3rd party custom field plugins?

[andypooz]

With the fantastic introduction of custom fields in J3.7, there seems to be the suggestion that we can create our own custom fields plugins to introduce new types of custom fields into the Joomla ecosystem.
I made a call for support in the forums a while back regarding help with getting my custom field type to render correctly, but (as seems to be the pattern with me on this forum, whinge whinge) I had 121 people read it and no responses.
So, I thought I'd change tack and ask if anyone is aware of non-Joomla-core custom field plugins that have been added to the JED by 3rd party devs or available anywhere. I'd really love to look at the code and see how they were able to get anything other than a text box to result from the use of their plugin.
This is my original post: viewtopic.php?f=727&t=949681 which explains my predicament.
Anyone got anything that could get me started? As stated in my orginal post, the rendering code for the fields doesn't seem to live inside the core custom fields plugins, so I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to do it.
Any guidance appreciated.

[nordmograph]

Hi
I got one recently published on the JED.
https://extensions.joomla.org/extension ... tom-field/

[andypooz]

Thanks. I'll take a look! I'm nearly done with mine now too. Looking forward to getting it up on the JED

[nordmograph]

Good, what is it about ?

[andypooz]

It's a geographical dropdown list set as a web service. Basically giving you ajax-driven Country -> State -> City dropdowns without needing to maintain your own database. It'll use a web service I set up http://geodata.solutions which currently allows people to put these dropdowns in their websites with a code snippet, but I guessed that Joomla users might like to have these as custom fields too.
Expect to submit it in a week or two.

[andypooz]

I'm so, so close to getting this plugin submitted to the JED, but I've been stumped at the last by something I can't figure out. Whne I use the field in a com_articles or com_categories component it seems to use the /tmpl/[pluginname].php , but when i use it as a user custom field, it appears in the profile rendering exactly as it appears in the #_fields_values table, seemingly ignoring the template.
Is this something that other's have encountered and overcome? What am I missing?

[nordmograph]

Yes, this is a known issue
https://issues.joomla.org/tracker/joomla-cms/15304
com_users doesn't use an override yet for the field layout it doesn't use either the regular JLayout
com_users uses JForm to show the fields

[andypooz]

Thanks for that info. I think I'll add it to the JED and release an update (if required) when this is fixed.

[andypooz]

I've submitted the plugin to the JED!

Anyone who's interested in country state city dropdowns as custom fields in their extensions might like to take a look at http://geodata.solutions/blog where they can download and use the plugin before it hits the JED

Feedback, issues gratefully received

Andy

[andypooz]

Sure. The download link is: http://geodata.solutions/tools/plg_fiel ... nlists.zip
and the docs (as sparse as they are) are at: http://geodata.solutions/joomla-custom-field-plugin

The extension was submitted to the JED nearly a month ago now, but is still pending. Hopefully it'll be published soon, but there is no telling with the way the JED operates. In any case, it needn't stop you using the plugin right away.

[HelpJ]

Any of you guys considering build plugin/module for filtering custom fields?

[andypooz]

Do you mean allowing you to filter articles by their custom field value? I think that'd make a nice update to the com_content views so that you could set up a blog style layout based not on a category, but on the custom field value.

In the meantime, it'd be possible to create a module that listed articles based on their custom field value and provide links to the single article view. Sounds like a good little project (if such a thing hasn't already been done).

The other option could be to have a content plugin that stripped out articles based on their custom field values, but that would have its problems. The view would have to be a category blog, meaning that you'd still have to focus on a category and filter from there. There's also something a bit dirty about looping through the items and unsetting them based on your custom field checks. Indexes could get a little screwy.

Or maybe I've misunderstood what you're looking for?

[Alex Dobrin]

Do you mean allowing you to filter articles by their custom field value?

Had tried something like this. Seems I was not the only one.
Was rejected.
https://issues.joomla.org/tracker/joomla-cms/10669
Maybe somebody else at one point will have more luck.

[andypooz]

It's a real shame, I think. Those custom fields are nice display features, but they'd be really useful as filtering tools within com_content (I'm thinking as a new view, 'Custom fields blog') rather than as a content plugin, as proposed. It would give you less flexibility than your plugin approach, but maybe more certainty in outcome, given their concerns about when the query modification would be applied.

Until you get the project on board with the idea, there's nothing stopping someone from creating an MVC override to create a proof of concept. Sometimes people have to see it in action to appreciate the potential (Unlike us visionaries )

[Alex Dobrin]

I think those custom fields are almost useless without a filter solution.
A view will load all the records and not just the ones you need.
The correct place to filter the articles is at the sql query level.
I would have proposed a parameter in the configuration to deactivate that feature (or have it activated only if you want to use it) but that chnage request was closed without any possibility to discuss why or an alternative solution, even after I addressed the chanage requestes made in it earlier. A very demotivating way to try to incurage more contributions.

[andypooz]

What I had in mind was a view that had its own model, so the filtering would be done at the SQL level as you had in mind. I wasn't just suggesting a template override.
I agree that it's discouraging to have your idea shut down, especially when you have satisfied their initial concerns. There are a lot of ideas suggested, and things will get rejected out of hand quite often.
Do you have a working example of this, or is just a concept at this stage?
I see a lot of value in the custom fields already, but being able to use them for filtering would be a HUGE advantage.

[HelpJ]

I mean something like Alex say.
In real world:

You have category blog, say "cars". In there are articles car1, car2, car3...
Each article have custom field power, color, automatic-yes, no...

On sidebar you have filter module for those fields. So for instance, show me all cars with auto transmission.

I cant even imagine, that none off devs didnt consider this. Joomla can be then one of the best catalogue, directory, recepies...you name it systems.

Even now (right now) Im bulding recepie site and must say we are all very pleased with results. With simple override, I can build great article layout for recepie. Imagine filter option.

[Alex Dobrin]

What I had in mind was a view that had its own model, so the filtering would be done at the SQL level as you had in mind. I wasn't just suggesting a template override.

I suggest trying to submit this solution. Maybe it will be accepted.

There are a lot of ideas suggested, and things will get rejected out of hand quite often.

I almost (there aren't THAT many) agree with the first part. Do not agree with the last, especially since the main reason to use Joomla is that it is community driven.

Do you have a working example of this, or is just a concept at this stage?

Needed it for one project and went and use a cck instead. I'm not very pleased with it so will not mentione which.
If I would be a conspirationist I would say that somebody actually wants that.

I see a lot of value in the custom fields already, but being able to use them for filtering would be a HUGE advantage.

I agree that it is better with them then without, but without the filter option what's the point? Especially after checking the current search results layout.

I cant even imagine, that none off devs didnt consider this.

It's a suprize to me that they released custom fields with this as well.

[andypooz]

Right, well in that case it needs to be different from what I was suggesting, as that would only allow you to set the car color in the view rather than making it something users could use to filter by their selection.
If you override the content model, you could add in additional filtering for custom fields. I'd say a content plugin ('onAfterDisplayTitle or something like that) could present the filter options. These might add to the postdata some new custom params (even put them into the session) and refresh the page. It could be a module I guess, but then you have less control where it is displayed (as it will show on single article view if accessed from the blog view)
It might be an easy way to do it as a proof of concept before trying to get the project to come around to the idea.
Anyone got a spare day to put all that into action?

[HelpJ]

Till now I use this https://extensions.joomla.org/extension ... d-filters/
Great plugin and you can filter articles by some fields. But problem was that filter module works only on category blog wiev (all works litle diferent then core joomla fields).

I still think that module with filter options is best solution. In module options, you set in what categories to search, wich filter to use and you have filtering options like magento shop

[andypooz]

Maybe this component is the best starting point for the custom fields dev you're looking for. Could it be adapted for the custom fields?