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Custom Fields

A Custom Field represents a single field of data (for example a Product Rating). A Custom API is composed of one or more Custom Fields.

Here is a comparison of different types and validation available in Custom APIs vs Non-Core Flows.

FeatureNon-Core FlowsCommerce Extensions
Data Type: String✅✅
Data Type: Integer✅✅
Data Type: Float✅✅
Data Type: Boolean✅✅
Data Type: Date✅✅ Regex possible now, full support planned
Data Type: One To Many✅Planned
Validation: Regular Expression⛔️✅
Validation: Slug/Email✅✅ Replaced by Regex validation
Validation: Min/Max Value✅✅
Validation: Enum(String)✅✅ Replaced by Regex validation
Validation: Enum(Float/Integer)✅⛔️
Validation: Allow null values⛔✅
Validation: Unique(String)⛔✅
Validation: Unique Case Insensitivity(String)⛔✅
Validation: Immutable⛔✅

Validation​

When creating or updating a Custom Field, validation can be used to limit the values that may be stored in the corresponding Custom API Entry.

note

All validation changes, such as those to allow_null_values and any type specific rules, apply to new entries only. Existing Custom API Entry records are unaffected until updated.

Integer Validation​

  • min_value: Specifies the minimum whole number that can be stored. If set, it must be less than max_value.
  • max_value: Specifies the maximum whole number that can be stored. If set, it must be greater than min_value.

sample integer validation object:

{
  "validation": {
    "integer": {
      "min_value": 0,
      "max_value": 32
    }
  }
}

Even if no validation is set, field_type integer only supports values between -2^53+1 and 2^53+1. This is because the JSON format doesn't guarantee that values outside this range are portable (Source).

Float Validation​

  • min_value: Specifies the minimum number that can be stored. If set, it must be less than max_value.
  • max_value: Specifies the maximum number that can be stored. If set, it must be greater than min_value.

sample float validation object:

{
  "validation": {
    "float": {
      "min_value": 0.01,
      "max_value": 32.01
    }
  }
}

The float field_type cannot accurately represent some numbers and so using very small or large numbers might lose precision. We recommend that API clients use either the integer field_type if applicable , or the string data type if perfect precision or recall is required.

String Validation​

  • min_length: Specifies the minimum number of characters that can be stored. If set, it must be greater than 0 and less than max_length.
  • max_length: Specifies the maximum number of characters that can be stored. If set, it must be greater than 0 and min_length.
  • regex: A RE2 regular expression used to restrict the specific characters that can be stored. It must be less than 1024 characters.
  • unique: Specifies whether the field must have unique constraint or not. It must be yes or no.
  • unique_case_insensitivity: Applies when unique is set to yes. It controls whether values with different cases (for example, ABC and abc) should conflict. It must be true or false. sample string validation object:
{
  "validation": {
    "string": {
      "min_length": 0,
      "max_length": 64,
      "regex": "^.+\\.(jpg|jpeg|png|gif|pdf)$",
      "unique": "yes"
      "unique_case_insensitivity": true
    }
  }
}

Even if no validation is set, field_type string only supports values that are up to 65535 characters long.

Null Values​

All Custom Fields can be configured to restrict the storage of null values for that field on a Custom API Entry. By default, this is true.

sample validation object :

{
  "validation": {
    "boolean": {
      "allow_null_values": false,
      "immutable": false
    }
  }
}

Immutable​

When creating a Custom Field, it can be configured to be immutable. When set to true, the value of this field can be specified only during POST requests and cannot be modified during PUT requests. By default, this is false.

sample validation object :

{
  "validation": {
    "boolean": {
      "immutable": false
    }
  }
}

Presentation​

When creating or updating a Custom Field, presentation can be used to influence the layout of fields within a Custom API in User Interface. It does not order or affect the JSON response, and has no semantics on the backend.

Reserved Slugs​

The following values cannot be used as a slug in a Custom Field.

  • slug
  • type
  • id
  • meta
  • created_at
  • updated_at
  • links
  • relationships
  • attributes
  • attribute
  • dimension
  • dimensions
  • weight
  • weights