Multi field

info.magnolia.ui.field.MultiFieldDefinition renders a complex field composed of one or more field sets (for example, three sets of two text fields). Magnolia provides four preconfigured multi field definitions:

info.magnolia.ui.field.JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition: allows you to enter multiple values of a single type to be stored as an array in a single JCR property (jcrMultiValueField).
info.magnolia.ui.field.JcrMultiLinkFieldDefinition: allows you to select multiple values of a single type in a chooser dialog to be stored as an array in a single JCR property (jcrMultiLinkField).
info.magnolia.ui.field.JcrMultiFieldDefinition: allows you to create multiple JCR fields (jcrMultiField).
info.magnolia.rest.ui.field.JsonMultiFieldDefinition: allows you to create multiple JSON fields to be used in an app with its own JSON data source (jsonMultiField).

These multi field definitions are part of the Magnolia 6 UI framework. Their fully qualified class names are:

info.magnolia.ui.field.JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition
info.magnolia.ui.field.JcrMultiLinkFieldDefinition
info.magnolia.ui.field.JcrMultiFieldDefinition
info.magnolia.rest.ui.field.JsonMultiFieldDefinition

In the Magnolia 5 UI framework, the field functionally parallel to the JCR fields is Multivalue field. There is no corresponding 5 UI implementation for the JSON multi field.

Example definitions

JCR multi-value field
JCR multi-link field
JCR multi field
JSON multi field

assignedSegments:
  $type: jcrMultiValueField
  label: Multi-value field
  field:
    $type: comboBoxField
    label: Path
    datasource:
      $type: jcrDatasource
      workspace: website

jcrMultiLinkField:
  $type: jcrMultiLinkField
  label: Multi-link field
  field:
    $type: linkField
    label: Page
    datasource:
      $type: jcrDatasource
      workspace: website
damMultiLinkField:
  $type: jcrMultiLinkField
  label: Multi-link field
  chooserId: dam-app-core:multiChooser
  field:
    $type: damLinkField
    label: Asset

multi:
  i18n: true
  $type: jcrMultiField
  label: Address list
  field:
    $type: compositeField
    label: Address
    properties:
      street:
        $type: textField
        label: Street
      city:
        i18n: true
        $type: textField
        label: City
      zip:
        $type: textField
        label: ZIP code

stationboard:
  label: Station Board
  $type: jsonMultiField
  itemProvider:
    $type: jsonMultiFieldProvider
  field:
    $type: jsonCompositeField
    idPropertyName: name
    properties:
      name:
        label: Name
        $type: textField
        readOnly: true
      to:
        label: To
        $type: textField
        readOnly: true
      operator:
        label: Operator
        $type: textField
        readOnly: true

You can preview this example in the dialogs-fields-examples repository. See Field definitions for more information.

Field properties

Common multi field properties

Property Description

field

required

Node containing an editor property definition item (typically, a field).

All field types are supported. See List of fields for more information.

JcrMultiLinkFieldDefinition supports only link and combobox fields.

datasource

required

Connects the field to a data source. Options are populated via the configured data source.

Use the fully qualified class name or the $type alias if the definition class is annotated with info.magnolia.ui.datasource.DatasourceType.

chooserId

optional (used only in JcrMultiLinkFieldDefinition), default is ui-framework-jcr:multiChooser

Unique identifier for the multi-chooser dialog. If none is specified, the JCR multiChooser will be used by default.

entryResolution

optional, default is

ByMultiValueProperties for JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition
MultiFieldEntryResolution for JcrMultiFieldDefinition
MultiJcrBlockEntryResolution for MultiJcrBlockDefinition
JsonMultiFieldEntryResolver for JsonMultiFieldDefinition

Implementation class that defines how the child entries of a multi field should be resolved.

MultiFieldEntryResolution of JcrMultiFieldDefinition extends ByIndexedChildNodes, which resolves entry nodes regardless of node names. To enable this non-strict resolution behavior, there is a strict property that is set to false by default.

Setting strict to true is necessary in certain compatibility configurations (for example, when porting configurations that use Magnolia 5 UI multi field transformers). In problematic configurations, strict will fall back to the required value and that change will appear in the Definitions app.

orderHandler

optional, default is

MultiValuePropertyOrderHandler for JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition
DefaultJcrNodeOrderHandler for JcrMultiFieldDefinition
MultiJcrBlockOrderHandler for JcrMultiFieldDefinition

Implementation class that sorts nodes and ensures that the suffixes in index names correspond to the order in which they are stored.

When MultiFormDefinition$OrderHandlerDefinition$Noop is used, the order of the items of a multi field cannot be changed retroactively.

canRemoveItems

optional, default is true for JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition and JcrMultiFieldDefinition

When false, the items of a multi field cannot be removed from a dialog.

buttonSelectAddLabel

optional, default is translated buttons.add key (translated dialogs.buttons.select.multiple key for JcrMultiLinkFieldDefinition)

Button label for adding an item. The value is i18n-able.

buttonSelectRemoveLabel

optional, default is translated buttons.delete key

Button label for removing an item. The value is i18n-able.

minItems

optional, default is 0

Specifies the minimum number of items to be added.

maxItems

optional, default is Integer.MAX_VALUE

Specifies the maximum number of items to be added.

If minItems is greater than maxItems, item count validation will be disabled.

itemCountErrorMessage

optional, default is translated validators.multi.itemCount.errorMessage key

Error message shown when the number of items is less than minItems or greater than maxItems. The value can be literal or a key of a message bundle.

required

optional, default is false

Makes the field required. An asterisk is displayed next to the field label.

requiredErrorMessage

optional, default is translated validation.message.required key

Error message shown when required is set to true and the user saves an empty field. The value can be literal or a key of a message bundle.

Common complex field properties

Property Description

name

required

Name of the field definition item. Derived from the configured node name. Use alphanumeric characters without spaces.

class

required (unless $type is used)

Type of the field definition item. The value must be a fully qualified class name and a subtype of info.magnolia.ui.field.FieldDefinition. See Field types for possible values.

$type

You can use this as a shortcut for class if the definition class is annotated with info.magnolia.ui.field.FieldType. The proper value is defined by the annotation.

Example class annotation

@FieldType("textField")
public class TextFieldDefinition extends ConfiguredFieldDefinition<String> {
...
}

See Field types for possible values.

itemProvider

required, default is

JcrPropertyProvider for JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition
JcrChildNodeProviderDefinition for JcrMultiFieldDefinition
CurrentItemProviderDefinition for StaticFieldViewDefinition

Node with a $type property that specifies the type of data binding for the subnodes in complex fields.

See Item providers for more information.

Do not use JcrMultiValueFieldDefinition with any item provider other than the default JcrPropertyProvider.

description

optional

Help text displayed when the user clicks the help icon. The value can be literal or a key of a message bundle.

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.

When defining the property for a multi field, the following configurations are possible:

To translate a unique set of entries, set i18n to false for the multi field and to true for its inner fields.
To translate different sets of entries, set i18n to true for the multi field and to false for its inner fields (no fallback here between languages).

We do not recommend setting i18n to true on both levels.

label

optional

Field label displayed to editors. The value can be literal or a key of a message bundle.

If you do not provide the property, Magnolia will fall back to a generated i18n key.

If you do not want to have any label, set the property to an empty string such as label: "" in YAML.

styleName

optional

Additional style information for an editor property definition item applied to the element when the form is rendered. The value can be a CSS class or a list of CSS classes separated by white spaces.

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.

The referenced class can be defined in:

Form validation of multiple values

To validate that jcrMultiValueField has only unique values, you can create UniqueValuesMultiFormView as an implementation class that extends MultiFormView.

public class UniqueValuesMultiFormView<T> extends MultiFormView<T> {

    @Inject
    public UniqueValuesMultiFormView(MultiFormDefinition<T> definition, LocaleContext localeContext, Datasource<T> datasource) {
        super(definition, localeContext, datasource);
    }

    @Override
    public List<BinderValidationStatus<?>> validate() {
        final List<BinderValidationStatus<?>> validate = super.validate();
        if (validate.stream().allMatch(BinderValidationStatus::isOk)) {
            List<String> valuesStringList = validate.stream()
                    .map(v -> v.getBinder().getFields().findFirst().get().getValue()) // could be any data type other than string
                    .map(String::valueOf)
                    .collect(Collectors.toList());
            if (new HashSet<>(valuesStringList).size() != valuesStringList.size()) {
                final Binder.Binding<?, ?> binding = validate.stream()
                        .flatMap(binderValidationStatus -> binderValidationStatus.getFieldValidationStatuses().stream())
                        .map(BindingValidationStatus::getBinding)
                        .findFirst()
                        .orElse(null);
                final BindingValidationStatus<?> validationStatus = new BindingValidationStatus<>(Result.error("All values has to be unique"), binding);
                binding.getValidationStatusHandler().statusChange(validationStatus);
                validate.add(new BinderValidationStatus<>(null, Collections.singletonList(validationStatus), new ArrayList<>()));
            }
        }
        return validate;
    }
}

uniqueValues:
  $type: jcrMultiValueField
  implementationClass: info.magnolia.ui.editor.UniqueValuesMultiFormView
  field:
    $type: textField

Multi field

Example definitions

Field properties

Common multi field properties

Common complex field properties

Form validation of multiple values

Location

Main doc sections