Entity operation automation

gistfile1.php

<?php

function entity_get_operation_links($entity_type, $entity, $base_path = NULL) {
  $build = array(
    '#theme' => 'links__operations__' . $entity_type,
    '#links' => array(),
    '#attributes' => array('class' => array('links inline')),
  );

  list($entity_id) = entity_extract_ids($entity_type, $entity);

  // Attempt to extract the base path from the entity URI.
  if (!isset($base_path)) {
    $uri = entity_uri($entity_type, $entity);
    if (empty($uri['path'])) {
      return array();
    }
    $base_path = preg_replace('/\/' . preg_quote($entity_id) . '\b.*/', '', $uri['path']);
  }

  $items = menu_contextual_links($entity_type, $base_path, array($entity_id));
  $links = array();
  foreach ($items as $class => $item) {
    $class = drupal_html_class($class);
    $links[$class] = array(
      'title' => $item['title'],
      'href' => $item['href'],
    );
    $item['localized_options'] += array('query' => array());
    $item['localized_options']['query'] += drupal_get_destination();
    $links[$class] += $item['localized_options'];
  }
  $build['#links'] = $links;

  drupal_alter('contextual_links_view', $build, $items);

  if (empty($links)) {
    $build['#printed'] = TRUE;
  }

  return $build;
}

class views_handler_field_view_entity_operations extends views_handler_field_entity {

  function option_definition() {
    $options = parent::option_definition();
    return $options;
  }

  function options_form(&$form, &$form_state) {
    parent::options_form($form, $form_state);

    $form['alter']['path'] = array('#access' => FALSE);
    $form['alter']['external'] = array('#access' => FALSE);
  }

  function render($values) {
    if ($entity = $this->get_value($values)) {
      $links = entity_get_operation_links($this->entity_type, $entity);
      return drupal_render($links);
    }
  }
}

Functionality has been integrated with http://drupal.org/project/helper and EntityHelper