Do views filter plugins not apply to base field definitions?

Question

I created a custom entity type that has a base field definition like this:

$fields['start_date'] = BaseFieldDefinition::create('datetime')
  ->setLabel(t('Start Date'))
  ->setDescription(t('The date and time to start.'))
  ->setDisplayOptions('view', array(
    'type' => 'datetime_default',
    'weight' => 3,
  ))
  ->setDisplayOptions('form', [
    'type' => 'datetime_default',
    'weight' => 3,
  ])
  ->setRequired(TRUE);

When I create a view that displays entities of this type, and try to create a filter on this base field, I get the generic filter provided by views, instead of the one defined in Drupal\datetime\Plugin\views\filter\Date.

Why is that?

Answer 1

Looks like this is a known major issue. Here's the main "parent" issue where most of the work is going down: https://www.drupal.org/node/2337515

I think, by default, there is some basic views integration for all entities, but it's not that robust.

As a workaround, I was able to implement hook_views_data_alter to tell views to use the 'datetime' filter plugin instead of the default 'string' plugin it had.

function MY_MODULE_views_data_alter(array &$data) {
  $data['my_entity_type']['start_date']['filter']['id'] = 'datetime';
}

Answer 2

An entity type can be revisionable and translatable and in these cases, the table name will not be entity_type. Check the @ContentEntityType annotation on the entity class for data_table and revision_data_table keys.

Also, the ListField Views filter class needs field_name set.

Here's a working example for a base field set on media:

function sd8_media_views_data_alter(array &$data) {
  $data['media_field_data']['embed_status']['filter']['id'] = 'list_field';
  $data['media_field_data']['embed_status']['filter']['field_name'] = 'embed_status';
}

My field is not revisionable and so I didn't need to set the same on $data['media_field_revision'] but if your field is, then you need that too. xdebug is very much your friend, put a breakpoint inside the hook_views_data_alter function and look at $data.