I'm looking to render each field individually within page.tpl.php. My situation is, I have a image field, unlimited values, and a slideshow format. I want to take this field rendered with the slideshow formatting and place it where ever I want.
I've tried the following, but this doesn't apply the correct formatting, it just outputs with the default format:
$field_view_field_field_banners = field_view_field('node', $node, 'field_banners');
$field_view_field_field_banners['#formatter'] = 'slideshow'; // I added this because the formatter was 'image'
echo render($field_view_field_field_banners);
Any help on this is greatly appreciated!
The fourth parameter that field_view_field takes can be the name of a view mode or it can be an array of the display setting keys: label, type, settings, and weight.
It looks as if you're trying to specify the field's format, but what's happening is that field_view_field is looking for a View Mode (like Default or Teaser) called "Slideshow."
Instead of
$foo = field_view_field('node', $node, 'field_banners', 'slideshow');
Try:
$foo = field_view_field('node', $node, 'field_banners', array('type' => 'slideshow'));
The answer to your second question is based on the one above really. The difference is between a view mode and a field formatter. It's highly likely that when you navigate to
/admin/structure/types/manage/foo/display
that you have two default view modes: Default and Teaser. If you've set the field_banners field to use slideshow formatter under the Default view mode, then there isn't any need to even use a fourth parameter since the "default" view mode will be used when none is specified.
In that scenario, you could just do: $foo = field_view_field('node', $node, 'field_banners');
and $foo would have the slideshow format when rendered.
Check out the Drupal API doc for field_view_field.