Submitted by Jonah Munro-Fenn on Tue, 2016-01-26 11:15

The Group content type, in OSU Drupal, is what serves as the "dashboard" for a group.

The Group content type is what you make it, like any other content type. It's created the same exact way that any other node type is, initially, in that you define it, configure it, and then add fields to it and configure the fields.

The difference between a Group content type and other content types lays in a small configuration in the content type definition.

To create a Group node type, do the following:

  1. Go to Admin menu > Structure > Content types > Add content type.
  2. Name field = Group (we suggest using something generic, such as "Group", but this can be more specific as well)
  3. Description field = describe what the group node type is used for (it's to create groups, of course)
  4. Automatic title generation tab = leave this disabled
  5. Submission form settings tab
    1. Title field label field = leave this as is or enter a label name of your choice
    2. Preview before submitting options = leave Optional radio button selected
    3. Explanation or submission guidelines text field = add some optional, explanatory text, if needed
  6. Publishing options tab
    1. Default options group = uncheck Promoted to front page option
  7. Display settings tab
    1. Display author and date information checkbox = uncheck
  8. Comment settings tab
    1. Default comment setting for new content field = select Closed
  9. Menu settings tab
    1. Available menus options = leave as is
    2. Default parent item field = leave as is
  10. Organic groups tab
    1. Specify how OG should treat content of this type... options = check the Group checkbox only, not the Group content one
      1. This here is what defines the node type as Group (owns content) vs Group Content (content types that can be used by a group)
  11. Click the Save content type button.

From the point on, you can add any additional fields that you want to your group content type, in the same manner that you would any other content type. In OSU Drupal, we've built the Group content type so that it takes in very structured data about the group, such as contact information, hours of operation, social media links, etc, which we then display dynamically on group related content.

Here are the fields that we've added to our Group content type in Manage Fields.

Here's the Manage Display screen for our Group content type.

Our Group node is, more generally, referred to as the Group Dashboard. As you can see, most of the fields in the Manage Display screen are hidden. These fields are, instead, pulled into a series of views that we've developed and then they're displayed contextually throughout both the group dashboard and the rest of the group's microsite.

The groups are set as "public", but the group dashboards are actually hidden behind CAS login requirements. We had to set things up this way so that our group users had their own group location while still allowing public visibility of content owned by that group.

So, now that we've defined a Group content type, let's take a look at how to define what types of a content a group gets to use.