Reference Number Trimmer
This module provides alternative widgets for autocomplete reference fields to hide the entity ID, making them less confusing for content editors. It functions as a temporary solution until this feature is added to Drupal core.
Reference Number Trimmer hides the ID for autocomplete reference fields by implementing new widgets.
This is being addressed in a core issue (https://www.drupal.org/project/drupal/issues/2881892), so this module is a stop gap until the feature is implemented in core.
Features
There are some cases where the ID of the referenced entities is confusing to the content editor or is not required by the design.
Without Reference Number Trimmer:
With Reference Number Trimmer:
Post-Installation
To use this functionality, go to the "Manage form display" page for entity type and for the widget of the required field select one of the autocomplete widgets with "hidden IDs" in the name.
Additional Requirements
The module depends on client-side javascript to work. So if javascript is not enabled in the browser, the normal autocomplete functionality will be used.
Similar projects
There are a number of other modules that can hide the IDs:
- https://www.drupal.org/project/chosen
- https://www.drupal.org/project/select2
- https://www.drupal.org/project/autocomplete_deluxe
This module is intended to be light weight and to keep as much as the default Drupal behaviour as possible.
Future updates
I believe this module is "feature complete" so will not be accepting requests for additional features. But I will accept requests for bug and security fixes as well as issues with implemented tests.