Admin > Section Editors > Field Editor > Text Box

Field Label

This is the text displayed beside the field in the CMS Section Editor.

Field Name

This is the name the database and program use to refer to the field.

In your content viewers, you will use some simple code like this <?php echo $record['fieldname']?> to display the field data. If you change an existing fieldname, don't forget to update the name in your viewers and Section Editor details as well.

Field Type

These are the different types of fields you can add to your menu. Some fields have different options than others. Note that the separator field type doesn't require a field label or field name to be entered.

Field Options

Options specific to the Field Type appear in this box. For most fields, the defaults will be sufficient, but for "list" fields you will need to set the values for your list options.

Default Value

This is the default field value that will appear when creating a new record.

Tip: A new or modified default will only apply to new entries - any old records won't use your new default, and will either be blank or have any old values you've entered.

Field Height

This is the height of the field in pixels. Leave blank to use the default height.

Input Validation

This allows you to make specific requirements for what gets entered into the field. At the most basic, you can make the field required or unique, and for text fields you can enter a list of characters to allow or disallow.

Required

This option requires the user to enter a value for the field. An error will be displayed if the field is left blank.

Unique

This option requires the user to enter a unique value for the field. An error will be displayed if another record has the same value.

Min Length

This option indicates the minimum length of the field value. An error will be displayed if the value is shorter.

Max Length

This option indicates the maximum length of the field value. An error will be displayed if the value is longer.

Advanced Options

System Field

System fields cannot be edited and have no modify or erase link unless "System Field Editing" is enabled (under Advanced Commands on the field list page). The purpose of this setting is to make it harder to accidentally or unknowingly change a program field that might otherwise break things.

Admin Only

Fields with this option set will only be visible and can only be modified by Admin users in the Section Editor.

Disable Auto-Formatting

When text box content an HTML break tag ("<br/>") is added after each line so that when displayed in a web page it will look the same as it does in the text box. Checking this box disables that feature. You might do this if you planned to enter HTML directly or if you were entering content that was to be output as text and not html.