme_example_formatter_nodereference_anchor($element) {
  $output = '';  
  if (!empty($element['#item']['nid']) && is_numeric($element['#item']['nid']) && ($title = _nodereference_titles($element['#item']['nid']))) {  
    $output = l($title, 'node/'. $element['#item']['nid'], array('fragment' => 'example-anchor')); 
  }  
  return $output;  
}

As you see, all is simple and clear. This simplicity, however, will spare you the trouble of writing loads of code in tempate.php, and still more trouble of further supporting it.