Field Types

There are 12 field types used when adding fields. Make sure these fields map up to appropriate column types (i.e. email as VARCHAR, date as DATE, etc). Some of the fields require additional information when selected to add to resource. Information about what is needed is listed in "Addition Fields" sections under certain field types.

Core Fields Types

Checkbox

TINYINT(1) - Checkbox with a value of 1 or 0

Date

DATE - Date picker

Email

VARCHAR - Text field

Image

UNSIGNED INT - Displays the image browser. This fields requires a relational method added to the Model. For example, adding a "Featured Image" to Event.

public function featuredImage()
{
    return $this->belongsTo(PhilMareu\Laramanager\Models\LaramanagerImage::class);
}

Additional Fields

• Method Name - The name of the method that grabs the image. In the above example "featuredImage" would be entered.

Images

This field is similar to Image but allows for selection and reordering of multiple images. This field requires a pivot table such as event_image and a method added to the Model. For example, adding a "Gallery" to Event.

public function gallery()
{
    return $this->belongsToMany(PhilMareu\Laramanager\Models\LaramanagerImage::class)->orderBy('ordinal', 'asc');
}

The orderBy('ordinal', 'asc') is required to order the images correctly.

Additional Fields

• Method Name - The name of the method that grabs the images. In the above example "gallery" would be entered.

Markdown

TEXT - A full screen markdown editor with preview panel.

Password

VARCHAR - Password field

Relational

UNSIGNED INT - Creates a dropdown populated with data from another table. This field required a relational method added to the model. For example, adding User to the Event model.

public function user()
{
    return $this->belongsTo(User::class);
}

Additional Fields

• Method name - The name of the method in the model. In the above example "user" would be entered.
• Relation model - The model with the data. In the above example "App\Event" would be entered.
• Relation title field - The column with the "title" data. This is what is displayed in the dropdown that the user selects.
• Relation key field - The key or "id" column for reference.

Select

ENUM - Basic select field that is populated with a defined static list of options.

Additional Information

• List Options - A list of options with title and key separated by a colon in a pipe ("|") separated list. (e.x. movie:Movie|band:Band|comedy:Comedy)

Slug

VARCHAR - Text field that auto-creates a slug from a targeted field.

Additional Information

• Field to slugify - The name of the field to reference as part of the slugifying process.

Text

Basic text field

Textarea

Basic textarea field

WYSIWYG

TEXT - A ckeditor instance

Creating Custom Field Types

As of version 1.3.4 custom field types can be created to use in your resource fields. With very little code, you can easily make basic field types.

Field Type Class

First, create a class for your new field type and extend the PhilMareu\Laramanager\FieldTypes\FieldType class.

class MyFieldType extends FieldType
{

}

Let's look at the PhilMareu\Laramanager\FieldTypes\FieldType class.

abstract class FieldType
{
    /**
     * Remove field from $_GET before saving to database
     *
     * @var bool
     */
    public $filter = false;

    /**
     * The name of the relationship to eager load.
     *
     * @return array
     */
    public function eagerLoad()
    {
        return [];
    }

    /**
     * Mutate form data
     *
     * @param Request $request
     * @param $name
     * @return Request
     */
    public function mutate(Request $request, $name)
    {
        return $request;
    }

    /**
     * Handle any relationship
     * 
     * @param Request $request
     * @param $field
     * @param $entry
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function relations(Request $request, $field, $entry)
    {
        return $entry;
    }
}

Let's talk about each of these. The filter property is asking if the field name should be excluded from the save/update process. For example, if you have a field collecting an array of information (like checkboxes). when trying to save this field an error will be thrown since the array cannot be saved in the database.

The eagerLoad method is an array of relationships that should be eager loaded. This is mainly used when displaying the list of entries. For example, a relationship field will need to load the relation before showing the entries list. Otherwise, the relation is loaded for each row (1+n).

The mutate method is used to process the data before it gets updated in the database.

The relations is used to handle any relations that need to be saved for this entry.

Field Type Views

Next, the views for the field type need to be created. They should all be located in views/<your-custom-field-type-slug>. The display.blade.php and fields.blade.php views are required.

display.blade.php

This view is a formatted look at the field value. It is mainly used to display the field data in the admin panel such as the entries list. The $field and $entry variable is available in this view.

fields.blade.php

This view contains the actual form input(s). The $field variable is available. The $entry variable is available for edit operations.

options.blade.php

A field type might need additional information. For example, the relational field type needs to know the model in order to generate the dropdown list. These inputs should have names in the data array (e.x. ). The data array is serialized and saved.

scripts.blade.php

Use this if your field type needs JS or other assets loaded on the form page.

Registering Field Types

Before a field type can be used, it will need to be added in the "Field Types" section under the "System" section.