Views is a great module and as you'll probably know it is the most downloaded module in Drupal's history. The possibilities which Views provides you with are almost endless but there is one limitation. The generated output of a view is by default static. What if you want to have a dynamic activity stream as you know it from Twitter or Facebook?

Allow Drupal's unofficial slogan to answer that question: There is a module for that! The module in question is "Views Hacks" and contains another module called "Views Auto-Refresh". There is a blog post about how to implement this module in order to get it to work as you want to, but it seems like this post doesn't cover all of the aspects that are implemented in the "dev"-version. A follow up blog post offers a little more insight, but still not everything I needed.

On a side note: In this tutorial we will use the "dev"-version of "Views Hacks", because the alpha was buggy at the time, and the implementation of the JavaScript part is not in the Drupal way anymore.

Preparation

Let's get started with the implementation. I assume that you have downloaded, installed and activated Views, Views UI, Views Hacks and Views Auto-Refresh. Further I assume that you have created a view for which you want to use the auto-refresh feature.

I will demonstrate the implementation of Views Auto-Refresh by showing screenshots of the actual project.

Implementation

Make the following configurations:

• First of all, you need to duplicate your actual view as a view page. Give it a semantic name like "autorefresh".
• Give the page a unique path as displayed in the screenshot above.
• Also give an easy-to-remember machine name.
• Make sure that the view is using AJAX.
• Add the Content: Post date (with operator) or any other timestamp as a contextual filter (we used the "Content: Updated date"). Views Auto-Refresh will provide the timestamp needed.

Now head over to your view and add a "Global: Text area" with the text format "PHP Code" and add following code:

<?php
print theme('views_autorefresh', array('interval' => '30000', 'incremental'=> array(
  'view_base_path' => 'frontpage/autorefresh',
  'view_display_id' => 'autorefresh',
  'view_name' => 'articles',
  'sourceSelector' => '.view-content',
  'targetSelector' => '.view-content',
  'firstClass' => 'views-row-first',
  'lastClass' => 'views-row-last',
  'oddClass' => 'views-row-odd',
  'evenClass' => 'views-row-even',
)));
?>

The additional settings are the selectors and classes which will be addressed by the JavaScript of Views Auto-Refresh. I don't want to dig too deep since they should be self describing.

Now you might think that everything is done. But no, wait, we have to add the same code to the header of your original view. So do the same thing there as I have described it above. Please make sure that this view also uses AJAX, else it wouldn't work.

Further possibilities

In our project we use the jQuery library Isotope which sorts all the posts dynamically on loading or resizing. But you have to trigger the re-layout of the page if the Views Auto-Refresh has delivered some new posts. This is really simple and straight forward. You just have to add a Drupal behavior in your JavaScript like this:

/**
 * Add functionality to trigger reloadItems after an autorefresh
 */
  Drupal.behaviors.triggerIsotopeAfterAutorefresh = {
    attach: function(context, settings){
      $('.view-id-articles').bind('autorefresh.incremental', function() {
          //getting the content/context
          $isotope = $('.view-id-articles .view-content');
          //reload all items by original order
          $isotope.isotope( 'reloadItems' ).isotope({ sortBy: 'original-order' });
      });
   }
  }

As you can see, you can just bind the event 'autorefresh.incremental' to execute your own code. 'autorefresh.incremental' is fired every time the Views Auto-Refresh module loads the designated view.

Conclusion

After a few trial and error attempts, I finally figured out how Views Auto-Refresh really worked. There is a lot more to this module that isn't documented. So it is much more powerful than I can describe in only one blog post. So go on and give it a go.

Update 9.5.2013: As pointed out by Phil Dodd in his comment the Views Auto Refresh module has been moved to its own home at http://drupal.org/project/views_autorefresh.

Diligent followers of our social media activities will have noticed that we moved out of Technopark. The meticulous planned conversion of the location, it used to be a Restaurant, went to plan and we are pleased to share some impressions of our new home at Förrlibuckstrasse 30. 

Further images can be found on our Facebook page. 

(Photo: Pedro Lozano)

The 2nd edition of Switzerland's trade fair for Internet, e-commerce, social media and online marketing ONE will take place on the 15 and 16 of May in Zurich. Like last year there will be a technology conference simultaneously taking place.  At this conference our Head Technology Michael Schmid will be presenting in the Thursday afternoon slot.

With a further year's experience under his belt he will follow up on last year's "Responsive Web Design: Implementierung Dos & Don'ts" presentation. Having successfully released several responsive sites in the last twelve months, he will be able to provide valuable information on what to expect when launching a device agnostic site.

The other three presentations feature subjects like usability and esthetics, mobile first and what users love and hate.

If you want to attend his and the other presentations in that slot you can either purchase a ticket or try your luck in our giveaway.

For your chance to win a free admission (worth CHF 295) to the "Mobile Trends Konferenz" simply subscribe for our newsletter. The winner will be picked among all Newsletter subscribers by Monday 13 May at lunch time (CET). Good luck!

This past weekend (April 13th & 14th) was the 2nd-annual Frontend United Conference. Last year it was held in Amsterdam — this year in London (at a hip, laid-back venue called Cargo). And as the Brits would say: It was brilliant!

Frontend United is geared towards frontend devs looking to sharpen their theming skills and learn new technologies in the frontend world of Drupal.

The conference has a different feel than a typical DrupalCon, despite a similar scheduling format. Because the event is smaller and narrowly focused, attendees share many interests and questions pertaining to their jobs. The talks are extra-relevant and timely. And because the conference is tailored to a very specific type of "Drupalista," the sessions are more conceptual, innovative, and advanced.

The following images are a few nice visuals taken from the conference:

Above, Lewis Nyman begins his presentation on Responsive Web Design, during which he suggests, "Split individual page design into manageable areas: layout, content, and aesthetics."

This dark and moody shot is from @MortenDK's "Angry Themer" session, although Morten admits he has become less "angry" with the introduction of Twig in Drupal 8. Yeah, it is going to be THAT awesome. :)

Here, Leisa Reichelt shares the workflow changes she's instated during her career working alongside organizations to help improve their online customer experiences. This session was especially inspiring as she made some excellent, real-world cases for re-evaulating your company's current project processes. She concludes a frontend developer can be a real asset to an information architect during the wire-framing and design phase.

And just for fun, here are a few more photographic take-aways:

Rosemary Lane, a fantastic dining experience and Saturday evening full of wonderful company and new friends.

Graffiti outside Cargo — the full text reads "SCARY." :)

For more pictures of the weekend make sure to check out the Flickr-set, while other media of the event can be found here. And for any news related to next year's conference... I suggest you keep an eye on the Frontend United website.