sortobjectsoperators

Content objects/nodes sorting template operators extension for eZ Publish

Author: Alex Kozeka kozeka.alex@gmail.com
Date: July 2011

An extension aiming to perform server-side content objects/nodes sorting.
May be helpful when it is required to do fine-tuning after fetch operator which could not do the job.
Various sorting coditions can be applied.

License

GNU General Public License v2.0

Requirements

• eZ Publish 4.0+ (tested with 4.3).

Installation

1) Copy sortobjectsoperators directory to eZ Publish extension directory.

2) Generate autoloads using commands:
cd ezp_dir
php bin/php/ezpgenerateautoloads.php

3) Activate extension in your site.ini.append.php

Description and usage

Extension adds template operators:

1) get_sorted_objects( $unsorted_nodes_or_objects, $sort_conditions )

Sorts nodes/objects using specified sort_conditions and returns sorted objects.
$unsorted_nodes_or_objects: An array returned from fetch or like that. Elements are content objects or nodes.
$sort_conditions: An array of sort conditions.
Each element is SORT_ORDER specificator + at least one SORT_SOURCE specificator.
See examples for common usage scenarios.

$sort_conditions = array(
array(
SORT_ORDER: {true(): ASC | false(): DESC},
SORT_SOURCE: {
'parent': object's parent node |
array( 'attribute': object's attribute, 'ATTRIBUTE_IDENTIFIER': attribute name ) |
array( 'system_attribute': object's system attribute, 'ATTRIBUTE_IDENTIFIER': attribute name ) |
array( 'relation_attribute': object's relation attribute, 'ATTRIBUTE_IDENTIFIER': attribute name )
}
),
...
)

2) get_unique_sorted_objects( $unsorted_nodes_or_objects, $sort_conditions )

Sorts nodes/objects using specified sort_conditions and returns only unique (by object id) sorted objects.
Parameters are the same as for get_sorted_objects operator.

3) get_objects_from_nodes( $nodes_or_objects )

Returns objects from mixed list of nodes/objects

Examples

Assume content classes (significant fields only):

Folder

• name [text line]
• location [object relation, allowed classes: Location]

Article

• title [text line]
• locations [object relations, allowed classes: Location]

Location

• title [text line]

Content tree structure:

• Articles are grouped by Folders.
• Folders are under one parent Folder.
• Each article can have 0/many related Locations.
• Each Folder can have 0 or 1 related Location.

Template code:

1) Sort node list by object's attribute title ASC

{def $unsorted_nodes = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
'parent_node_id', PARENT_FOLDER_NODE_ID,
'class_filter_type', 'include',
'class_filter_array', array( 'article' )
))}
{def $sorted_objects = get_sorted_objects( $unsorted_nodes, array(
array(
true(),
array( 'attribute', 'title' )
)
))}

2) Sort node list by parent object's name ASC + object's publish date DESC

{def $unsorted_nodes = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
'parent_node_id', PARENT_FOLDER_FOR_FOLDERS_NODE_ID,
'class_filter_type', 'include',
'class_filter_array', array( 'article' ),
'depth', 2
))}
{def $sorted_objects = get_sorted_objects( $unsorted_nodes, array(
array(
true(),
'parent',
array( 'system_attribute', 'name' )
),
array(
false(),
array( 'system_attribute', 'published' )
)
))}

3) Sort node list by object's related object title ASC + object's name ASC

{def $unsorted_nodes = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
'parent_node_id', PARENT_FOLDER_FOR_FOLDERS_NODE_ID,
'class_filter_type', 'include',
'class_filter_array', array( 'article' ),
'depth', 2
))}
{def $sorted_objects = get_sorted_objects( $unsorted_nodes, array(
array(
true(),
array( 'relation_attribute', 'locations' ),
array( 'attribute', 'title' )
),
array(
true(),
array( 'system_attribute', 'name' )
)
))}

4) Sort node list by parent object's related object's title ASC + parent object's name ASC + object's name ASC

{def $unsorted_nodes = fetch( 'content', 'list', hash(
'parent_node_id', PARENT_FOLDER_FOR_FOLDERS_NODE_ID,
'class_filter_type', 'include',
'class_filter_array', array( 'article' ),
'depth', 2
))}
{def $sorted_objects = get_sorted_objects( $unsorted_nodes, array(
array(
true(),
'parent',
array( 'relation_attribute', 'location' ),
array( 'attribute', 'title' )
),
array(
true(),
'parent',
array( 'system_attribute', 'name' )
),
array(
true(),
array( 'system_attribute', 'name' )
)
))}

Known issues

• Attributes and system attributes should exist. No checks performed about that.
• Sorting is performed correctly for textual attributes only.