Link field

LinkFieldDefinition renders a text field and a browse button that allows you to select an item from any data source. It extends info.magnolia.ui.field.ComboBoxFieldDefinition.

The link field is used to select targets both inside and outside Magnolia (for example, an asset to render an image or a page to tease) where it stores a reference to the selected item.

Magnolia provides four preconfigured link field definitions:

  • DamLinkFieldDefinition: links to an asset or folder (damLinkField).

  • info.magnolia.pages.app.field.PageLinkFieldDefinition: links to a page (pageLinkField).

  • info.magnolia.resources.app.field.ResourceLinkFieldDefinition: links to a resource (resourceLinkField).

  • info.magnolia.rest.ui.field.linkfield.JsonLinkFieldDefinition: links to a JSON node (jsonLinkField).

See Default values for preconfigured link fields.

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

  • info.magnolia.ui.field.LinkFieldDefinition

  • info.magnolia.dam.app.field.DamLinkFieldDefinition

  • info.magnolia.pages.app.field.PageLinkFieldDefinition

  • info.magnolia.resources.app.field.ResourceLinkFieldDefinition

  • info.magnolia.rest.ui.field.linkfield.JsonLinkFieldDefinition

If you work with the Magnolia 5 UI framework, see Link field for Magnolia 5 UI instead.

Remember My Last Location

Link fields by default memorize the most recent selection per HTTP session.

For example, when you create or edit a Page in Magnolia, you select the Text and Image component to add a photo to your page. You select an image from the Assets Chooser dialog, and the selector memorizes your last selected image across the stories and content apps.

Selected image based on 'Remember my last location'

The Remember My Last Location functionality applies to all types of link fields in your current browser tab. The last location is remembered throughout different Magnolia apps according to the chooserId of your link field. Once you close your current browser tab, the status is restored and the most recent selection is reset.

If you want to customize this behavior in a custom range of fields for the same type you can do so by defining your chooserId for the linkField.

Example definitions

  • Link

  • DAM link

  • Page link

  • External link

  • Resource link

  • JSON link

link:
  $type: linkField
  label: Link
  datasource:
    $type: jcrDatasource
    workspace: website
image:
  $type: damLinkField
  label: Image
  description: Choose an image
  datasource:
    $type: assetDatasource
    workspace: dam
    rootPath: /a/a2
    allowedNodeTypes:
      - mgnl:folder
      - mgnl:asset
You can control the range of images available in the chooser dialog using the rootPath property. 
pageLink:
  $type: pageLinkField
  label: Page link
  showOptions: true
  textInputAllowed: true
  filteringMode: CONTAINS
  converterClass: info.magnolia.ui.editor.converter.JcrNodeToPathConverter
externalLinkOrPageLink:
  $type: pageLinkField
  label: External link or page link
  # textInputAllowed=true and showOptions=false (default) allow you to set any value (for example, an external link)
  textInputAllowed: true
  filteringMode: CONTAINS
  # this is the default chooser; you can configure your own with more or fewer columns
  chooserId: ui-framework-jcr:chooser
resourceLink:
  $type: resourceLinkField
  label: Resource link
  showOptions: true
  textInputAllowed: true
  filteringMode: CONTAINS
jsonLink:
  $type: jsonLinkField
  label: Nobel prize winner
  showOptions: true
  textInputAllowed: true
  filteringMode: CONTAINS
  chooserId: field-examples-module:components/json-chooser
  datasource:
    name: rest
    $type: jsonDatasource
    restClient: nobelprize
    restCall: allPrizes
    jsonPathExpressions:
      itemId: '$.en'
      items: '$.nobelPrizes[*].laureates[*].fullName'
      describeBy: '$.en'

To restrict damLinkField to assets only, see the commented-out lines in the DAM chooser.

You can preview this example using the field-examples-module. See Field examples module for more information.

Field properties

Field-specific properties

Property Description

chooserId

optional, default is ui-framework-jcr:chooser

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

showOptions

optional, default is false

When true, options appear in a combobox.

Typically, showOptions and textInputAllowed should be set to the same thing, either both true or both false.

  • To enable filtering, set both showOptions and textInputAllowed to true.

  • To disable filtering, set both showOptions and textInputAllowed to false.

  • Best usability

  • Best performance

  • Link field showOptions: true

  • Combobox field textInputAllowed: true

Ensure the backend and frontend are optimized to handle large datasets efficiently.

  • Link field showOptions: false

  • Combobox field textInputAllowed: false

  • Enabling and using showOptions with a data source that contains large datasets may lead to performance issues.

  • If textInputAllowed is true, you can set showOptions to false for better performance if desired.

buttonSelectNewLabel

optional, default is translated fields.button.select.new key

Button label for selecting a new target. The value is i18n-able.

editable

optional, default is true

When false, the text field displaying the link cannot be edited once a target is selected.

preview

optional

Renders a preview of the selected content. The preview component typically displays an image thumbnail and some metadata.

     implementationClass

required

Any class that implements the info.magnolia.ui.preview.ItemPreviewComponent interface. Examples:

  • info.magnolia.contacts.app.ContactPreview

  • info.magnolia.rest.ui.field.linkfield.JsonItemPreviewComponent

Common combobox field properties

Property Description

emptySelectionAllowed

optional, default is false

Defines whether the user can select nothing in the field. When true, an empty item appears to the user.

emptySelectionCaption

optional, default is empty string

When emptySelectionAllowed is true, the empty item appears with the given caption. The value is i18n-able.

pageLength

optional, default is 100

Sets the number of items in the field pop-up. The value must be between 1 and 100. Otherwise, the property will fall back to the default value.

placeholder

optional

Placeholder text to be displayed when the field is empty. The value is i18n-able.

popWidth

optional

Sets the width of the field pop-up relative to the field itself. If no value is specified, the pop-up’s width will automatically expand to fit the content of all displayed items.

scrollToSelectedItem

optional, default is false

Defines whether the selected item is always scrolled into view when the comboBox pop-up has multiple pages. Possible values are true and false.

It’s useful for users who want automatic scrolling to the selected item, especially when the selected item is not shown in the pop-up’s first pages and the pop-up has several pages between which the user can scroll up and down.

But be aware: setting true requires finding the item’s index, which can be expensive in many large lazy loading containers.

textInputAllowed

optional, default is false

When true, the user can type into the field to filter available items. The filteringMode property of select field defines how options are filtered.

When false, the field just shows the current selection.

Common select field properties

Property Description

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.

filteringMode

optional, default is CONTAINS

Defines how options are filtered. Other possible values are OFF and STARTSWITH.

You can only enable filtering in Page link and Resource link definitions where the textInputAllowed property is set to true. See example definitions here.

Common simple 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.

type

optional

Property type of the field.

A default type is typically hard-coded in each definition class. You only need to add this property if you want to override the default implementation.

In text fields, make sure that type has a value matching the type of data you entered (for example, java.lang.Long for long values) and that converterClass is set accordingly.

Example definition
text:
  $type: textField
  type: java.lang.Long
  converterClass: com.vaadin.data.converter.StringToLongConverter

converterClass

optional

Converts values between the presentation (UI) and model (stored data). The property must extend com.vaadin.data.Converter. Available classes:

  • info.magnolia.ui.editor.converter.JcrNodeToIdentifierConverter

  • info.magnolia.ui.editor.converter.JcrNodeToPathConverter

  • info.magnolia.ui.editor.converter.JcrNodeToWorkspaceAndIdConverter

  • info.magnolia.ui.editor.converter.JcrPathToIdentifierConverter

com.vaadin.data.converter.StringToBigDecimalConverter and com.vaadin.data.converter.StringToDoubleConverter always round the presentation value by default. For non-rounding converters, use the following classes instead:

  • info.magnolia.ui.field.converter.NonRoundingStringToBigDecimalConverter

  • info.magnolia.ui.field.converter.NonRoundingStringToDoubleConverter

conversionErrorMessage

optional, default is translated conversion.message.error key

Message shown when there is an error in the conversion process. The value can be literal or a key of a message bundle.

defaultValue

optional

Pre-filled default value displayed in the field. The value can be overwritten by the user. Use alphanumeric characters.

This is only applied only when creating a new item, not for existing items.

For defaultValue to work, the populate property in info.magnolia.ui.dialog.actions.OpenDialogActionDefinition must be set to false.

description

optional

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

factoryClass

optional

Defines the factory class that initializes and builds the Vaadin form field. The default factory class depends on the particular field.

The value must be a fully qualified class name and a subtype of info.magnolia.ui.field.FieldFactory.

fieldBinderClass

optional

Defines the binder class that applies configuration parameters from the field.

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.

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.

readOnly

optional, default is false

Makes the field uneditable.

required

optional, default is false (not relevant for checkbox field)

Makes the field required. When true, an asterisk is displayed next to the field label.

When false, empty values are accepted as valid. For those empty values, any field validators are ignored.

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.

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:

validators

optional

List of field validator definition items. Any value must be a subtype of info.magnolia.ui.field.FieldValidatorDefinition.

See Field validators for more information.

Default values for preconfigured link fields

You can set defaultValue for preconfigured link fields as follows:

  • DAM link

  • Page link

  • Resource link

  • JSON link

damLinkUUID:
  $type: damLinkField
  defaultValue: jcr:57ad85f2-e794-44a7-814f-271a51f41c26 # UUID with a prefix
pageLinkPath:
  $type: pageLinkField
  defaultValue: /Field-examples # path
pageLinkUUID:
  $type: pageLinkField
  defaultValue: a6ec3630-2701-4993-8372-18dc70f99b3e # UUID
resourceLinkPath:
  $type: resourceLinkField
  defaultValue: /Field-examples # path
jsonLinkString:
  $type: jsonLinkField
  defaultValue: 'Pieter Zeeman' # string
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