Joomla came up with the Joomla custom fields with the release of Joomla 3.7 back in 2017. Most of the Joomla developers/users know about it. Yet there are still many who do not know the real potential of Joomla Custom Fields.
The Joomla Custom Fields allows Joomla developers to extend the features of Articles, User Profiles, and Contact. You will get custom fields only on these three components. Joomla custom fields help you take your Joomla project to the next level without having to rely on the third-party extensions.
At present, Joomla offers you only sixteen types of the Joomla Custom fields, that include the following:
- Calendar Field
- Text Field
- Editor Field
- Checkboxes Field
- Color Field
- Integer Field
- List Field
- List of Images Field
- Media Field
- Radio Field
- User Field
- User Group Field
- Repeatable Field
- SQL Field
- Textarea Field
- Url Field
Besides this, you will need some advanced fields also.
Hence, the following is a list of the advanced Joomla custom fields you will need for your projects in 2020. Your choice of the areas will depend upon the nature and requirements of the project
- File Upload-
The File Upload Custom field helps you add a feature to upload any attachment like image, PDF, a zip file, etc. to your article and put a direct download link for your user. Besides the article, you can add a file upload field in the registration form and let your users upload a profile picture to their profile.
You can add the File Upload field to a contact form so that the user can upload any file. Also, you get to control the type and size of the file.
2. Module-
The Module loader custom field enables you to choose a module out of a list that includes all the modules of your Joomla site.
Also Read :- Best Joomla Blog Extensions 2020.
3. Articles Field-
Articles Field, by Regular Labs, is a plugin that enables you to extend the capability of Joomla custom fields so that you can display a list of articles. With the native List custom field, you can show the list as a plain text only. You cannot hyperlink it to any article.
You may choose from a list of articles according to the selected filters with the help of the Articles Field plugin that allows you to connect articles directly.
4. Related Articles Custom Field-
Related articles enable you to increase the engagement and readership on your website. You can show the links to articles strictly related to that article by using Related Articles Custom Field.
5. PHP-
Sometimes you may need to run PHP code in Joomla articles, and you cannot do so with default custom fields. You will have to download the Advanced Custom Fields Joomla extension that gives you the PHP custom field, allowing you to run any PHP code when you are viewing an article.
You can also block some PHP functions with it if you want. You can list all the PHP functions which you do not want to execute. Hence, if it finds any blocked function in the PHP code, it will not run the whole block of code.
6. WhatsApp Click to Chat-
People nowadays use WhatsApp not only for personal chat but also for businesses. Business owners provide product support via WhatsApp and do many other things with WhatsApp for increasing their sales. For creating a link that can navigate users to send you a message without saving your number on their list, this custom field is excellent for you.
7. Bing Maps-
Bing Map is a highly useful free alternative for Google Maps. The Bing Maps Custom Field helps you to display Bing Map on your frontend by just typing in the latitude-longitude of any desired location.
8. Progress Bar-
Progress Bar custom field enables you to add a progress bar to your article by just adding the percentage. You can transform or alter the look, vibe, and layout of the progress bar by adding animation, border-radius, strips, shadow, etc.
9. Download Button-
The Download Button field will be useful to you if you are offering something to download. It allows you to add a button on the frontend. Whenever a user clicks on the button, it forces the browser to download the file directly instead of navigating them to the file page. It also allows you to include or exclude specific file types.
10. Fields Location-
The Fields Location plugin provides a Google map location selector as a custom field type, with which you can add any number of map fields to your articles, categories, contacts, and users.
11. Custom Fields Youtube-
If you wish to add YouTube videos to your content, this Custom field will be useful to you. You can create new fields for ‘Youtube videos’ in any extension that supports Joomla custom fields.
