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CompositeFieldDefinition defines a complex field that is composed of multiple simple fields. Use a composite field for objects that cannot be expressed as simple text strings or numbers such as:
- Setting conditions for selecting the next step in a multistep form.
- Assigning categories to a content item, where the composite field consists of a category dropdown and a button for reordering categories.
- Defining an image gallery using a media select field, where the composite media field consist of a thumbnail and caption text.
- Specifying an access control list for JCR workspaces, where the composite ACL field consists of permission, scope and path.
class: info.magnolia.ui.form.field.definition.CompositeFieldDefinition
fieldType: composite
Here is a composite field that consists of a text field and a date field.
To export the content of the composite fields for translation via the CTS module, the composite
field type has to be registered in the configuration of the module. For details see Registering additional field types.
Composite field properties
Simple composite field definition:
form: tabs: - name: tabEvent label: Event fields: - name: title fieldType: composite label: Event fields: - name: title fieldType: text label: Title - name: date fieldType: date label: Date
Node name | Value |
---|---|
form | |
tabs | |
tabEvent | |
fields | |
event | |
fields | |
title | |
fieldType | text |
label | Title |
date | |
fieldType | date |
label | Date |
fieldType | composite |
label | Event |
<composite field name> | required Name of parent composite field. |
| required Node containing child fields. |
| required Name of the child fields. You can use any simple field definition. |
| required Field definition class of the child field. |
| required/optional Any properties the child field supports. |
| optional, default is Defines the layout of the child fields: |
Properties specific to the composite field.
| required Definition class of the composite parent field. Use |
| optional, default is Custom property transformer definition. |
or
| required Defines the field type via either a field alias name or a fully-qualified field definition class name. See Field definition: Field types. Use the Definitions app to check the correct form of the name. |
defaultValue | optional Pre-filled default value displayed in the field. The value can be overwritten by the user. Use alphanumeric characters.
|
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 |
i18n | optional, default is 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 |
i18nBasename | optional, default is the message bundle defined in the dialog definition Message bundle such as |
label | optional Field label displayed to editors. The value can be literal such as 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 |
name | optional, default is the name of the field's parent node Name of the node where the value is saved. The name |
placeholder | optional The placeholder text to be displayed in the empty field. The property replaces the deprecated placeholder text field.
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. |
readOnly | optional, default is Makes the field uneditable. Adding this property has the same effect as creating a Static field. |
required | optional, default is Makes the field required (mandatory). An asterisk is displayed next to the field label. See also Checking for null values. |
requiredErrorMessage | optional, default is 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 |
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 |
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.
|
type | optional, most fields set a default value automatically PropertyType of the stored value such as |
Best practice
When nesting composite fields, use the delegating transformer classes, DelegatingCompositeFieldTransformer or DelegatingMultiValueFieldTransformer, rather than the other available transformer classes.
4 Comments
Karthik
Hi There,
When the layout is horizontal. Field display width is quite small. Is there any way where we can increase the width?
Christian Hamm
I'm struggling with i18n here. Can you please give an example on how to I can enable users to add content in different languages. To expand on the example from the article: a composite field consisting of
Title
andDate
and an editor can enter a German title so that we end up withTitle(en)
andTitle(de)
?Martin Drápela
Hello Christian,
sorry for the belated answer. Taking the example above on this page, it should work if you set the
i18n
property totrue
for the parenttitle
field, i.e. at the same level asfieldType: composite
.Cheers,
Martin
Ryan Beck
Is there option to default a composite field layout vertically? Horizontal is too restrictive (even for just two items) and defining custom CSS via
styleName
seems excessive?