Custom Fields Implementation

Question

I have a custom component I am creating. I am trying to implement custom fields for several of my views. I have custom fields added currently and I can create a custom field and custom field groups for each of the views that I am wanting, but I can't seem to get them to show up on my edit layout.

Here is the code for my edit layout.

<?php
//NO DIRECT ACCESS
defined('_JEXEC') or die('Restricted access');
?>
<form action="<?php echo JRoute::_('index.php?option=com_example&layout=edit&id='.(int) $this->item->id);?>" method="post" name="adminForm" id="adminForm" class="form-validate">
<fieldset class="adminform">
    <legend><?php echo JText::_('Client Details'); ?></legend>
    <?php foreach($this->form->getFieldset() as $field): ?>
        <?php if (!$field->hidden): ?>
            <?php echo $field->label; ?>
        <?php endif; ?>
        <?php echo $field->input; ?>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</fieldset>
<fieldset class="adminform">
    <legend><?php echo JText::_('Custom Fields'); ?></legend>
    <?php
    JLoader::register('FieldsHelper', JPATH_ADMINISTRATOR . '/components/com_fields/helpers/fields.php');
    $customFields = FieldsHelper::getFields('com_example.clients', $this->item, true);
    echo '<pre>';
    print_r($customFields);
    echo '</pre>';
    ?>
    <?php foreach($customFields as $field): ?>
        <?php if (!$field->hidden): ?>
            <?php echo $field->label; ?>
        <?php endif; ?>
        <?php echo $field->input; ?>
    <?php endforeach; ?>
</fieldset>
<div>
    <input type="hidden" name="task" value="client.edit" />
    <?php echo JHtml::_('form.token'); ?>
</div>
</form>

I when I print_r() the $customFields variable I can see the custom field that I created, but for the life of me I can't figure out how to convert that stdObject over to the actual form field. Anyone have any ideas on this? I am sure it is something simple but I don't see the answer in the Joomla Component Dev Tutorials online.

Answer 1

Custom fields are added to the form definition by a plugin using onContentPrepareForm event. For this reason you don't need and should not hardcode any code related to custom fields. Form fields can be rendered in many different ways. It depends on your form structure. If fields are inside fieldsets, you can use Joomla\CMS\Form\Form::getFieldsets() to get the fieldsets, iterate over them and render them using Joomla\CMS\Form\Form::renderFieldset():

<?php foreach ($this->form->getFieldsets() as $fieldset) : ?>
    <fieldset>
        <legend><?= JText::_($fieldset->label); ?></legend>
        <?= $this->form->renderFieldset($fieldset->name); ?>
    </fieldset>
<?php endforeach; ?>

There are also some layouts available in layouts/joomla/edit directory that you can use but they're rather quirky.

Answer 2

The issue I had with custom fields not showing up was I had my content name incorrect in my helper file. The context has to match the view that you are applying custom fields to or they will never load.