Creating Data Fields

About Data Fields

Data fields represent the data that is stored in a Data_Object and are mostly used for filtering inside an automation.

For example, you might run a login trigger, but you want to execute an action, just for a specific user role, ID, or last login date.

Creating your first Data_Field

To create your own Data_Field you need to extend Thrive\Automator\Items\Data_Field and implement the required basic methods.

• abstract public static function get_id(): string - should return a unique identifier that will be used together with the Data_Object. To avoid conflicts or overwrites we suggest using a prefix

<?php
public static function get_id(): string { 
    return 'wp/username'; 
}

• abstract public static function get_name(): string - the name of the field that will be displayed in the admin UI when creating a filter

<?php
public static function get_name(): string { 
    return 'Username'; 
}

• abstract public static function get_description(): string - a short description for the field to help users understand what it represents

<?php
public static function get_description(): string {  
    return 'The username used by the user to login'; 
}

• abstract public static function get_placeholder(): string - placeholder to be used for inputs in the admin UI

<?php
public static function get_placeholder(): string { 
    return 'username'; 
}

• abstract public static function get_supported_filters(): array - return an array of filters that are supported by our field. Some filters are already implemented by Thrive Automator plugin (check inc/classes/items/filters), but more can be added.

<?php
public static function get_supported_filters(): array { 
    return [ 'string_contains', 'string_equals', 'dropdown' ]; 
}

Other methods

• abstract public static function is_ajax_field(): bool - determine if the values used for filtering in admin UI are returned directly or through an ajax request. By default, this method returns false.

<?php
public static function is_ajax_field(): bool { 
    return true; 
}

• abstract public static function get_field_value_type(): string - return field value's type. Based on this we determine whether the field can be used as dynamic data.

<?php
public static function get_field_value_type(): string { 
    return true; 
}

• abstract public static function get_options_callback(): array - return an array of ID/label arrays that will be used to display values in filters. In case is_ajax_field() method returns true, values for filter compare will be retrieved with an ajax request. Ajax options values are usually used for select dropdowns.

<?php
public static function get_options_callback(): array { 
   return return [ 
             [ 
                 'id' => 1, 'label' => 'Label 1', 
             ], 
          ]; 
}

• public static function primary_key(): array - return an array of Data_Objects ids of those data objects that can be initialized by this field value. Those are used for Webhook and Advanced Data Mapping items where you can map a text/number to a dataset

<?php
public static function primary_key(): array { 
    return [ User_Data::get_id() ]; 
}

Registering the data field

To register a Data_Field so it can be used by data objects and filters, we should use the thrive_automator_register_data_field function which receives as the only parameter, the class name.