ExpressionEngine Docs

Channel Field Model

class ExpressionEngine\Model\Channel\ChannelField

Properties

Required

Name Validation Type Description
site_id required integer
field_name required, alphaDash, unique(installation wide), validateNameIsNotReserved, maxLength[32]
field_label required, maxLength[50]
field_type required, validateIsCompatibleWithPreviousValue, enum[checkboxes, colorpicker, date, duration, email_address , file, file_grid, fluid_field, grid, multi_select, notes, radio, range_slider, relationship, rte, select, selectable_buttons, slider, text, textarea, toggle, url] (or the name of a custom field type) validateIsCompatibleWithPreviousValue is used when modifying the field_type of an existing field. Please see Fieldtype Compatibility Options for more details.
field_order integer
field_list_items required (can be an empty string) The simplest of three mutual exclusive ways to populate a list of items is using a string with items separated by line breaks \n. Used with listing field types (Checkboxes, Multi Select, Radio Buttons, Select Dropdown and Selectable Buttons) when field_settings[‘value_label_pairs’] is not set and ‘field_pre_populate’ == ‘n’ (do not populate from channel entries)

Optional

Name Validation Type Description
field_id integer
field_instructions
field_pre_populate enum[y,n,v] boolString if ‘y’ populate a list of items from channel entries. Used in conjunction with the two properties field_pre_channel_id and field_pre_field_id
field_pre_channel_id integer
field_pre_field_id integer
field_ta_rows integer height of a textarea field in rows
field_maxl integer max length of a text input field
field_required enum[y,n] boolString
field_text_direction enum[ltr,rtl]
field_search enum[y,n] boolString
field_is_hidden enum[y,n] boolString
field_fmt enum[br,xhtml,none] used only by some field types, ‘br’ stands for auto line break
field_show_fmt enum[y,n] boolString
field_content_type enum[all,any,image,integer,text]
field_settings base64Serialized Specific settings depending on the field type. See the following table.
legacy_field_data boolString

Field settings

The property field_settings consists in an array of settings that depend on the field type. Here are the most common settings for the standard field types. field settings are stored in the database column ‘field_settings’ as a base64 encoded string of the serialized array.

Field types Setting name Values Description
Checkboxes, Multi Select, Radio Buttons, Select Dropdown, Selectable Buttons value_label_pairs associative array
Color Picker allowed_colors enum[any,swatches]
Color Picker colorpicker_default_color hex color code, or null
Color Picker value_swatches array array of hex color codes, used when populate_swatches is set to ‘v’ (value)
Color Picker manual_swatches hex color codes separated by line breaks, or null, used when populate_swatches is set to ‘m’ (manual)
Color Picker populate_swatches enum[m,v] ‘m’ manual or ‘v’ value
Duration units enum[seconds,minutes,hours]
File, file_grid field_content_type enum[image,all]
File, file_grid allowed_directories ‘all’ (or integer for upload directory id) required
File show_existing enum[y,n] When enabled, a drop down with existing files will be shown to authors.
File num_existing integer Maximum number of files to show in the drop down.
File, Rich text editor field_fmt ‘none’
file_grid, grid grid_min_rows integer default 0
file_grid, grid grid_max_rows integer
file_grid, grid allow_reorder enum[y,n]
fluid_field field_channel_fields array channel IDs used in the fluid field
Notes note_content text default is ‘’
Notes field_hide_title bool default is true
Notes field_hide_publish_layout_collapse bool default is true
Range slider, value slider field_min_value integer default to 0
Range slider, value slider field_max_value integer default to 100
Range slider, value slider field_step integer default to 1
Range slider, value slider field_prefix,field_suffix
Range slider, value slider, Text input field_content_type enum[all,number,integer,decimal]
relationship channels array channel IDs
relationship expired, future Allow expired or future entries in this relationships field
relationship categories, authors, statuses array limit the entries by categories, authors or statuses IDs
relationship limit integer Sets the number of entries displayed in the field’s dropdown
relationship order_field, order_dir enum[title,entry_date] , enum[asc,desc] Default ordering of entries
relationship display_entry_id enum[y,n]
relationship allow_multiple enum[y,n]
Rich text editor toolset_id integer see Rich Text Editor addon for details, for a standard installation: 1 CKEditor Basic, 2 CKEditor Full, 3 RedactorX Basic, 4 RedactorX Full
Rich text editor defer enum[y,n] Defer Editor initialization
Rich text editor, Textarea db_column_type enum[text,mediumtext] Column type in database: TEXT(64Kb) MEDIUMTEXT(16Mb)
Rich text editor field_wide bool default true, full width
Rich text editor field_show_fmt enum[y,n] default ‘n’
Text input field_maxl integer Maximum characters
Text input, Textarea field_show_smileys enum[y,n]
Text input, Textarea field_show_file_selector enum[y,n]
Textarea field_show_formatting_btns enum[y,n]
Toggle field_default_value enum[0,1]
URL allowed_url_schemes array example [‘http://‘,’https://‘]
URL url_scheme_placeholder example ‘http://‘

Relationships

Methods

Events

Examples

Get a Channel Field

Field #4 is the “About Images” field in the sample installation.

ee('Model')->get('ChannelField', 4)->first();

Change a field name

// Get the field object.  #4 is the About Images field.
$field = ee('Model')->get('ChannelField', 4)->first();

// Change the title using the parameter.
$field->field_name = 'new_field_name';

// Validate and Save.
$result = $field->validate();

if ($result->isValid())
{
  $field->save();
}

Get the Channels the Field is used in

Note that this only finds channels where fields were assigned individually and not when included within a field group.

// Get the field object.  #4 is the About Images field.
$field = ee('Model')->get('ChannelField', 4)->first();

// Get the Channel's object using the Channel relationship.
$channels = $field->Channels;

// Returns an array of channel IDs.
$channel_ids = $channels->pluck('channel_id');

// As one line:
 $channel_ids = ee('Model')->get('ChannelField', 4)->first()->Channels->pluck('channel_id');

Create a Basic New Field

$field = ee('Model')->make('ChannelField');

// Set required fields.
$field->site_id     = ee()->config->item('site_id');
$field->field_name  = 'my_field_name';
$field->field_label = 'Field Label';
$field->field_type  = 'text';
$field->field_list_items  = '';
$field->field_order = 1;

// Set field-specific settings
$settings = $field->getSettingsValues();
$settings['field_settings']['field_show_file_selector'] = 'y';
$field->setProperty('field_settings', $settings['field_settings']);

// Validate and Save.
$result = $field->validate();

if ($result->isValid())
{
  $field->save();
}

// Field ID is now available.
$field->field_id;

Field types Relationships, Grid and Fluid require additional steps. Their data will be NULL.

Add Field to a Field Group

// Get an existing field.
$field = ee('Model')->get('ChannelField', 4)->first();

// Add the field groups by ID.  Note the plural differences. This overwrites any existing assignments.
$field->ChannelFieldGroups = ee('Model')->get('ChannelFieldGroup', array(1,2))->all();

// Validate and Save.
$result = $field->validate();

if ($result->isValid())
{
  $field->save();
}

Populate a field compatible with list field types

For fields like Checkboxes, Multi Select, Radio Buttons, Select Dropdown and Selectable Buttons there are three ways to populate their options: value-labels pairs, manually or from other channel.

// populate manually
$field->setProperty('field_list_items', "first\nsecond\nthird");
// Validate and Save.
// populate with value-labels pairs
$checkboxes_settings = array(
            'value_label_pairs' => array('winner' => 'first', 'player' => 'second', 'loser' => 'third')
            );
// change field settings
$changing_settings = $field->getSettingsValues()['field_settings'];
foreach ($checkboxes_settings as $s => $s_value) {
            $changing_settings[$s] = $s_value;
        }
$field->setProperty('field_settings', $changing_settings);
// Validate and Save.
// or populate from other channel field
$field->setProperty('field_pre_populate','y'); // default is 'n'
$field->setProperty('field_pre_channel_id',4); //channel id
$field->setProperty('field_pre_field_id',80); // field id
// Validate and Save.

Create a relationship field

//Relationships with channel #4

//all properties are required
$relata_properties = array(
        'field_label' => 'relata',
        'field_name' => 'relata',
        'field_type' => 'relationship',
        'field_list_items' => ''
);

//all settings are optional
$relata_settings = array(
    'channels' => array(4), // if missing relates to all channels
    'expired' => true, // if missing defaults to false
    'future' => true, // if missing defaults to false
    'categories' => array(), // if missing or empty allows relationships with all categories
    'authors' => array(), // if missing or empty allows relationships with all authors
    'statuses' => array('open'), // if missing or empty allows relationships with all statuses
    'order_field' => 'entry_date', // default is by title
    'order_dir' => 'desc', // default is ascending
    'display_entry_id' => null, //default is false
    'allow_multiple' => true, // default is true
    'rel_min' => 0,  //Minimum number of related entries
    'rel_max' => null  // Maximum number of related entries
);

$field = ee('Model')->make('ChannelField');

$site_id = ee()->config->item('site_id');
$field->site_id     = $site_id;
// field_order: increment the last field order number of fields belonging to this site
$ordernumber = 1 + ee('Model')->get('ChannelField')->filter('site_id',$site_id)->order('field_order', 'DESC')->first()->field_order;
$field->field_order = $ordernumber;

// field settings
$changing_settings = $field->getSettingsValues()['field_settings'];
foreach ($relata_settings as $s => $s_value) {
    $changing_settings[$s] = $s_value;
}
$field->setProperty('field_settings', $changing_settings);

// field properties
foreach ($relata_properties as $p => $p_val) {
    $field->setProperty($p, $p_val);
}
// Validate and Save.