Displaying multiple File entity types in a view, when they have different fields to display

Question

Working with the Media module, I want audio and video files to show (user uploaded/selected) preview images when displayed in areas throughout the site (instead of the default soundwave and film clip image.) So, I added fields to those files type entities, but since Image can be it’s own preview, I didn’t add that field (since it would seem odd to make the user upload/choose the image again.) This has become a GIANT pain when trying to figure out how to show all the file types together in a single view. (I want it to show field_image for audio and video, but the file for images.)

Does that sound undoable? Nothing I've been able to try with views and relationships gets me what I need. I tried customizing the preview display mode for each, then display the "rendered entity" (which got me what I needed for displaying the images), but left me with other issues, since I was displaying field_image fields for some, but file fields for others.

Slight Update: I tried adding the field_image field to the image file type, but that seems to cause some kind of infinite loop/server error when viewing/editing that file anywhere.

Answer 1

What I ended up doing was just add custom tpl.php files for each of the types I was interested in (audio/video/images; e.g. file--image.tpl.php). Then, in the views, just say to render the entity instead of using fields.

I'd have liked a more elegant way, since I now have 3 more tpl.php files to worry about, but it DID fit the bill.