Admin > Section Editors > Field Editor

The Field Editor is one of the most powerful features of the software. It gives you an amazing level of control, but the simple interface also has sensible defaults so you can set up fields extremely quickly using standard options.

Field Label

The text used to label the field in the menu interface.

Field Name

This is the "program name" used for the field. In your content viewers, you will use some simple code (<?php echo $record['FIELD_NAME']?>) to get the viewer to output the content for the field. If you change an existing Field Name, don't forget to update the code in your viewers.

Field Type

These are the different types of fields you can add to your menu. The field type you choose will determine what other options are available.

Field Options

Options specific to the Field Type appear in this box. For most fields, the defaults will be sufficient, but for "list" fields you will need to set the values for your list options.

Tip: One common option is to set a "Default Value" for the field. However, a new or modified default will only apply to new entries - any old records won't use your new default, and will either be blank or have any old values you've entered.

Input Validation

This allows you to make specific requirements for what gets entered into the field. At the most basic, you can make the field required or unique, and for text fields you can enter a list of characters to allow or disallow.

As with the Field Options above, many of these validation rules are specific to certain types of fields.

Advanced Options

All fields have the option to be set as a "system field". This is used by the program developers to "lock" an important field so that you don't accidentally break the program by modifying or erasing it.

Upload fields have many of their own advanced options:

• Info Fields - These allow you to add additional info for uploaded files. You can use them in your viewer with the code <?php echo $upload['info1'] ?> for things like image alt text or photo captions. (See Upload options for more info.)
• Custom upload directory - The default upload folder is in the program directory ([cmsb]/uploads), but you can also specify where uploads should go for an upload field (if you plan to password protect some of your uploaded content, for example).