This page describes functionality that was added in VuFind 4.0.

VuFind includes a RecordDataFormatter view helper designed to make it easier to customize the contents of tabular displays of data generated from record driver objects.

The RecordDataFormatter's most important public method is getData(), which accepts two things as input:

• A specification, in the form of an associative array, describing the fields of the output table and how to obtain the necessary data to populate them.
• A record driver object.

As output, getData() returns an associative array of field name => HTML output for the corresponding field. Field names are raw and should be translated/escaped when displayed in templates.

Additionally, the helper includes getDefaults($key) / setDefaults($key) methods which can be used to store or retrieve default specification arrays. VuFind ships with stored specifications for 'core' and 'description', which are used in the corresponding .phtml files in the record driver template directory. See below on how to change/customize these defaults.

The specification array uses as keys the labels to be displayed in the resulting table of data. Each key is associated with a value which is itself an associative array with one or more of the following keys:

Key	Optional/Required	Description
allowZero	optional (default = true)	If the raw data evaluates to 0 or '0', should we display it (true) or suppress the whole field (false)?
context	optional	When template rendering is used, an array of values to pass to the template, when renderType = RecordDriverTemplate.
dataMethod	required	The record driver method to use for extracting raw field data used for generating output. May be set to boolean true to always generate output without variable input; may be set to boolean false to suppress the entire field.
method	optional	The Record view helper method to use for output rendering, when renderType = RecordHelper.
pos	optional	An integer used for sorting the fields to determine the final display order.
renderType	optional (default = Simple)	The method used to render output from the input provided by dataMethod. Legal values: RecordDriverTemplate (render a template associated with the record driver, as specified by the 'template' key); RecordHelper (call a method of the Record view helper, as specified by the 'method' key); Simple (display the raw data, possibly manipulated based on other settings in the specification)
labelFunction	optional	May be set to a callback function which will receive the raw field data as input and produce a custom output label (overriding the key of the spec array) as output.
prefix	optional	HTML to prepend to the output generated by the view helper. Applies only when RenderType = Simple.
recordLink	optional	The type of link (from the Record view helper's getLink method) to associate with each value in the raw field data. Applies only when RenderType = Simple.
separator	optional (default = <br />)	Separator to use between multiple data values. Applies only when RenderType = Simple.
suffix	optional	HTML to append to the output generated by the view helper. Applies only when RenderType = Simple.
template	optional	The name of the template to render, when renderType = RecordDriverTemplate
translate	optional (default = false)	Should we run raw field data through the translator? Applies only when RenderType = Simple.
useCache	optional (default = false)	Should we cache the raw field data in the view helper to avoid duplicate calls?

A SpecBuilder convenience class has been provided to help generate specification arrays. This handles such functionality as auto-generating useful 'pos' values, reordering/overriding fields, etc.

There are two simple ways to change specifications.

If you want to make global changes to a specification, the easiest solution is to extend \VuFind\View\Helper\Root\RecordDataFormatterFactory in your own custom module and override getDefaultCoreSpecs() and/or getDefaultDescriptionSpecs() as needed. You can either completely rewrite the spec generation logic, or you can call the parent version of the function and then manipulate the array slightly to add, remove or reorder fields.

If you want to change behavior for a specific record driver, or if you prefer to keep your code changes at a higher level, you can also customize the appropriate record driver template(s), simply manipulating the spec array between the call to getDefaults() and the call to getData().