CustomFields
CustomFields, the aptly named plugin, brings custom fields to Movable Type's entries, authors and categories offering the ability to create text fields, multi-line textareas, drop down menus, radio buttons, url and date/time fields (complete with a pop up calendar). These fields, as demonstrated by the screenshots below, are easily accessible as they're displayed inline (directly on the respective editing screens). When CustomFields are enabled on the editing screens, all fields displayed on the screen are completely sortable - through a simple drag and drop interface, you can reorder your entry, author and category screens.
The data in the custom fields can be published in a number of ways including custom template tags - each of your custom fields could have its own custom template tag, for example if I had a custom entry field called Current Mood, I could create a custom tag MTEntryCurrentMood.
Finally, CustomFields also adds full fledged author archiving to Movable Type. Through one archive template, you can create pages for each of your authors displaying not only their entries but their custom fields data.
CustomFields 2.0 is the recommended version to install but is currently a release candidate which means that some bugs may still exist. You are recommended to take a backup before installing this plugin
softserve
November 21, 2007 10:29 PM | Reply
Once I figured customfields out I fell in love with it. This took a while, largely because the version up for download (as of Thanksgiving 2007) is essentially broken. After scouring the forum for help and not really getting it, I stumbled upon a couple of threads that mentioned changesets. Once I implemented these changes (http://plugins.movalog.com/svn/changeset/528 and http://plugins.movalog.com/svn/changeset/527 specifically) it was basically smooth sailing. Any issues I came across were dumb mistakes on my part, although I still can't get folder customfields to appear.
But in any case, through this I've been able to fix what I consider a fundamental issue with MT4: the lack of the ability to specify meta descriptions, keywords and page titles (assuming you wish them to be different from the entry/page title itself). WP has plug-ins for this, MT4 currently does not. Now I've set it up to the point that it doesn't matter. I've done this and some other image set-ups and I'm very happy with where it's going.
My only real gripe is that the instructions on actually implementing these tags are just overly vague. Quite a few are mentioned on the manual page, but there's no context for them and it's a LOT of playing around. I think this largely just comes down to Arvind being a busy guy.
So for all the headaches, I think this is a 4 star product right now. Once its officially updated to fix these things I had to fix with changesets and the documentation is spiffed up it's easily 5. As it stands it's still the most useful MT4 plugin I'm aware of.
kimonostereo
December 9, 2007 10:29 AM | Reply
Was trying to use this plugin and followed softserves advice... but now when I make more than one custom field, only the first one shows up on the custom fields page. The rest do not show up at all.
Also there doesn't seem to be a way to remove line breaks or the
around the fields when displayed? Or maybe there is but I can't modify the custom field because they don't show up after created.RDude
January 15, 2008 10:08 PM | Reply
So where's the download?
sokratesagogo.myopenid.com
January 28, 2008 7:47 AM | Reply
This plug-in has been incorporated into the professional pack of MT4 - alas.
Spica42
July 24, 2008 6:01 AM | Reply
I upgraded from movable type 3 to MT4 but I'm not using the professional pack. I can't publish any pages now, how do I get it to work?
webDev_1
January 16, 2009 3:45 PM | Reply
When I moved the files I received the below error message. When I click the "Begin Upgrade" the url reads http://thestage/cgi-bin/mt/%3Cmt:var%20name=
What went wrong?
------------------------
Time to Upgrade! Upgrade Check
The version of Perl installed on your server () is lower than the minimum supported version ().
While Movable Type may run, it is an untested and unsupported environment. We strongly recommend upgrading to at least Perl .
Do you want to proceed with the upgrade anyway?
Yes No
style="display:none;">
A new version of Movable Type has been installed. We'll need to complete a few tasks to update your database.
Information about this upgrade can be found here.
In addition, the following Movable Type components require upgrading or installation:
The following Movable Type components require upgrading or installation:
*
Version
"> " />
Begin Upgrade
Your Movable Type installation is already up to date.
">
Josine
July 15, 2010 1:44 AM | Reply
I installed CustomFields a couple of times, no problems.. works just fine. I tried to install it now, but the custom fields won't show in the entries. Anyone knows what to do?
inspiraller
July 28, 2010 1:22 AM | Reply
It would be very useful to have a custom field of: rich text.
Mihai Bocsaru
replied to comment from Josine
January 20, 2011 6:48 AM | Reply
What version of movable type are you using, Josine?
Be aware that inside the PRO version of MT v4.x and v5.x Custom Fields are a native function. Trying to install this plugin inside those versions won't work.
Kind Regards,
Mihai Bocsaru
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