Custom style row plugins

26. Custom Style & Row Plugins

When to Use

Style Plugin: Custom result set formatting (calendar, timeline, accordion) that standard Table/Grid/List can't achieve. Row Plugin: Custom per-row rendering (entity cards, custom templates) reusable across multiple views.

Style Plugin Steps

1. Create style plugin — In src/Plugin/views/style/MyCustomStyle.php

   namespace Drupal\mymodule\Plugin\views\style;
   
   use Drupal\views\Plugin\views\style\StylePluginBase;
   use Drupal\views\Attribute\ViewsStyle;
   
   #[ViewsStyle(
     id: "my_custom_style",
     title: "Custom Style",
     help: "Renders results in custom format",
     theme: "views_view_my_custom",
     display_types: ["normal"],
   )]
   class MyCustomStyle extends StylePluginBase {
     protected $usesRowPlugin = TRUE;
     protected $usesFields = FALSE;
   }
   

2. Create theme template — In templates/views-view-my-custom.html.twig

   <div class="custom-view-wrapper">
     {% for row in rows %}
       <div class="custom-row">{{ row.content }}</div>
     {% endfor %}
   </div>
   

3. Implement hook_theme() — Register template

   function mymodule_theme() {
     return [
       'views_view_my_custom' => [
         'variables' => ['view' => NULL, 'rows' => []],
       ],
     ];
   }
   

Row Plugin Steps

1. Create row plugin — In src/Plugin/views/row/MyCustomRow.php

   namespace Drupal\mymodule\Plugin\views\row;
   
   use Drupal\views\Plugin\views\row\RowPluginBase;
   use Drupal\views\Attribute\ViewsRow;
   
   #[ViewsRow(
     id: "my_custom_row",
     title: "Custom Row",
     help: "Renders each row with custom template",
   )]
   class MyCustomRow extends RowPluginBase {
     public function render($row) {
       return [
         '#theme' => 'views_row_my_custom',
         '#row' => $row,
         '#view' => $this->view,
       ];
     }
   }
   

Decision Points

At this step...	If...	Then...
usesRowPlugin	Style formats entire set (calendar)	Set $usesRowPlugin = FALSE
usesRowPlugin	Style delegates per-row rendering	Set $usesRowPlugin = TRUE
usesFields	Style accesses individual fields	Set $usesFields = TRUE
template	Complex markup needed	Use Twig template; simple markup can return render array from render()

Common Mistakes

• Style plugin rendering rows directly when usesRowPlugin = TRUE → Let row plugin handle rows; style just wraps them
• Not registering theme in hook_theme() → Template won't be discovered
• Wrong variables in template → Check theme registry; pass expected variables in render()
• Missing display_types in attribute → Style won't appear for certain display types
• Not preprocessing variables → Use hook_preprocess_views_view_my_custom() for complex data prep

See Also

• Section 15: Style & Row Plugins — configuration approach
• Reference: core/modules/views/src/Plugin/views/style/StylePluginBase.php
• Reference: core/modules/views/src/Plugin/views/style/Table.php — usesFields = TRUE example
• Reference: core/modules/views/src/Plugin/views/row/EntityRow.php — entity row plugin