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Installation & Setup

When to Use

Use this guide when installing BEF on a Drupal site and enabling it for Views.

Decision

Situation Choose Why
New site, need enhanced filter widgets Install BEF One command gets you all widgets
Sliders only needed Install + enable noUiSlider drupal/nouislider_js is required for sliders
Just want auto-submit BEF general settings No extra library needed

Pattern

# Install via Composer (includes nouislider_js dependency)
composer require drupal/better_exposed_filters

# Enable the module
drush en better_exposed_filters

Enabling BEF on a View: 1. Edit your View in the Views UI 2. Under Advanced → Exposed Form, click the current style (usually "Basic") 3. Change to "Better Exposed Filters" 4. Click Settings next to the exposed form style 5. Configure general settings and per-filter widget options 6. Save the View

Verify noUiSlider library (required for sliders): 

ls web/libraries/nouislider/nouislider.min.js

Files must exist at /libraries/nouislider/: nouislider.min.js and nouislider.min.css

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Expecting BEF widget options to appear without changing the exposed form style → Right: Select "Better Exposed Filters" as the exposed form style under Advanced → Exposed Form.
  • Wrong: Assuming Composer handles the noUiSlider files completely → Right: Some hosting setups strip /libraries/ during deployment. Verify the files are in place after each deploy.

See Also