Views integration (among other things) broken when voting on non-node entities

I'm posting my workaround here in case it might helps, though I don't consider it a true solution. I am also partial to using Dynamic Entity Reference to solve the issue like @tstoeckler mentioned → , but haven't looked too deep into that.

Context First

I have multiple custom entities which have votes. Similar to the issue description, the "voted entity" field does not render in views because the "BaseFieldDefinition" in Vote.php is for an entity reference that does not have the appropriate "target_type" setting applied (i.e. content type).

You could manually define the target_type settings, but if you have multiple entity types, then you're out of luck. Unless I'm mistaken adjusting the "target_type" setting in "bundleFieldDefinitions" also doesn't solve the issue because the entity type passed there is limited to a singular VoteType definition, and my VoteTypes are tied to multiple custom entities.

I looked into creating a computed field like @asherry mentioned → , but ultimately went with the following:

My solution

1. Use "hook_entity_base_field_info" to add new base fields to "vote"
2. Use "hook_views_pre_render" to update the target_id for those new entity reference fields
3. Update view to use newly available fields. Combine columns, or use hidden fields and rewrites to style view output (or twig theming)

First I used "hook_entity_base_field_info" to add new base fields to "vote"

function HOOK_entity_base_field_info(EntityTypeInterface $entity_type) {
  if ($entity_type->id() == 'vote') {
    $fields = [];

    $fields['entity_id_custom'] = BaseFieldDefinition::create('entity_reference')
      ->setLabel(t('Entity ID: custom'))
      ->setDescription(t('Entity ID: custom'))
      ->setSetting('target_type', 'custom');


    $fields['entity_id_custom_2'] = BaseFieldDefinition::create('entity_reference')
      ->setLabel(t('Entity ID: custom 2'))
      ->setDescription(t('Entity ID: custom'))
      ->setSetting('target_type', 'custom_2');

    return $fields;
  }
}

Then I used "hook_views_pre_render" to update the target_id for those new entity reference fields before rendering the votes table view.

// Update the entity references based on their entity_type
function HOOK_views_pre_render(ViewExecutable $view) {
  // Check if view is votingapi_votes
  if ($view->id() === 'votingapi_votes') {
    
    // Loop through results, update target_id for each vote
    foreach ($view->result as $key => $value) {
      $entity_type = $value->_entity->entity_type->value; // Get vote entity_type
      $eid = $value->_entity->entity_id->target_id; // Get vote entity_id

      // Here, I use the "entity_type" to construct the field name. 
      // The important thing is that it matches the field names used in "hook_entity_base_field_info"
      $field_name = 'entity_id_'.$entity_type; // Get field name
      $custom = $value->_entity->$field_name; // Get reference to update by field_name
      $custom->target_id = $eid; // Change the target ID
    }
  }
}

Lastly, I updated the relevant view(s) to use the newly defined fields. For the "votingapi_votes" view, I added each custom entity field as a column, then combined them in the view table settings. Side note: they did have to be "arranged" next to each other to combine without bugging out.

I might consider using a Dynamic Entity Reference field later, but for now I hope this helps anyone stuck like I was!