Meta Box Template

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Overview

Some users have a hard time configuring meta boxes and custom fields with PHP. That would not be a problem anymore with Meta Box Template.

This extension helps you write configuration for meta boxes and custom fields in a human-readable format (YAML). So it’s much easier to edit or add more custom fields if you want. Meta Box Template creates a settings page in the admin, and all you need to do is just enter the meta box settings.

It’s kind of a tool stays between manual PHP code and visual drag and drop UI of Meta Box Builder. So, it’s powerful and flexible.

Please note that as it uses YAML to describe the configuration, it can do a lot more than Meta Box Builder and is almost equal to manual PHP.

Screenshot:

meta box template

For more information, please see the extension page

Installation

Before installing the extension, you need to install Meta Box plugin first.

  1. Go to Plugins → Add New and search for Meta Box
  2. Click Install Now button to install the plugin
  3. After installing, click Activate Plugin to activate the plugin

The extension is just a WordPress plugin, you can install it like a normal WordPress plugin.

  1. Go to Plugins, click Add new, then click Upload plugin.
  2. Choose the .zip file you downloaded and click Install now
  3. After finishing upload, click Activate to finish.

Usage

After installing, please go to Settings → Meta Box Template to add the template for custom meta boxes and custom fields.

The plugin uses YAML syntax to define meta boxes and custom fields. YAML is is a human-friendly format for data and is widely used to store configuration. For more information about YAML, please read on its homepage.

YAML syntax

Before going into details about the syntax, let’s look at the demo of 2 meta boxes defined with this plugin as an example:

#First Meta Box
- title: Profile
  pages: page
  fields:
    - name: Title
      id: prefix_title
      type: radio
      options:
        mr: Mr.
        mrs: Mrs.
        ms: Ms.
    - name: Name
      id: prefix_name
      type: text
    - name: Image
      id: prefix_image
      type: image_advanced
    - name: DOB
      id: prefix_dob
      type: date
      js_options:
        dateFormat: 'd-m-y'

# Second Meta Box
- title: Job Description
  pages: [post, page]
  fields:
    - name: Job Title
      id: prefix_job
      type: select_advanced
      options:
        director: Director
        manager: Marketing Manager
        tech: Technical Supportor
      placeholder: Please select your job title
    - name: Job Description
      id: prefix_job_desc
      type: wysiwyg
      options:
        media_buttons: false
        quicktags: false

This will render the following meta boxes:

meta box.

Basic rules

Arrays (YAML calls it sequences) use a dash followed by space:

- Item 1
- Item 2
- Item 3

You can also use short syntax like this:

[Item 1, Item 2, Item 3]

Both are equivalent to the following PHP code:

array( 'Item 1', 'Item 2', 'Item 3');

Associated arrays (YAML calls it mappings) use a colon followed by a space (: ) to mark each key/value pair:

key1: value1
key2: value2
key3: value3

alternatively:

{key1: value1, key2: value2, key3: value3}

which is equivalent to this PHP code:

array('key1' => 'value1', 'key2' => 'value2', 'key3' => 'value3');

Nested arrays (sequences or mappings) can be defined with 1 or more spaces:

fields:
  - name: Name
    id: prefix_name
    type: text
  - name: Image
    id: prefix_image
    type: image_advanced

which is equivalent to:

array( 'fields' => array(
    array(
        'name' => 'Name',
        'id' => 'prefix_name',
        'type' => 'text',
    ),
    array(
        'name' => 'Image',
        'id' => 'prefix_image',
        'type' => 'image_advanced',
    ),
) );

Small bits about the syntax:

  • The number of spaces does not matter. But keep the indentation consistent with the same number of spaces.
  • Comments can be added by adding # at the beginning of the line.
  • YAML accepts all data types string, number, booleans, etc.

For more information about using YAML, the Symfony project wrote a very good guide to follow. Check it out here. If you want the full reference (you don’t need to for Meta Box Template), you can read it at YAML homepage.

Note: To make you easier to type template for meta boxes and fields, the plugin added basic editing functionality like tab, auto closing brackets, etc.

Creating meta boxes

Each meta box or custom field has a list of the parameters which is written in key: value pairs (associated arrays). We use YAML mapping for these parameters.

Please see this documentation for list of meta box parameters and this documentation for full list of custom fields parameters.

To register multiple meta boxes or custom fields, we just need to use - to add sequences (simple list).

Note: the plugin supports all meta box and custom fields parameters.

If you register single meta box, then enter meta box parameters and its fields like this:

title: Profile
pages: page
fields:
  - name: Title
    id: prefix_title
    type: radio
    options:
      mr: Mr.
      ms: Ms.
  - name: Name
    id: prefix_name
    type: text
  - name: DOB
    id: prefix_dob
    type: date
    js_options:
      dateFormat: 'd-m-y'

If you need to create multiple meta boxes, use this template:

#First Meta Box
- title: Profile
  pages: page
  fields:
    - name: Title
      id: prefix_title
      type: radio
      options:
        mr: Mr.
        mrs: Mrs.
        ms: Ms.
    - name: Name
      id: prefix_name
      type: text
    - name: Image
      id: prefix_image
      type: image_advanced
    - name: DOB
      id: prefix_dob
      type: date
      js_options:
        dateFormat: 'd-m-y'

# Second Meta Box
- title: Job Description
  pages: [post, page]
  fields:
    - name: Job Title
      id: prefix_job
      type: select_advanced
      options:
        director: Director
        manager: Marketing Manager
        tech: Technical Supportor
      placeholder: Please select your job title
    - name: Job Description
      id: prefix_job_desc
      type: wysiwyg
      options:
        media_buttons: false
        quicktags: false

Config file

The plugin has an option that allows you to read the configuration from a specific file (.yaml), not only from manual input.

To do that, in the plugin settings page, enter the absolute path to the configuration file (.yaml). You can put the configuration file in any folder of your website. But for convenience, the plugin supports the following path variables:

Name Description
%wp-content% Path to wp-content directory, without trailing slash
%plugins% Path to wp-content/plugins directory, without trailing slash
%themes% Path to wp-content/themes directory. Same as get_theme_root() function, without trailing slash
%template% Path to current theme directory. Same as get_template_directory() function, without trailing slash
%stylesheet% Path to current child theme directory. Same as get_stylesheet_directory() function, without trailing slash

Note: when you change the configuration file, you have to click Save changes in the plugin settings page to force it re-parse the file content.