Alternative field overview

The alternative field is a Collection option that provides CMS users with a selection of predefined values to pick from. You can exhibit the value of an alternative field in your Collection Lists and Collection Pages by associating it to text components. Additionally, you can utilize the alternative field to refine Collection Lists in order to display particular items. Similarly, you can establish conditional visibility on elements in Collection Lists and Pages to present particular elements that fulfill the condition(s) you stipulate using the alternative field.

Usual applications

• Predetermined classifications for a Collection
• Nations
• Dialects
• Places
• Divisions
• Predefined dimensions (e.g., for garments or artwork)
• Fixed figures or number ranges

When fields only necessitate a true or false value, you can utilize the toggle field.

In this tutorial, we discuss:

1. Alternative field compared to referral field
2. Building an alternative field
3. Adjusting values
4. Linking alternative field value to text
5. Refining a Collection List using the alternative field
6. Establishing conditional visibility using the alternative field

Alternative field compared to referral field

Similarly to alternatives, the referral field enables you to select a value from a dropdown list. Nevertheless, referral values are Collection items from another Collection. There might be numerous compelling reasons to opt for referrals instead of alternatives:

• Collaborators are unable to append new alternative values to an alternative field. They can merely select alternative values that are prearranged by the designer. If you desire collaborators to append more alternatives, such as new categories, you can utilize a referral field instead.
• The values in an alternative field are solely linked to the current Collection. They can’t be used or referred in other Collections. If you require values that are reusable in varied Collections, utilize a referral or multi-referral field instead.
• You can’t make several selections from an alternative field dropdown. For such instances, utilize a multi-referral field instead.
• You are unable to associate more details (e.g., a hue) with an alternative. If you wish to associate more details with each alternative, you need to employ a referral field instead. The referral field enables you to access all the fields from that referred collection, thus offering greater flexibility.

Establishing an alternative field

An alternative field can be included in a current or new Collection. Within Collection settings, hit on New Field and afterwards choose the Alternative field.

Including, renaming, eradicating alternatives

To insert alternatives:

1. Press Add Alternative
2. Type in your alternative(s)
3. Hit Enter to preserve

You must add at least one alternative to be capable of saving the Collection, and you can append up to 100 alternatives.

To adjust an alternative, just click on the alternative and amend the text.

To erase an alternative, press on the trash can symbol that emerges when you hover over an alternative.

Alternatives will emerge in a dropdown in the sequence that you append them. You are unable to reshuffle alternatives.

Adjusting values

You and your collaborators can exclusively choose one of the alternatives that you specified when creating the field. To eliminate a picked alternative, hit the initial item in the dropdown: “Select an alternative…”

Linking alternative field value to text

On Collection Pages or within Collection Lists, you can join a text component to the alternative field to retrieve the alternative text from the Collection.

1. Incorporate a text component to your Collection List or Page
2. Tick the Obtain text from checkbox in the Inner Text Settings that pops up
3. Select the alternative field from the field dropdown

You can also access the inner text settings by selecting the text element and either clicking the settings icon next to the element label on the canvas or by going to the Settings panel (D).

You can detach the link by unchecking the Obtain text from checkbox in the Inner Text Settings.

Refining a Collection List using the alternative field

If you wish to construct a Collection List that exclusively presents itemsthat are specified:

1. Choose the Collection list you wish to filter
2. Head to the Configuration panel (D)
3. Include a Sorter under Category List Settings
4. Pick your alternative field in the initial dropdown menu
5. Opt for Identical in the second dropdown
6. Select the alternative value in the third dropdown menu
7. Press Save

The sorter guidelines you can apply with the alternative field and values are:

• Identical – searches for Category items with an alternative value equal to the value you specify for this rule
• Differs From – searches for Category items with an alternative value that is not equal to the value you specify for this rule
• Is Available – searches for Category items that have any alternative value set for this alternative field
• Is Not Available – searches for Category items that do not have any alternative value set for this alternative field

Find out more about categorization

Configuration of personalized visibility using the alternative field

If you establish tags for every alternative value for an alternative field, you can incorporate conditions to each tag to display them solely for items with that alternative value:

1. Select the tag
2. Head to the Configuration panel (D)
3. Include a Restriction (when this element is visible) under Provisional visibility
4. Pick your alternative field in the initial dropdown menu
5. Opt for Identical in the second dropdown
6. Select the alternative value in the third dropdown menu
7. Press Save