Fields overview

Supported field types

Front Matter its metadata section supports the following fields:

• string
• number
• datetime
• boolean
• image
• file
• choice
• list
• draft: specifies the kind of draft field you want to use: boolean or choice. This field, can be configured with the frontmatter.content.draftfield setting.
• tags: mapped to the tags defined in your settings.
• categories: mapped to the categories defined in your settings.
• taxonomy: if you want to define your own custom taxonomy fields.
• fields: allows you to define another object and its fields.
• block: allows you to define a group of fields which can be used to create an list of data.
• dataFile: allows you to use a data file reference to create a choice field
• slug: allows you to manage the slug of the current page

Standard field properties

All fields share the following field properties:

• title (string): The title to show in the metadata section (optional);
• name (string): The name of your field, will be used to set in the front matter of your Markdown file;
• type (field type - string): One of the above supported types.
• default: Defines the default value for the field when creating the content type. You can also use placeholders like {{title}}, {{slug}} or {{now}}. Check for more information under placeholders.
• hidden (boolean - optional): Specifies if you want to hide the field from the metadata section, but still have it available in Front Matter.

String

The string field type is used to store a single-line or multiline of text. For instance, you can use if for the title, description, or any other text field.

Properties

• single (boolean): When you picked the string field type, you can specify if it is a single line. By default it will render as a multiline field (optional).
• wysiwyg (boolean): When you set this value to true, the field will be rendered as a WYSIWYG editor. The output of the WYSIWYG editor will be HTML.

Usage

Outcome

Number

The number field allows you to insert integer values, like for instance setting the weight of your content.

Usage

Outcome

Datetime

The datetime field allows you to add date fields. You can use it for publish, modified, and any other types of dates for you content.

Properties

• isPublishDate: Specifies if the field is a publish date. When set to true, the field will be used to set the publish date for the content (this will be reflected on the content dashboard).
• isModifiedDate: Specifies if the field is a modified date. When using the frontMatter.content.autoUpdateDate setting to automatically update the modified date of the article, this field will be used.

The format of your date can be defined in the frontMatter.taxonomy.dateFormat setting. Check date-fns formating for more information.

Usage

Outcome

Boolean

The boolean field can be used to set a value of true or false into your markdown. It will be rendered as a toggle.

Usage

Outcome

Choice

The choice field allows you to define a set of options.

Properties

• choices (string[] | { id: string; title: string; }): When you picked the choice field type, you need to return an array of choices.
• multiple (boolean): Define if you want to allow multiple choice selection. By default this is false.

Usage

Example of using an array of string values:

Example of using an array of { id: string; title: string; } objects:

Outcome

Outcome when using string values:

Outcome when using id/title objects:

List

The list field allows you to add multiple text values.

Usage

Example of using the list field:

Outcome

The previous example will give you the following outcome:

Draft

The draft field defines the state of your content. This is used for the content dashboard as well. By default, the draft field is a boolean. If you want to use your own status values, you can configure it via the frontmatter.content.draftfield setting.

When using a custom draft status, the content dashboard will make use of it as well:

Important: If you use Jekyll, you do not have to use the draft field, as Front Matter supports the _drafts, _posts folders and collections from Jekyll. If you use Jekyll, make sure to set the frontMatter.framework.id setting to jekyll.

Example 1

Usage

Outcome

Default draft field outcome:

Example 2

Usage

In case you want to use a published field, instead of a draft field. You can invert the logic by setting the invert property to true:

The field is configured as follows:

Outcome

Default draft field outcome:

Example 3

Usage

If you want to use your own status values, you can define it by specifying these in the frontMatter.content.draftField setting:

The field is configured as follows:

Outcome

When using your own status values:

Image

The image field can be used to reference single or multiple images to your content.

Properties

• isPreviewImage (boolean): Allows you to specify a custom preview image for your article. When you set this to true for an image field in your content type, it will be adopted in the dashboard.
• multiple (boolean): Define if you want to allow to select multiple images. By default this is false.

Important: You can only set this on one image field per content type.

Usage

Outcome

File

The file field can be used to reference single or multiple files to your content.

Properties

• multiple (boolean): Define if you want to allow to select multiple files. By default this is false.
• fileExtensions (string array): Define the file extensions that are allowed to be selected. By default this is an empty array [].

Usage

Outcome

Tags

The tags field allows you to create or use tags from your frontMatter.taxonomy.tags setting (by default, none existing). When adding a tag which does not yet exist, you will have the option to create it.

When the tag is created, you will be able to re-use it for other content.

Info: You can add multiple tags at once by entering them as comma-separated values and pressing the ENTER key.

Properties

• taxonomyLimit: Defines the maximum number of items that can be selected. By default set to 0 which allows unlimited items to be selected.

Info: When a limit is defined, this will get reflected in the UI as well:

Usage

Outcome

Categories

The categories field is similar to the tags field. The difference is that it uses the frontMatter.taxonomy.categories setting (by default, none existing).

Properties

• taxonomyLimit: Defines the maximum number of items that can be selected. By default set to 0 which allows unlimited items to be selected.

Usage

Outcome

Taxonomy

The taxonomy is similar to the tags and categories field, but allows you to define your own taxonomy values and structure.

Properties

• taxonomyLimit: Defines the maximum number of items that can be selected. By default set to 0 which allows unlimited items to be selected.
• taxonomyId: Set the id of your custom taxonomy definition defined in the frontMatter.taxonomy.customTaxonomy setting.

Custom taxonomy

The frontMatter.taxonomy.customTaxonomy setting allows you to provide a list of custom taxonomy data. Each of the taxonomy data contains a id and an array of options.

Here is an example of the custom taxonomy setting definition:

Usage

Outcome

Fields

The fields field, allows you to create multi-dimensional content type fields (sub-fields). This is useful when you want to create a complex content type. In case you want to define a list data, you will have to use the block field.

When you specify the field type as fields, you need to define sub-fields within the fields property.

Properties

• fields: Define the sub-fields of your content type. All the above types are supported.

Usage

Outcome

Block

The block field type allows you to define a group of fields which can be used to create a list of data.

Prerequisites

To work with the block field type, you need to define a field group (a set of fields for your data) in the frontMatter.taxonomy.fieldGroups setting.

Info: You can use the same field types as you would use in the regular content types.

Properties

• fieldGroup: Define the field group(s) that will be used to create a list of data.

Usage

Important: If you want, you can also create field groupings within the field grouping. This is useful when you want to create sub-groups of data.

Outcome

Data file

The dataFile field type allows you to use a data file to populate the field with a list of options. For instance, if you have a data file with all the authors of your site, you can use the dataFile field type to populate the authors field with the data from the authors data file.

Prerequisites

To use the dataFile field type, you need to have a definition for a data file in place. Here is an example of the authors sample:

Properties

• dataFileId: Specify the ID of the data file to use for this field (required).
• dataFileKey: Specify the key of the data file to use for this field (required).
• dataFileValue: Specify the property name that will be used to show the value for the field (optional).
• multiple: Specify if you want to select one or multiple records (optional).

Usage

Outcome

Slug

The slug field allows you to create/update the slug of the current page.

Properties

• editable: Specify if you allow manual changes, or if the slug is generated automatically (optional - default: true).

Usage

The field is configured as follows:

Outcome

The above configuration gives you the following outcome:

Info: The slug is generated based on the title of the page. More information about it can be found in the generate slug command section.