Fields

Fields are a sort of "field type" grouping which is used for Modules and Pages. A basic example is a "Text" field which is a simple text input and is used as a module field upon creation of a module.

CLI Commands

Create Field

To create a new "field" that can become a GitHub package later on, simply run this:

php artisan cms:field:create {vendor} {package}

Upon creation, you will find a new folder path under /packages following the vendor/package naming you entered. Creating a field in the admin ends in the same result. Within this folder, there are several key files.

Sync UI components

When creating a field, if you make any changes within the default components inside of /packages/{vendor/Field{package}/ui/field/ - you must run a CLI sync command for your changes to take effect within your website. Simply run this below with yarn/npm running, or build afterward:

php artisan cms:fields:sync

Field Class File

First, under /packages/{vendor}/Field{package}/src/Field/Field{package}.php is the primary method for API usage where you may adjust default settings. $storeRules and $updateRules are default validation rules that will be passed in when the field is used, such as with a module or page. An example would be an email field that would pass in an attribute to assure a proper email address:

public $storeRules = [
  'email'
];

If your validation needs to be dynamic, then you can instead hook into the getStoreRules and the getUpdateRules methods, here's the method:

getStoreRules(PackageField $packageField)

The other important methods include a getValue() and setValue($value) methods. This will be the default getter/setter for any package fields created. If a developer modifies the module file this field is attached to, a mutator would override the getValue/setValue methods.

The migrationCommand method contains a string value of the migration command that will be run upon creation of a package field. The example should be pretty self-explanatory. Just keep in mind to go by the Laravel documentation on column modifiers, ensure ->nullable() is attached unless the field is built for a specific website, and keep the same syntax standard seen in the default.

Using the shouldNotSetData attribute and having it return true is mostly used for relationship fields. That way a hasMany doesn't try to save data to a column that does not exist.

formatColumnName controls the value saved to the database for a package field, as does formatName. It should be noted that the column name is set first.

The methods afterStore and afterUpdate are called after a package field is stored with this field type. You may use this to update configuration, sync custom database structure, or whatever else you would like.

When a model is saved and has a package field linked to your field type, afterModelStore and afterModelUpdate methods are called, respectively. The same basic idea is used as with the above-after methods. For a relationship field, for example, we hook into this method to manually save data for a HasMany relationship.

Another relationship-related method is withLoadedRelationships, although it can be used for other purposes. Primarily it is used to dynamically define relationships, as first introduced in Laravel 7. Another important usage is loading relationships that will be returned to the VueJS layer. This second piece can be of great use for those building fields with specific purposes - such as a field for a particular website to achieve specific results. That way your code is still abstracted from the core CMS code, but can still load in the data you need.

The withFormMeta is yet another helper method, this one allowing a field to pass in data within the create/edit actions. An example is that you need to pass in possible select-able values from the database to a select field.

For validation on any options stored in a package field meta column, you can create the method createFieldRules() which should return an array of Laravel-supported validation rules. An example can be found below for the FieldPasswordConfirmation field:

/**
* Create Field Rules
*
* @return array
*/
public function createFieldRules()
{
  return [
    'meta.passwordField' => 'required'
  ];
}

If you need the same validation on editing a package field, use updateFieldRules() like the below:

/**
* Update Field Rules
*
* @return array
*/
public function updateFieldRules()
{
  return [
    'meta.passwordField' => 'required'
  ];
}

UI Customization

There are three UI components that will be used to control how the field value is shown in the admin create/edit pages, index/show pages, and public side views.

/packages/{vendor}/Field{package}/ui/field/AdminField.vue

This field returns the HTML input which will be used for create/edit pages within a created package.

/packages/{vendor}/Field{package}/ui/field/AdminOptions.vue

When creating a module field, for example, you may save meta info for use within these other views, or within the field PHP class file. An example of this is with FieldNumber which allows customization of minimum value, maximum value, and increment/step value. We store these values in the database and can then use this when rendering the field with the above AdminField.vue component.

/packages/{vendor}/Field{package}/ui/field/AdminShow.vue

Used for the index & show pages within the admin panel for a created package.

/packages/{vendor}/Field{package}/ui/field/PublicShow.vue

This is used anywhere a package module entry, which is related to this field, returns its value. An example might be returning a google maps image for a google places address picker field.

Field Configuration

A field, or field type, may require custom configuration that the user needs to use - such as providing an API key. While this could be hard-coded in, we provide an easy built-in way to accomplish this.

For the field FieldPlace, we need to do just that, have the user provide a Google API Key for use with Google Places. Here is our implementation as an example below:

class FieldPlace extends FieldType
{
  /**
  * @var array
  */
  public $defaultSettings = [
    'options' => [
      'is_sortable'        => false,
      'is_searchable'      => false,
      'is_required_create' => false,
      'is_required_edit'   => false
    ],
    'action_rules' => [
      'index'  => false,
      'create' => true,
      'edit'   => true,
      'show'   => true,
      'search' => false
    ],
    'config' => [
      'google_api_key' => null
    ]
  ];

The relevant part is the config array key. Simply pass in key and default values (or null), then a settings page will be viewable within the fields admin section - you'll see a pink button with a cog icon where the user can then put in their configuration.

You will also see above an options array - this can also be configured to set defaults when a package field is created from your field type. Being a location lookup field, we don't want to require the field by default, nor allow it to be sortable or searchable (the former could work though).

The other array key is action_rules which enable, or disable showing the field on the relevant page. With the place field, we don't want it showing on the index page nor the search, but should be shown on the create, edit, and show pages when browsing a module.

Settings Integration

Currently when creating a site type, there is configuration where a developer may use custom field types for the user to interact with basic configuration of the site type - such as entering in a site name, or uploading a logo. Unlike other use cases, this data is stored within the settings for the site type. This requires a new method which you can implement below. Included in the example is how to get meta data, the column name, how to get the current value and how to set a new value:

/**
  * Save To Settings
  *
  * @param Model   $model
  * @param Request $request
  * @param array   $field
  * @param string  $settingsKey
  *
  * @return void
  */
  public function saveToSettings($model, Request $request, array $field, $settingsKey)
  {
    $columnName = $field['column_name'];
    $metaData   = $field['meta'];
    
    $currentValue = $model->settings()->get($settingsKey);
    
    // set new value
    $newValue = 'test123';
    
    $model->settings()->set($settingsKey, $newValue);
  }

If your field type has meta information that needs to be passed in to the view where it is being displayed on a settings page, there is a separate method from withFormMeta called withSettingsFormMeta. Below is an example from FieldImage which returns full image meta for use. The model is whichever settings is used for - so for site types, it would be the site type model and have media attached to it to retrieve.

/**
* With Settings Form Meta
*
* @param Request $request
* @param object  $model
* @param string  $columnName
*
* @return array
*/
public function withSettingsFormMeta(Request $request, $model, string $columnName)
{
  $meta = [];
​
  // set media info to view
  if (!empty($model)) {
    $meta = $model->getMedia($columnName);
  }
​
  return $meta;
}