Help4.x:Fields

How to Access

To add a new field for articles, users or contacts, navigate to the backend of the site and perform one of these actions:

Article Fields

• Click the Article Manager icon in the Control Panel and click the Fields link.
• Select Content → Articles from the drop-down menu of the Joomla! Administrator Panel and click the Fields link.
• Click the Fields link while viewing the Category Manager or Featured Articles in the left, upper sidebar.

Users Fields

• Click the Users Manager icon in the Control Panel and click the Fields link.
• Select Users → Manage from the drop-down menu of the Joomla! Administrator Panel and click the Fields link.
• Click the Fields link while viewing the User Groups, Viewing Access Levels, User Notes or User Notes Categories in the left, upper sidebar.

Contacts Fields

• Select Components → Contacts from the drop-down menu of the Joomla! Administrator Panel and click the Fields link.
• Click the Fields link while viewing the Contact Categories or in the left, upper sidebar.

Description

This is the back-end screen where you can add and edit Fields.

Screenshot

Column Headers

In the table containing Fields, these are the different columns shown below. Article Fields Columns Header

• Ordering. You can change the order of an item within a list as follows:
  • If the list Filter Options include a Position filter select the desired Position. This will limit the list to items that are assigned to that Position.
  • Select the Ordering icon in the Table heading to make it the active ordering item. The ordering icons in each row will change from light grey to dark grey and the pointer will change to a drag arrow on hover.
  • Select one of the Ordering icons and drag it up or down to change the position of that row in the list. The items will display in the new order within the Position.

• Checkbox. Check this box to select one or more items. To select all items, check the box in the column heading. After one or more boxes are checked, click a toolbar button to take an action on the selected item or items. Many toolbar actions, such as Publish and Unpublish, can work with multiple items. Others, such as Edit, only work on one item at a time. If multiple items are checked and you press Edit, the first item will be opened for editing.

• Status. The published status of the item.

• Title. The name of the item. For a Menu Item, the Title will display in the Menu. For an Article or Category, the Title may optionally be displayed on the web page. This entry is required. You can open the item for editing by clicking on the Title.

• Type. The Type of the Custom Field.
  • Calendar: calendar field.
  • Checkboxes: checkboxes field.
  • Colour: color field.
  • Editor: editor field.
  • Integer: integer field.
  • List: list field.
  • List of images: imagelist field.
  • Media: media field.
  • Radio: radio field.
  • SQL: sql field.
  • Text: text field.
  • Text Area: textarea field.
  • URL: url field.
  • User: user field.
  • User Groups: usergrouplist field.

• Field Group. The Field Group this item belongs to.

• Access. The viewing Access Level for this item.

• Language. Item language.

• ID. This is a unique identification number for this item assigned automatically by Joomla. It is used to identify the item internally, and you cannot change this number. When creating a new item, this field displays "0" until you save the new entry, at which point a new ID is assigned to it.

Column Filters

Above the column headers on the right, there are 2 drop down input fields, Sort Table by: (preset to Ordering ascending) and a number (preset to 20) to display.

These column sorting input fields shows the current method of sorting applied to the table. Use the drop down field choices and click the column heading name. Alternatively, click on the column heading to sort the list by that column's value. This will also change the value in the drop field to correspond with the column header name. The list will then be sorted in order by that column and a sort icon(up or down arrow) will show next to the column name. Click a second time to reverse the sort, which will change the corresponding drop field.

• Ordering: (default). The column in which to sort displayed items in the table. The values are the same as the column heading names.

• Ascending (default). Shows ordering of selected column, ascending or descending.

• # (default is 20). Shows the number of items to display on one page, default is 20 items. If there are more items than this number, you can use the page navigation buttons located at the bottom of the table. (Start, Prev, Next, End, and page numbers) to navigate between pages.

Batch Process

The Batch Process allows a change in settings for a group of selected items marked with a check-mark in the corresponding check-mark boxes. To use: select one or more items form the table of items being viewed and click on the 'Batch' Toolbar button. This will open a pop up window as shown below.

You can change one value or all three values at one time.

Note - if you copy items to a new group, changes you have selected from access level and language will be applied to the copies, not the original.

How to Batch Process a group of items:

1. Select one or more items on the list by checking the desired group check boxes.
2. Click the 'Batch' Toolbar button.
3. Set one or more of the following values:

   • To change the Access Levels, select the desired new access level from the Set Access Level list box.
   • To change the Language, select the desired language from the Set Language list box.
   • To change the Field Group, select a group. To leave the group unchanged, use the default value of "Select".

   1. To copy the items to a different group, select the desired group from the group list box and check the Copy option. In this case, the original items are unchanged and the copies are assigned to the new group and, if selected, the new access level and language.
   2. To move the items to a different group, select the desired group from the group list box and check the Move option. In this case, the original items will be moved to a new group and, if selected, be assigned the new access level and language.

4. When all of the settings are entered, click on Process to perform the changes. A message "Batch process completed successfully." will show.

Note that nothing will happen if you (a) don't have any items selected or (b) have not selected an access level, language, or group.

If you wish to clear your entered selections, click on the Cancel button. This will return all of the Batch controls to their default values. Note that this does not uncheck the check boxes for the items.

Toolbar

At the top left you will see the toolbar:

File:Help-4x-New-Edit-Publish-Unpublish-Archive-Checkin-Trash-Batch-Options-Help-toolbar-en.png

The functions are:

• New. Opens the editing screen to create a new field.

• Edit. Opens the editing screen for the selected field. If more than one field is selected (where applicable), only the first field will be opened. The editing screen can also be opened by clicking on the Name of the field.

• Publish. Makes the selected field available to visitors to your website.

• Unpublish. Makes the selected field unavailable to visitors to your website.

• Archive. Changes the status of the selected field to indicate that they are archived.
  Archived field can be moved back to the published or unpublished state by selecting 'Archived' in the 'Select Status' filter and changing the status of the field.

• Check-In. Checks-in the selected field. Works with one or multiple field selected.

• Batch. Batch processes the selected field. Works with one or multiple items selected.

• Trash. Changes the status of the selected field to indicate that they are trashed.
  Trashed field can still be recovered by selecting 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter and changing the status of the articles to Published or Unpublished as preferred.
  To permanently delete trashed field, select 'Trashed' in the 'Select Status' filter, select the field to be permanently deleted, then click the 'Empty Trash' toolbar icon.

• Help. Opens this help screen.

• Options. Opens the Options window where settings such as default parameters can be edited.

List Filters

The List Filters and other filters as detailed below are above the colmun header. These filters are a series of controls that let you limit what items show in the manager screen. More than one filter may be entered. In this case, only items that meet all of the filter conditions will show on the list.

Search bar. Near the top of the page you will see the search bar shown in the Screenshot above.

• Search by Text. Enter part of the search term and click the Search icon. Hover to see a Tooltip indicating which fields will be searched.
  To 'Search by ID' enter "id:x", where "x" is the ID number (for example, "id:19").
• Filter Options. Click to display the additional filters.
• Clear. Click to clear the Filter field and restore the list to its unfiltered state.
• Ordering. Shows the current list ordering field. 2 ways to change the order:
  • Select from the dropdown list. Ordering may be in ascending or descending order.
  • Click a column heading. The column heading toggles between ascending and descending order.
• Number to Display. Shows the number of items in a list. Select from the dropdown list to change the number displayed.
  The default for a site is '20' but this may be changed in the Global Configuration.

• Select Status. Select from Trashed / Unpublished / Published / Archived / All.

• Select Assigned Category. Select from the list of available assigned categories.

• Select Field Group. Select from the list of available field groups.

• Select Access. Select from the list of available viewing access levels.

• Select Language. Select from the list of available languages, if the site manages more than 1 language.

Quick Tips

• If you want to know how to use Custom Fields, click Adding Custom Fields

Related Information

• To add or edit Articles: Article Manager: New/Edit
• To manage Categories: Category Manager
• To manage Featured Articles: Article Manager: Featured Articles