How to access label of List (text) via node_load()

Question

In my module I'm generating some json based on some node content.

$node = node_load($nid);

One of the fields in the node is field_sport_type which is of type List (text). The allowed values look like this:

mens-surfing|Men's Surfing
womens-surfing|Women's Surfing
junior-mens-surfing|Junior Men's Surfing
junior-womens-surfing|Junior Women's Surfing
skate|Skate

When I var_dump($node), the field_sport_type section looks like this:

["field_sport_type"]=>
      array(1) {
        ["und"]=>
        array(1) {
          [0]=>
          array(1) {
            ["value"]=>
            string(14) "womens-surfing"
          }
        }
      }

So, the 'value' is the key from the allowed values, but I want to get the Label, not the key. In other words, I won't want womens-surfing, I want to get Women's Surfing.

How can I get access to the label of my List (text)?

Answer 1

You can get the list of values as a keyed array using list_allowed_values, and use it to show the "key" with whatever logic you want.

An example from the API comments section is as follows:

<?php
/*
assuming there's a field named machine name is 'field_my_field_name' whose
type is a list (float, integer or text), and you want to get the values that 
were entered into the "Allowed values list" textarea on the edit screen for the field
*/
$all_fields_on_my_website = field_info_fields();
$allowed_values =       list_allowed_values($all_fields_on_my_website["field_my_field_name"]);
/*
$allowed_values is now an array of $key=>value pairs that
can be dropped into the '#options' value for a form field array, for instance
*/
//example:
$form = array();
$form['my_form_element'] = array(
  '#type' => 'select',
  '#title' => t('Choose something, sucka!'),
  '#description' => t('Descriptive text under form elements rather than above them is a great UX choice, really.'),
  '#options' => $allowed_values,
);
return $form;

Being a "field" in drupal the List field instance attached to a bundle has configuration and settings such as the custom list of items, the default value, whether its mandatory, etc.

Answer 2

You can access the key label in a simple way using an Entity Metadata Wrapper:

$wrapper = entity_metadata_wrapper('node', $nid);
$label = $wrapper->field_sport_type->label();

Or using de $node loaded vía node_load():

$wrapper = entity_metadata_wrapper('node', $node);
$label = $wrapper->field_sport_type->label();

You will need the Entity API module, but I think that this module is almost mandatory in custom module coding.