Display Rich Text fields in a view

Jake Howlett, 2 January 2001

Category: Views; Keywords: Rich Text Column Abstract Views

Ever wanted to show part of a Rich Text field in the column of a view. I'll bet my grandma that you have. Well this is possibly the easiest/only way; I can't believe I didn't know about this simple @Function sooner !!!

@Abstract lets you create a plain text summary of a rich text field. Superb. Using this function to compute the value of a plain text field, stored in the document, means that the data can be displayed in views. What a blessing. I'm going to use this all the time now ;-) You can see it in action by using the search on this site.

First thing to do is to create a Computed field, of type Text, and call it something like "Abstract". The formula for this will be somthing like :

@If(@IsAvailable(name_of_the_rt_field); @Abstract( [Abbrev]; 200; ""; "name_of_the_rt_field");"" ) *

This example will take the first two hundred characters of the named rich text field and abbreviate its content. This can then be displayed in views as a kind of intro to the document. Cool hey !?

* The help database will give you more detail on the powerful features of this function