Define a content type

Locomotive allows you to create content types without imposing a specific pre-built structure. No SQL knowledge is required here.

Your content types can then be used directly in your Liquid templates.

Generate it with Wagon

📘

Before further reading, make sure you created a site with Wagon.

Wagon provides you the generate command to help you to create the YAML file describing your content type.

cd ~/workspace/my_first_site
bundle exec wagon generate content_type events title:string description:text event_date:date

It will generate 2 files:

  • app/content_types/events.yml
  • data/events.yml

The first one contains the content_type declaration, the second contains sample data so that you can test your site with fake data. Some random data have been added.

📘

Use plural for your content type names.

Examples: posts, articles, photos, success_stories, ...etc.

📘

The available field types are

string, text, file, select, boolean, date, date_time, tags, integer, float, belongs_to, has_many, many_to_many.

Description of the YAML file

Here are the properties you can use on app/content_types/*.yml files. All the content types should be plural filenames.

Example of an Article content type:

name: Articles
description: Just a simple blog module
order_by: posted_at
order_direction: desc
slug: articles
label_field_name: title
fields:
- title:
    label: Title
    type: string
    hint: The title of the article
- posted_at:
    label: Posted at
    type: date
    hint: The date when the article has been or will be posted.
- body:
    label: Body
    type: text
    text_formatting: html
    hint: The body of the article
PropertyTypeDescription
nameStringPublic name of the content type. Use plural.
slugStringInternal name of the content type. Use plural and lower case, no space.
descriptionStringExplanation displayed in the backoffice.
label_field_nameStringField slug. Default field slug (generally title), it must be a string field. It is advised to not use relationship fields as it might cause issues with public entry submissions.
order_byStringAny field slug or 'manually' or 'created_at'. Changes the order of content entries in backoffice and content entries.
order_directionString'asc' or 'desc'
group_byStringField slug. Display entries grouped by the given field in the backoffice.
public_submission_enabledBooleanActivate public 'create' API (e.g for a contact form)
public_submission_accountsArrayArray of emails to be notified of new entries made with the public API. Works only in the Engine, not with Wagon.
display_settingsHashControl the display of the content type in the back-office. Possible values:
- seo: [Boolean]
- advanced: [Boolean]
- position: [Integer]
- hidden: [Boolean]
entry_templateStringBy default, the back-office displays the _label property (see label_field_name) of the content entry. This can be modified by writing your own Liquid template.
Example: {{ entry._label }}
fieldsHashList of fields whose structure is described below

Fields types

The minimal structure:

field_slug:
  type: <type>
  option: value

Common properties of fields

PropertyDescription
labelStringRequired. Label for the backoffice
requiredBooleandefault false
hintStringDisplays a hint in the backoffice.
localizedBooleanDefault false. Makes this field localized: each language will have a different value.
uniqueBooleanDefault false. Makes this field unique. Useful for email fields.

Depending on the field type, you can provide one or more options.

TypeDescription
stringStandard string field
textLonger field.
Use with the text_formatting option:
- html: option to display a wysiwyg editor in the backoffice
- markdown
- raw
selectAdd select_options: ["value 1", "value 2"] or for multilingual:
select_options: en: ["Value 1", "Value 2"] fr: ["Valeur 1", "Valeur 2"]
fileNo option, get the url with product.the_photo.url in your code.
integerInteger field. No option.
floatFloat field. No option.
dateDate field. No option.
date_timeDateTime field. No option.
booleantrue or false field. No option.
tagsTags field. No option.
belongs_toExample with product belongs to a category, field 'category' in products.yml: class_name: categories
has_manyDeclare a relationship between 2 content types. Example with category has many products (field 'products' in categories.yml):
class_name: products inverse_of: category ui_enabled: true
Notice the plurals and singulars.
many_to_manyExample with products has and belongs to many categories. In products.yml:
class_name: products inverse_of: category ui_enabled: true