Text, Text area, Email and URL

These four types store a piece of text in a normal database column. They differ in how the text is cleaned before saving and in the control the editor sees.

None of these types has its own Type settings. They use the options described in Settings every field has: default value, placeholder, instructions, required, min and max length, and the display options.

To use another column size, open the field's SQL column options (see Field groups) and choose a type from the allowed list. For example set Text to VARCHAR(100) or TEXT.

Column functions. A field can also compute its value in the database layer. Allowed functions: Text current_timestamp, md5, uuid, sha1, upper, lower; Text area upper, lower, sha1; Email and URL uuid. A field with a function cannot have a default value. upper and lower are applied when the value is saved; uuid fills in a generated UUID only when the value is empty.

Text

Stores a single line.

Cleaning on save: HTML tags are removed, surrounding spaces are trimmed, line breaks are turned into spaces, and invalid characters are dropped. If the field has a Max length, the text is cut to that many characters.

Returns: a string.

Prints: the text, HTML-escaped.

Template usage

$title = wpmcf_get_field( 'product', 'tagline' );        // "Fast & light"  (raw, not escaped)
echo esc_html( $title );                                  // escape it yourself

wpmcf_the_field( 'product', 'tagline' );                  // <span class="wpmcf-field-value">Fast &amp; light</span>
wpmcf_the_field( 'product', 'tagline', null, [ 'wrap' => false ] );  // Fast &amp; light

[wpmcf_field group="product" field="tagline"]
[wpmcf_field group="product" field="tagline" id="42" wrap="false" default="No tagline"]

wpmcf_get_field() returns the stored string unescaped. Escape it for the place you print it (esc_html(), esc_attr(), esc_url()).

Text area

Stores several lines.

Cleaning on save: HTML tags are removed and invalid characters dropped, but line breaks are kept. Trailing blank lines are trimmed.

Returns: a string with \n line breaks.

Prints: HTML-escaped. Line breaks are not converted to <br>; a browser shows them as one paragraph. To keep the breaks, use nl2br() or wpautop():

echo wpautop( esc_html( wpmcf_get_field( 'product', 'summary' ) ) );

Use a WYSIWYG editor when editors need formatting or links.

Email

Cleaning on save: the value goes through WordPress sanitize_email(). A value that is not a valid address is saved as empty (NULL). Letter case is kept.

Returns: the address as a string (or null when empty).

Prints: the address as plain escaped text. It is not turned into a mailto: link. Build the link yourself:

$mail = wpmcf_get_field( 'contact', 'email' );
if ( is_email( $mail ) ) {
    printf( '<a href="mailto:%1$s">%1$s</a>', esc_attr( $mail ) );
}

URL

Cleaning on save: the value goes through esc_url_raw(). A missing scheme gets http:// (example.com becomes http://example.com), spaces are encoded, and dangerous schemes such as javascript: are removed, which saves an empty value. A relative address such as /contact is kept as it is.

Returns: the URL string.

Prints: the URL, escaped for use in an attribute (esc_url()). It is not wrapped in a link. For a clickable button with link text and a new-tab option, use the Link type.

$site = wpmcf_get_field( 'company', 'website' );
if ( $site ) {
    printf( '<a href="%s" rel="noopener">Visit website</a>', esc_url( $site ) );
}

[wpmcf_field group="company" field="website" format="url" wrap="false"]

Edit screen

Changing the type later

Text can be switched to Text area, Password or URL, and Email to Text, Text area, Password or URL, without a data backup. Switching to a different kind of type (for example Text to Number) may need a conversion: the builder warns you and keeps a backup column. See Field groups.

Troubleshooting

• My line breaks disappear on the site. Text area keeps them in the data, but HTML collapses them. Use wpautop() or nl2br().
• The email field is empty after saving. The address was not valid (for example it contained a space). The field is saved empty.
• My URL got http:// in front. The URL type completes a missing scheme. Type the full address, including https://.
• A short value passes my Min length. Min length is enforced by the browser only; use Max length or your own check in code. See Settings every field has.