Create computed fields in Drupal 8.

I have updated this post as a result of the issue (https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/2392845) that added the ComputedItemListTrait trait to core.

In Drupal 8 we have on the one hand field types with some computed field properties, and on the other hand fields that are fully computed.

Computed field properties are quite common in Drupal 8. An example is the TextItem field type. The properties value and format are stored in the database, but a third property called processed is computed on the fly using the value and the format.

When it comes to fully computed field items, there are less examples in core. It seems that in Drupal 8.5 the only fully computed field is the moderation_state field, provided by the Content Moderation module. The field is added to all entities that add a moderation workflow.

Since the ComputedItemListTrait was added in this issue, however, adding a computed field has become A lot more straightforward than it seems.

So how does it work?

To compute the values of a specific field, all you need to do is mark the setComputed and the setClass ‘flags’ on the field definition. The class you set is in charge of computing the value in the field definition:

/**
 * Implements hook_entity_base_field_info_alter().
 */
function your_module_entity_base_field_info_alter(&$fields, EntityTypeInterface $entity_type) {
  if ($entity_type->id() === "node") {
    $fields['my_computed_field'] = BaseFieldDefinition::create('string')
      ->setName('my_computed_field')
      ->setLabel(t('My computed field'))
      ->setComputed(TRUE)
      ->setClass(ComputedField::class);
  }
}

Then you create your computing class that extends the FieldItemList class and uses the ComputedItemListTrait. Because of the trait, you will be forced to implement the abstract method computeValue, which will be in charge of actually setting the computed value.

class ComputedField extends FieldItemList implements FieldItemListInterface {

  use ComputedItemListTrait;
  
  /**
   * Compute the values.
   */
  protected function computeValue(){
    $some_calculated_values = [1,2,3];
    foreach($some_calculated_values as $delta => $value){
      $this->list[$delta] = $this->createItem($delta, $value);
    }
  }
  
}

Your method should set the list property of the class (which is always an array of values) with one or more instantiated field items.

The ComputedItemListTrait under the hood will then make sure that the computed values are computed and stored in the list property before talking to the database.

Integration with the rest of Drupal

In Drupal 7, the advantage of using computed fields was that computed fields can be immediately used in Views. The won’t be available as sorts or filters (They cannot be added to the the database query), but they will be available just as fields.

In Drupal 8, at least as far as I’ve been able to find out, you will still need to declare your computed field in a hook_views_data()hook to make it a work.

Another really big advantage of computed fields in Drupal 7 was, that the computed values were automatically picked up by Search API, allowing you to add, for example, computed results in your facet search. The good news is that this also works in Drupal 8!.