Structure

The structure field makes it possible to add multiple complex entries to a field, which will be stored as YAML. A typical use case would be a list of addresses, team members or a restaurant menu.

Example

fields:
  addresses:
    label: Addresses
    type: structure
    fields:
      street:
        label: Street
        type: text
      zip:
        label: ZIP
        type: text
      city:
        label: City
        type: text

Such a structure will be stored in the content file like this:

addresses:
-
  street: Rue de WTF 17
  zip:    1112
  city:   Monaco
-
  street: 1212 Broadway
  zip:    4321
  city:   New York
-
  street: At the beach
  zip:    9999
  city:   The capitol of the Bahamas

If you need to store a single object instead of a list of objects, take a look at the object field.

Field properties

Name	Type	Default	Description
columns	`array`	`[]`	Optional columns definition to only show selected fields in the structure table.
default	`array`	–	Set the default rows for the structure
disabled	`bool`	–	If `true`, the field is no longer editable and will not be saved
duplicate	`bool`	`true`	Toggles duplicating rows for the structure
empty		–	The placeholder text if no items have been added yet
fields	`array`	`[]`	Fields setup for the structure form. Works just like fields in regular forms.
help		–	Optional help text below the field
label		–	The field label can be set as string or associative array with translations
limit	`int`	–	The number of entries that will be displayed on a single page. Afterwards pagination kicks in.
max	`int`	–	Maximum allowed entries in the structure. Afterwards the "Add" button will be switched off.
min	`int`	–	Minimum required entries in the structure
prepend	`bool`	–	Toggles adding to the top or bottom of the list
required	`bool`	–	If `true`, the field has to be filled in correctly to be saved.
sortBy	`string`	–	Sorts the entries by the given field and order (i.e. `title desc`) Drag & drop is disabled in this case
sortable	`bool`	–	Toggles drag & drop sorting
translate	`bool`	`true`	If `false`, the field will be disabled in non-default languages and cannot be translated. This is only relevant in multi-language setups.
when		–	Conditions when the field will be shown (since 3.1.0)
width	`string`	`1/1`	The width of the field in the field grid. Available widths: `1/1`, `1/2`, `1/3`, `1/4`, `2/3`, `3/4`

Fields

You can define any number of fields and use the same field types listed:

Each field value is stored like in a normal Kirby content file. This means that all field types are supported, however all of their values are converted to strings. For most fields there is no difference, but fields with structured data will not be nested inside the same YAML data structure. This ensures broad compatibility.

Default values

You can set default values for structure fields which will prepopulate the field:

fields:
  emails:
    label: Emails
    type: structure
    default:
      - email: bastian@getkirby.com
      - email: lukas@getkirby.com
      - email: nico@getkirby.com
      - email: sonja@getkirby.com
    fields:
      email:
        label: Email
        type: email

Table columns

You can define the columns that are shown in the table. This is especially useful if you have a lot of fields in your structure and you don't want to show them all on first sight, but still keep them editable. Columns can also change the text alignment, set a custom width and define a before and after text that will be prepended or appended to the value.

Option	Value	Description
`width`	`1/2`, `1/3`, `1/4`, `2/3`, `3/4` (any fraction since v3.2.0)	Set width of column
`align`	`left`, `center`, `right`	Set text alignment
`before`	`string`	Set text to prepend value
`after`	`string`	Set text to append value
`mobile`	`true`	Set visible in mobile view

Example

fields:
  holidays:
    type: structure
    columns:
      title:
        width: 1/4
      images:
        width: 1/2
      price:
        width: 1/4
        align: right
        after: "USD"
    fields:
      title:
        type: text
      images:
        type: files
      description:
        type: textarea
      price:
        type: number

Structure columns can be set to any fraction and will be automatically calculated into the right width.

fields:
  mystructure:
    label: Structure
    type: structure
    columns:
      title:
        width: 3/5
      images:
        width: 1/5
      price:
        width: 1/10
    fields:
      title:
        label: A
        type: text
      images:
        label: B
        type: text
      price:
        label: C
        type: text

You can also define columns without additional options if you want to use the defaults. You can still combine this with options for other columns:

fields:
  holidays:
    type: structure
    columns:
      title: true
      images: true
      price:
        align: right
        after: "USD"
    fields:
      title:
        type: text
      images:
        type: files
      description:
        type: textarea
      price:
        type: number

Hide toggle field text in preview

When using toggle fields within structures, displaying the field's text in the preview can sometimes look cluttered. You can hide the text with the text option in the columns' definition.

fields:
  structure:
    columns:
      a:
        text: false
      b:
        text: false
    fields:
      a:
        type: toggle
      b:
        type: toggle
        text: this is some long text

Set columns to visible on mobile

The mobile option keeps cells in responsive views. If none of the columns are set to mobile, only the first column will be visible on mobile.

fields:
  structure:
    columns:
      image:
        type: image
      title:
        type: text
        mobile: true
      date:
        type: date
        mobile: true
    fields:
      image:
        type: files
      title:
        type: text
      date:
        type: date

Preview of fields in the table

The structure field tries to create the best possible preview for the field in its table view. If you are using fields provided by a plugin in the structure field, the preview of these can be customized with a field preview extension.

How to use in templates/snippets

To access a structure field in your templates, you can use the yaml() and toStructure() methods.

Let's say we wanted to render the holidays structure field example from above in a template:

<?php
// using the `toStructure()` method, we create a structure collection
$items = $page->holidays()->toStructure();
// we can then loop through the entries and render the individual fields
foreach ($items as $item): ?>
  <h2><?= $item->title()->html() ?></h2>
  <?php foreach ($item->images()->toFiles() as $image): ?>
    <img src="<?= $image->crop(400)->url() ?>">
  <?php endforeach ?>
  <p><?= $item->price() ?></p>
<?php endforeach ?>

If you nest structure fields inside a structure field, you have to call the toStructure() method on the nested fields as well and then loop through the nested items like above.

More information

Structured field content