Long text custom field

Static content types

Static content types come out of the box with Sitefinity CMS, such as Pages, Blogs, News, and so on.

To add a custom field to a content item, perform the following:

  1. Perform procedure Create custom fields » Step 1 to Step 5.
  2. In Type dropdown box, select Long text.
  3. If you select the This is a hidden field checkbox, the custom field is not visible on the website or in the backend, and you can only use it in the code.
    You can later unhide the field, by clicking it in section Custom fields and changing the selection on Appearance tab.
  4. In the Interface widget for entering data dropdown box, you select the widget which the editor of the content item will use to complete the field.
    The default widget is Rich text editor. It displays a text editor for entering content with label and instructions.
  5. Expand the Advanced section, if you want to change the database and the SQL database type of the custom field, if you want to specify the name of the column of the database table where the custom field is added, and whether the custom field is to be included in the database index.
    If you select the Allow empty values checkbox, it means that the field is not required and can be left empty. If you deselect it, the field becomes mandatory.
  6. Click Continue.
    A window appears where you must configure the appearance of the custom field, such as labels and instructions.

Label and texts

On this tab, perform the following:

  1. In Label input field enter the label of the textbox.
  2. If needed, in Instructional text, enter instructions or explanatory text for the textbox.
    The text is displayed when the content editor clicks the question mark icon in the backend when editing the item containing this custom field.
  3. If required, in Predefined value, enter a predefined value for the textbox that is displayed in the box by default and the user can change it.
  4. If you want to make the textbox mandatory, select the Make required checkbox.
  5. If you have a multilingual site, you can select or deselect Make localizable checkbox.
    This allows you to translate the field in the different language versions.
    By default, the checkbox is selected.

Limitations

NOTE: This tab appears only when you select Text area in the Interface widget for entering data dropdown box.

On this tab, perform the following:

  1. In Number of characters allowed, enter the minimum and maximum number of characters that a user can enter in the textbox.
    If you do not want to impose limits to the textbox, leave the Max input field empty and the Min input field 0.
  2. In Error message displayed when the entry is out of range you enter the error message which Sitefinity CMS shows to the site users when they attempt to enter text with too much or too few characters.

Appearance

On this tab, perform the following:

  • If you do not want to display the custom field on all screens where you work with the content item, you can select the checkboxes of only those screens where you want the field to be displayed. To do this, select Some screens where you work with <content type> in the Backend… and select the screens where you want the custom field to appear.
  • NOTE: When you are adding a custom field to Images, Videos, or Document, this field is displayed on the upload screen, when you upload items via the Image widget, Video widget, or Document link widget widgets. If you do not want to display the custom fields, deselect the upload screens.
  • If you have made the field a hidden field, the radio button Nowhere. This is a hidden field is selected when you open the field for editing. If you change the selection, the field is no longer hidden.
    If the field is not hidden, you can hide it by selecting Nowhere. This is a hidden field radio button.
  • In the Form CSS class input field, you can choose a class name for the custom field if later you want to set a CSS style for this particular field.

When finished, click Done.
The new field appears in the list of custom fields for the respective module.
If you want to delete a custom field, click .

Save your changes.

Dynamic content types

Dynamic content types are the ones you create using the Module Builder.

To add a custom field to a content item, perform the following:

  1. Perform procedure Create custom fields » Step 1 to Step 5.
  2. In Type dropdown box, select Long text.
  3. If you select the This is a hidden field checkbox, the custom field is not visible on the website or in the backend, and you can only use it in the code.
    You can later unhide the field, by clicking it in section Custom fields and changing the selection on the Appearance tab.
  4. In the Interface widget for entering data dropdown box, you select the widget which the editor of the content item will use to complete the field.
    The default widget is Rich text editor. It displays a text editor for entering content with label and instructions.
  5. Expand the Advanced section, if you want to change the database and the SQL database type of the custom field or the name of the column of the database table where the custom field is added.
    If you select the Allow empty values checkbox, it means that the field is not required and can be left empty. If you deselect it, the field becomes mandatory.
  6. Click Continue.
    A window appears where you must configure the appearance of the custom field, such as labels and instructions.

General

On this tab, perform the following:

  1. In Label input field enter the label of the textbox.
  2. If needed, in Instructional text, enter instructions or explanatory text for the textbox.
    The text is displayed when the content editor clicks the question mark icon in the backend when editing the item containing this custom field.
  3. If you want to make the textbox mandatory, select the This is a required field checkbox.
  4. If you have a multilingual site, you can select or deselect More options » Make localizable checkbox.
    This allows you to translate the field in the different language versions.
    By default, the checkbox is selected.

Limitations

NOTE: This tab appears only when you select Text area in the Interface widget for entering data dropdown box.

On this tab, perform the following:

  • In Number of characters allowed, enter the minimum and maximum number of characters that a user can enter in the textbox.
    If you do not want to impose limits to the textbox, leave the Max input field empty and the Min input field 0.

When finished, click Done.
The new field appears in the list of custom fields for the respective module.
If you want to delete a custom field, click .

Save your changes.

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