Configuring Structure Fields

There are many options available for configuring each structure field. Some of them relate to how the fields are displayed or how users interact with them, but probably the most important field configuration is the Name. When you create a new field, it has a random name generated that looks like TextField4882. In most cases, you should change this to something that is more memorable and more descriptive. When it comes time to create the template, you don’t want to be trying to remember if TextField4882 was the field for entering an applicant’s name or annual salary.

Practice this now.

1. In your structure, add an HTML element.

2. Hover over the field and select the Configuration icon ().

3. Change the Field Label value to Instructions and the Name value to steps. Now your template writer has a variable by which he or she can refer to this field.

Here’s a list of all the configurable settings available for a structure’s fields:

Type: Lists the type of field placed in the definition. This is not editable but is available to reference from a template.

Field Label: Sets the text that can be displayed with the field. This is the human-readable text that the user sees.

Show Label: Select Yes to display the Field Label.

Required: Select Yes to mark the field required. If a field is required, users must enter a value for it in order to submit content using this structure.

Name: The name of the field internally, automatically generated. Since this is the variable name that you can read the data from in a template, you should enter a descriptive name.

Predefined Value: When a user creates a new web content article based on a structure that has predefined values for various fields, the predefined values appear in the form as defaults for those fields.

Tip: Each field can have a small help icon, with a tooltip attached that displays helpful information. If you want to provide text for the tooltip, you may enter it here.

Indexable: Select Yes to permit your field to be indexed for search.

Localizable: Select Yes to permit localization for this field.

Repeatable: Select Yes to make your field repeatable. Users can then add as many copies of this field as they need. For example, if you’re creating a structure for articles, you might want a repeatable Author field in case you have multiple authors for a particular article.

Multiple: Select Yes to enable a multi-selection list (only available for the Select field).

Options: Changes the options available for selection. You can add and remove options as well as edit each individual option’s display name and value (only available for Radio and Select fields).

Style: Changes the line separator’s style (only available for Separator).

Structure Default Values

You can define Structure Default Values for repeatable values in content created from that structure. They can also set defaults for Liferay’s standard asset fields (like tags, categories, and related assets) and the content of the structure fields, while also setting a default template for displaying the structure data.

Figure 1: You can edit default values via the *Actions* button of the Manage Structures interface.

Returning to the newspaper scenario again, suppose you want all sports articles to have the same display page (sports page), the same categories, or the same set of tags. Instead of adding them for each article or wondering if your users are adding them to every web content article, you can add these characteristics once for every sports article by creating default values for the structure. Creating default values is not part of creating a new structure, so make sure you have an existing structure.

To edit a structure’s default values:

1. Go to Site Administration → Content → Web Content and click on the Structures tab to see the structures list.

2. Find the Actions button () for the desired structure and select Edit Default Values from the menu to view a window like the one below.

   This form manages the structure settings. It duplicates the function of the Predefined Value field setting (see above), but is much more convenient for setting or editing a large number of defaults at once.

Figure 2: You can define values for your structure fields and the standard asset metadata fields.

Every new web content you create with this structure is preloaded with the data you inserted. Next, you’ll learn about assigning permissions.