Field definition

A field is an HTML form element that allows a user to perform a task such as enter text, upload an image or select a date. Magnolia ships with a number of fields that should fulfill most needs.

Example

This form has four text fields and one checkbox field:

To add a field on your form, define the field inside a tab (see example below). At minimum, a field definition must contain a class property which tells Magnolia what type of field it should render. Set the property value to a valid field definition class name. All fields support further common properties for defining things such as labels and descriptions.

<module name>/dialogs/<dialog name>.yaml

form:
  tabs:
    - name: tabMain
      label: Text
      fields:
        - name: title
          class: info.magnolia.ui.form.field.definition.TextFieldDefinition
          label: pages.pageProperties.title.label
          description: pages.pageProperties.title.description 
          i18n: true
          required: true
          type: string

Node name	Value
form
tabs
tabMain
fields
title
class	info.magnolia.ui.form.field.definition.TextFieldDefinition
description	pages.pageProperties.title.description
i18n	true
label	pages.pageProperties.title.label
required	true
type	String

See the complete form definition in Git.

Common field properties

You can use these properties with any field unless specified otherwise.

`class`	required Defines the field type such as Text or Link. The value is a fully-qualified field definition class name such as `info.magnolia.ui.form.field.definition.TextFieldDefinition`.
`defaultValue`	optional Pre-filled default value displayed in the field. The value can be overwritten by the user. Use alphanumeric characters. Applied only when creating a new item, not for already existing items.
`i18n`	optional , default is `false` Enables i18n authoring support which allows editors to write foreign-language or regionally targeted content. A two-letter language identifier (en, de, fr etc.) is displayed on controls where `i18n` is set to `true`.
`name`	optional , default is the name of the field's parent node Name of the node where the value is saved. The name `jcrName` is reserved. Use alphanumeric characters.
`readOnly`	optional , default is `false` Makes the field uneditable. Adding this property has the same effect as creating a Static field.
`required`	optional , default is `false` Makes the field required (mandatory). An asterisk is displayed next to the field label. See also Checking for null values.
`requiredErrorMessage`	optional , default is `"This field is required"` Error message displayed when required is true and the user saves an empty field. The value can be literal or retrieved from the message bundle with a key such as `validation.message.required`.
`styleName`	optional Adds one or more style names to this component. Multiple styles can be specified as a space-separated list of style names such as `checkbox disabled`. The style name will be rendered as an HTML class name, which can be used in a CSS definition. The class name is added to the field by calling the Vaadin method addStyleName.
`transformerClass`	optional Property transformer classes define how field values are stored in the repository. Each field has a default transformer class. You don't need to define a class unless you want to override the default. The value is a fully-qualified class name such as `info.magnolia.ui.form.field.transformer.composite.CompositeTransformer`. Complex field definitions may define a different default transformer in their constructor. See Transforming field values for more.
`type`	optional, most fields set a default value automatically PropertyType of the stored value such as `String`, `Boolean`, `Date` or any other supported and defined data type.
`i18nBasename`	optional , default is the message bundle defined in the dialog definition Message bundle such as `com.example.messages` for localized field labels. You can set this property in the parent dialog, form or tab definition. Child fields will inherit the bundle.
`label`	optional Field label displayed to editors. The value can be literal such as `Product name` or retrieved from the message bundle with a key such as `products.product.label`. Use alphanumeric characters in literal values. If you don't provide the property then Magnolia falls back to a generated i18n key and displays they key in the UI. If you don't want a label at all then define the property and set its value to empty space such as `label: " "` in YAML.
`description`	optional Help text displayed when the user clicks the help icon. The value can be literal or retrieved from the message bundle with a key such as `products.product.description`. Use alphanumeric characters in literal values. Not applicable to the Static field.
`placeholder`	optional The placeholder text to be displayed in the empty field. The property replaces placeholder text field. Applicable in text and link fields. The field is optional, but you should provide a translation or a hard-coded label, otherwise the empty field will display its auto-generated 18n key instead.