There's a module for that!

One of the useful Web patterns I've been noticing has to do with item lists and bulk actions. Given a list of items, add a checkbox in front of each item, and let the user select an action to be executed on the checked selection. Specifically, I've seen it in phpMyAdmin, Mantis, and Google Mail.

This module provides a generic implementation for Drupal. It comes as a Views style plugin called "Bulk Operations", selected in the "Style" setting. This new style creates a form around the view, adds a checkbox in front of each element, and exposes the available Actions as well as all node_operations and user_operations provided by loaded modules. When "Execute" is clicked, the form asks for confirmation then applies the selected action on all selected nodes.

VBO is enjoying wide adoption by the Drupal community, with more than 10,000 active users as of November 2009. I am actively maintaining it and looking forward to making even more useful!