Plugin SDK > Field extensions

Field extensions

By creating what we call 'field extensions', plugins can change the way in which the fields of a record are presented to the final editor, going beyond the appearance configurations that DatoCMS offers by default.

There are different types of field extensions that can be created, depending on requirements:

"Field editor" extensions

They operate on top of a particular field, replacing the default field editor that DatoCMS provides with custom code:

The use cases are varied, and many examples are already on our marketplace, ready to be installed on your project:

  • The Shopify product plugin can be hooked into string fields and completely changes the interface to allow you to browse the products in your Shopify store, then save the ID of the selected product in the string field itself;

  • The Hidden field plugin simply hides a specific field from the editor's eyes, while the Conditional fields plugin shows/hides a number of fields when you toggle a particular checkbox field.

Field editors as sidebar panels

It is also possible to move editor extensions to the right-hand sidebar, giving it the appearance of a collapsible panel. The difference between this mode and a sidebar panel is that this controls a specific field of the record and can use it as a "storage unit" to save internal information, while a sidebar panel is not associated with any particular field.

As an example, the Sidebar notes plugin uses this mode to turn a JSON field into a kind of notepad where you can add virtual post-it notes.

"Field addon" field extensions

As the name suggests, addons do not change the way a field is edited, but they add functionality, or provide additional information, directly below the field editor. While only one editor can be set up for each field, it is possible to have several addons per field, each providing its own different functionality:

As examples of use, Yandex Translate adds a button below your localisable text/string fields to automatically translate its content from one locale to another, while Sanitize HTML allows you to clean up the HTML code present in a text field according to various preferences.

Two sides of the same coin

Editors and addons are both field extensions, so they have access to exactly the same methods and information. The difference between the two is simply semantics: editors are for editing the field, while addons offer extra functionality.

How to hook field extensions to a field

The SDK provides an overrideFieldExtensions hook that can be implemented to declare the intention to take part in the rendering of any field within the form, either by setting its editor, or by adding some addons, or both.

In this example, we are forcing the use of a custom starRating editor for all integer fields that have an ID of rating:

1
import { connect, Field, FieldIntentCtx } from 'datocms-plugin-sdk';
2
3
connect({
4
overrideFieldExtensions(field: Field, ctx: FieldIntentCtx) {
5
if (
6
field.attributes.field_type === 'integer' &&
7
field.attributes.api_key === 'rating'
8
) {
9
return {
10
editor: { id: 'starRating' },
11
};
12
}
13
},
14
});

Similarly, we can also add an addon extension called loremIpsumGenerator below all the text fields:

overrideFieldExtensions(field: Field, ctx: FieldIntentCtx) {
if (field.attributes.field_type === 'text') {
return {
addons: [
{ id: 'loremIpsumGenerator' },
],
};
}
}

Rendering the field extension

At this point, we need to actually render the field extensions by implementing the renderFieldExtension hook.

Inside of this hook we can implement a simple "router" that will present a different React component depending on the field extension that we've requested to render inside the iframe.

We also make sure to pass down as a prop the second ctx argument, which provides a series of information and methods for interacting with the main application:

1
import React from 'react';
2
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
3
import { connect, RenderFieldExtensionCtx } from 'datocms-plugin-sdk';
4
5
function render(component: React.ReactNode) {
6
ReactDOM.render(
7
<React.StrictMode>{component}</React.StrictMode>,
8
document.getElementById('root'),
9
);
10
}
11
12
connect({
13
renderFieldExtension(fieldExtensionId: string, ctx: RenderFieldExtensionCtx) {
14
switch (fieldExtensionId) {
15
case 'starRating':
16
return render(<StarRatingEditor ctx={ctx} />);
17
case 'loremIpsumGenerator':
18
return render(<LoremIpsumGenerator ctx={ctx} />);
19
}
20
},
21
});

The implementation of the Lorem Ipsum component is pretty straightforward: we simply use the ctx.setFieldValue function to change the value of the field into a randomly generated string:

1
import { Canvas, Button } from 'datocms-react-ui';
2
import { loremIpsum } from 'lorem-ipsum';
3
4
type PropTypes = {
5
ctx: RenderFieldExtensionCtx;
6
};
7
8
function LoremIpsumGenerator({ ctx }: PropTypes) {
9
const insertLoremIpsum = () => {
10
ctx.setFieldValue(ctx.fieldPath, loremIpsum({ format: 'plain' }));
11
};
12
13
return (
14
<Canvas ctx={ctx}>
15
<Button type="button" onClick={insertLoremIpsum} buttonSize="xxs">
16
Add lorem ipsum
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</Button>
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</Canvas>
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);
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}

It is important to wrap the content inside the Canvas component, so that the iframe will continuously auto-adjust its size based on the content we're rendering, and to give our app the look and feel of the DatoCMS web app.

The Star Rating component is quite similar. We get the current field value from ctx.formValues and the disabled state from ctx.disabled. When the user interacts with the component and changes its value, we call ctx.setFieldValue to propagate the change to the main DatoCMS application:

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import ReactStars from 'react-rating-stars-component';
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import get from 'lodash/get';
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import { Canvas } from 'datocms-react-ui';
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import { RenderFieldExtensionCtx } from 'datocms-plugin-sdk';
5
6
type PropTypes = {
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ctx: RenderFieldExtensionCtx;
8
};
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function StarRatingEditor({ ctx }: PropTypes) {
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const currentValue = get(ctx.formValues, ctx.fieldPath);
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const handleChange = (newValue: number) => {
13
ctx.setFieldValue(ctx.fieldPath, newValue);
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};
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return (
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<Canvas ctx={ctx}>
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<ReactStars
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size={32}
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isHalf={false}
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edit={!ctx.disabled}
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value={currentValue || 0}
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onChange={handleChange}
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/>
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</Canvas>
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);
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}

Here's the final result:

Adding user-defined settings into the mix

You might have noticed that our plugin is currently hardcoding some choices, namely:

  • the rules that decide when to apply both our "star rating" and "lorem ipsum" extensions;

  • the maximum number of stars to show;

  • the length of the "lorem ipsum" text we're generating;

If we want, we could make these settings configurable by the user, either by implementing some global plugin settings, or by transforming our field extensions into "manual" extensions.

When to use one strategy or the other is completely up to you, and each has its own advantages/disadvanges.

  • Manual field extensions are, well, manually hooked by the end-user on each field, and for each installation different configuration options can be specified. Given that our star rating extension will most likely be used in a few specific places rather than in all integer fields of the project, manual fields might be the best choice.

  • On the other hand, our Lorem Ipsum generator may be convenient in all text fields, so requiring the end user to manually install it everywhere would be unnecessarily tedious. In this case, the choice to force the addon on all fields with the overrideFieldExtensions hook is probably the right one.

In the next section we're going to take a much more detailed look at manual field extensions, and we're going to convert our star rating editor into a manual extension.

Reference Table: Field Types & Internal Names

This table lists the internal names of different DatoCMS field types. It is useful for limiting your field extensions only to specific field types. If you're using TypeScript, you can also get this from the type FieldAttributes['field_type'] exported from our CMA client.

For more details on the different DatoCMS field types, please see the CMA documentation on Fields.

Field TypeInternal Name (for `attributes.field_type`)
Single-line string`string`
Multi-line text`text`
Boolean`boolean`
Integer`integer`
Float`float`
Date`date`
Date & Time`date_time`
Color`color`
JSON`json`
Location`lat_lon`
SEO and Social`seo`
Slug`slug`
External Video`video`
Single Asset`file`
Asset Gallery`gallery`
Single Link (to another record)`link`
Multiple Links (to other records)`links`
Modular Content`rich_text`
Single Block`single_block`
Structured Text`structured_text`

Side note: ctx updates and React useEffect

This section is only relevant if your plugin has useEffects triggered by context changes.

Because plugins live inside an iframe, record updates may sometimes cause the ctx (context) object to be recreated and passed through the iframe again, triggering a React useEffect unexpectedly even if the values appear the same. This is because useEffect compares objects by reference, not value equality. A re-created ctx object with the same values will still cause React to believe it's changed.

For example, if you update some field values in the CMS (outside your plugin), ctx.formValues will update as expected, because those values are different. However, React will also think ctx.fields has changed, even though its values remain the same.

Generally this shouldn't be a problem, but if you specifically need to make sure a useEffect only runs on actual value changes, we recommend a custom hook like useDeepCompareEffect().

overrideFieldExtensions(field: Field, ctx)

Use this function to automatically force one or more field extensions to a particular field.

Return value

The function must return: FieldExtensionOverride | undefined.

Context object

The following properties and methods are available in the ctx argument:

This hook exposes additional information and operations specific to the context in which it operates.

Every hook available in the Plugin SDK shares the same minumum set of properties and methods.

Information about the current user using the CMS.

The current DatoCMS user. It can either be the owner or one of the collaborators (regular or SSO).

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The role for the current DatoCMS user.

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The access token to perform API calls on behalf of the current user. Only available if currentUserAccessToken additional permission is granted.

View on Github
These methods can be used to open custom dialogs/confirmation panels.

Opens a custom modal. Returns a promise resolved with what the modal itself returns calling the resolve() function.

View on Github
1
const result = await ctx.openModal({
2
id: 'regular',
3
title: 'Custom title!',
4
width: 'l',
5
parameters: { foo: 'bar' },
6
});
7
8
if (result) {
9
ctx.notice(`Success! ${JSON.stringify(result)}`);
10
} else {
11
ctx.alert('Closed!');
12
}

Opens a UI-consistent confirmation dialog. Returns a promise resolved with the value of the choice made by the user.

View on Github
1
const result = await ctx.openConfirm({
2
title: 'Custom title',
3
content:
4
'Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry',
5
choices: [
6
{
7
label: 'Positive',
8
value: 'positive',
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intent: 'positive',
10
},
11
{
12
label: 'Negative',
13
value: 'negative',
14
intent: 'negative',
15
},
16
],
17
cancel: {
18
label: 'Cancel',
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value: false,
20
},
21
});
22
23
if (result) {
24
ctx.notice(`Success! ${result}`);
25
} else {
26
ctx.alert('Cancelled!');
27
}
These properties provide access to "entity repos", that is, the collection of resources of a particular type that have been loaded by the CMS up to this moment. The entity repos are objects, indexed by the ID of the entity itself.

All the models of the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID.

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All the fields currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. If some fields you need are not present, use the loadItemTypeFields function to load them.

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All the fieldsets currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. If some fields you need are not present, use the loadItemTypeFieldsets function to load them.

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All the regular users currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. It will always contain the current user. If some users you need are not present, use the loadUsers function to load them.

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All the SSO users currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. It will always contain the current user. If some users you need are not present, use the loadSsoUsers function to load them.

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These methods let you open the standard DatoCMS dialogs needed to interact with records.

Opens a dialog for creating a new record. It returns a promise resolved with the newly created record or null if the user closes the dialog without creating anything.

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1
const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
2
3
const item = await ctx.createNewItem(itemTypeId);
4
5
if (item) {
6
ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
7
} else {
8
ctx.alert('Closed!');
9
}

Opens a dialog for selecting one (or multiple) record(s) from a list of existing records of type itemTypeId. It returns a promise resolved with the selected record(s), or null if the user closes the dialog without choosing any record.

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1
const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
2
3
const items = await ctx.selectItem(itemTypeId, { multiple: true });
4
5
if (items) {
6
ctx.notice(`Success! ${items.map((i) => i.id).join(', ')}`);
7
} else {
8
ctx.alert('Closed!');
9
}

Opens a dialog for editing an existing record. It returns a promise resolved with the edited record, or null if the user closes the dialog without persisting any change.

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1
const itemId = prompt('Please insert a record ID:');
2
3
const item = await ctx.editItem(itemId);
4
5
if (item) {
6
ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
7
} else {
8
ctx.alert('Closed!');
9
}
These methods can be used to asyncronously load additional information your plugin needs to work.

Loads all the fields for a specific model (or block). Fields will be returned and will also be available in the the fields property.

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const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
2
3
const fields = await ctx.loadItemTypeFields(itemTypeId);
4
5
ctx.notice(
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`Success! ${fields
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.map((field) => field.attributes.api_key)
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.join(', ')}`,
9
);

Loads all the fieldsets for a specific model (or block). Fieldsets will be returned and will also be available in the the fieldsets property.

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const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
2
3
const fieldsets = await ctx.loadItemTypeFieldsets(itemTypeId);
4
5
ctx.notice(
6
`Success! ${fieldsets
7
.map((fieldset) => fieldset.attributes.title)
8
.join(', ')}`,
9
);

Loads all the fields in the project that are currently using the plugin for one of its manual field extensions.

View on Github
1
const fields = await ctx.loadFieldsUsingPlugin();
2
3
ctx.notice(
4
`Success! ${fields
5
.map((field) => field.attributes.api_key)
6
.join(', ')}`,
7
);

Loads all regular users. Users will be returned and will also be available in the the users property.

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1
const users = await ctx.loadUsers();
2
3
ctx.notice(`Success! ${users.map((user) => user.id).join(', ')}`);

Loads all SSO users. Users will be returned and will also be available in the the ssoUsers property.

View on Github
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const users = await ctx.loadSsoUsers();
2
3
ctx.notice(`Success! ${users.map((user) => user.id).join(', ')}`);
These methods can be used to take the user to different pages.

Moves the user to another URL internal to the backend.

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1
await ctx.navigateTo('/');
Information about the current plugin. Useful to access the plugin's global configuration object.

The current plugin.

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The current DatoCMS project.

View on Github

The ID of the current environment.

View on Github

The account/organization that is the project owner.

View on Github

UI preferences of the current user (right now, only the preferred locale is available).

View on Github

An object containing the theme colors for the current DatoCMS project.

View on Github
These methods can be used to show UI-consistent toast notifications to the end-user.

Triggers an "error" toast displaying the selected message.

View on Github
1
const message = prompt(
2
'Please insert a message:',
3
'This is an alert message!',
4
);
5
6
await ctx.alert(message);

Triggers a "success" toast displaying the selected message.

View on Github
1
const message = prompt(
2
'Please insert a message:',
3
'This is a notice message!',
4
);
5
6
await ctx.notice(message);

Triggers a custom toast displaying the selected message (and optionally a CTA).

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1
const result = await ctx.customToast({
2
type: 'warning',
3
message: 'Just a sample warning notification!',
4
dismissOnPageChange: true,
5
dismissAfterTimeout: 5000,
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cta: {
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label: 'Execute call-to-action',
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value: 'cta',
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},
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});
11
12
if (result === 'cta') {
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ctx.notice(`Clicked CTA!`);
14
}
These methods can be used to update both plugin parameters and manual field extensions configuration.

Updates the plugin parameters.

Always check ctx.currentRole.meta.final_permissions.can_edit_schema before calling this, as the user might not have the permission to perform the operation.

View on Github
1
await ctx.updatePluginParameters({ debugMode: true });
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await ctx.notice('Plugin parameters successfully updated!');

Performs changes in the appearance of a field. You can install/remove a manual field extension, or tweak their parameters. If multiple changes are passed, they will be applied sequencially.

Always check ctx.currentRole.meta.final_permissions.can_edit_schema before calling this, as the user might not have the permission to perform the operation.

View on Github
1
const fields = await ctx.loadFieldsUsingPlugin();
2
3
if (fields.length === 0) {
4
ctx.alert('No field is using this plugin as a manual extension!');
5
return;
6
}
7
8
for (const field of fields) {
9
const { appearance } = field.attributes;
10
const operations = [];
11
12
if (appearance.editor === ctx.plugin.id) {
13
operations.push({
14
operation: 'updateEditor',
15
newParameters: {
16
...appearance.parameters,
17
foo: 'bar',
18
},
19
});
20
}
21
22
appearance.addons.forEach((addon, i) => {
23
if (addon.id !== ctx.plugin.id) {
24
return;
25
}
26
27
operations.push({
28
operation: 'updateAddon',
29
index: i,
30
newParameters: { ...addon.parameters, foo: 'bar' },
31
});
32
});
33
34
await ctx.updateFieldAppearance(field.id, operations);
35
ctx.notice(`Successfully edited field ${field.attributes.api_key}`);
36
}
These methods let you open the standard DatoCMS dialogs needed to interact with Media Area assets.

Opens a dialog for selecting one (or multiple) existing asset(s). It returns a promise resolved with the selected asset(s), or null if the user closes the dialog without selecting any upload.

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1
const item = await ctx.selectUpload({ multiple: false });
2
3
if (item) {
4
ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
5
} else {
6
ctx.alert('Closed!');
7
}

Opens a dialog for editing a Media Area asset. It returns a promise resolved with:

  • The updated asset, if the user persists some changes to the asset itself
  • null, if the user closes the dialog without persisting any change
  • An asset structure with an additional deleted property set to true, if the user deletes the asset.
View on Github
1
const uploadId = prompt('Please insert an asset ID:');
2
3
const item = await ctx.editUpload(uploadId);
4
5
if (item) {
6
ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
7
} else {
8
ctx.alert('Closed!');
9
}

Opens a dialog for editing a "single asset" field structure. It returns a promise resolved with the updated structure, or null if the user closes the dialog without persisting any change.

View on Github
1
const uploadId = prompt('Please insert an asset ID:');
2
3
const result = await ctx.editUploadMetadata({
4
upload_id: uploadId,
5
alt: null,
6
title: null,
7
custom_data: {},
8
focal_point: null,
9
});
10
11
if (result) {
12
ctx.notice(`Success! ${JSON.stringify(result)}`);
13
} else {
14
ctx.alert('Closed!');
15
}

renderFieldExtension(fieldExtensionId: string, ctx)

This function will be called when the plugin needs to render a field extension (see the manualFieldExtensions and overrideFieldExtensions functions).

Context object

The following properties and methods are available in the ctx argument:

This hook exposes additional information and operations specific to the context in which it operates.

These information describe the current state of the field where this plugin is applied to.

Whether the field is currently disabled or not.

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The path in the formValues object where to find the current value for the field.

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The field where the field extension is installed to.

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If the field extension is installed in a field of a block, returns the top level Modular Content/Structured Text field containing the block itself.

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If the field extension is installed in a field of a block, returns the ID of the block — or undefined if the block is still not persisted — and the block model.

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These methods can be used to interact with the form that's being shown to the end-user to edit a record.

Hides/shows a specific field in the form. Please be aware that when a field is hidden, the field editor for that field will be removed from the DOM itself, including any associated plugins. When it is shown again, its plugins will be reinitialized.

View on Github
1
const fieldPath = prompt(
2
'Please insert the path of a field in the form',
3
ctx.fieldPath,
4
);
5
6
await ctx.toggleField(fieldPath, true);

Disables/re-enables a specific field in the form.

View on Github
1
const fieldPath = prompt(
2
'Please insert the path of a field in the form',
3
ctx.fieldPath,
4
);
5
6
await ctx.disableField(fieldPath, true);

Smoothly navigates to a specific field in the form. If the field is localized it will switch language tab and then navigate to the chosen field.

View on Github
1
const fieldPath = prompt(
2
'Please insert the path of a field in the form',
3
ctx.fieldPath,
4
);
5
6
await ctx.scrollToField(fieldPath);

Changes a specific path of the formValues object.

View on Github
1
const fieldPath = prompt(
2
'Please insert the path of a field in the form',
3
ctx.fieldPath,
4
);
5
6
await ctx.setFieldValue(fieldPath, 'new value');

Takes the internal form state, and transforms it into an Item entity compatible with DatoCMS API.

When skipUnchangedFields, only the fields that changed value will be serialized.

If the required nested blocks are still not loaded, this method will return undefined.

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1
await ctx.formValuesToItem(ctx.formValues, false);

Takes an Item entity, and converts it into the internal form state.

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1
await ctx.itemToFormValues(ctx.item);

Triggers a submit form for current record.

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1
await ctx.saveCurrentItem();
These information describe the current state of the form that's being shown to the end-user to edit a record.

The currently active locale for the record.

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If an already persisted record is being edited, returns the full record entity.

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The model for the record being edited.

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The complete internal form state.

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The current status of the record being edited.

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Whether the form is currently submitting itself or not.

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Whether the form has some non-persisted changes or not.

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Provides information on how many blocks are currently present in the form.

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The ID of the field extension that needs to be rendered.

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The arbitrary parameters of the field extension.

View on Github

Every hook available in the Plugin SDK shares the same minumum set of properties and methods.

Information about the current user using the CMS.

The current DatoCMS user. It can either be the owner or one of the collaborators (regular or SSO).

View on Github

The role for the current DatoCMS user.

View on Github

The access token to perform API calls on behalf of the current user. Only available if currentUserAccessToken additional permission is granted.

View on Github
These methods can be used to open custom dialogs/confirmation panels.

Opens a custom modal. Returns a promise resolved with what the modal itself returns calling the resolve() function.

View on Github
1
const result = await ctx.openModal({
2
id: 'regular',
3
title: 'Custom title!',
4
width: 'l',
5
parameters: { foo: 'bar' },
6
});
7
8
if (result) {
9
ctx.notice(`Success! ${JSON.stringify(result)}`);
10
} else {
11
ctx.alert('Closed!');
12
}

Opens a UI-consistent confirmation dialog. Returns a promise resolved with the value of the choice made by the user.

View on Github
1
const result = await ctx.openConfirm({
2
title: 'Custom title',
3
content:
4
'Lorem Ipsum is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry',
5
choices: [
6
{
7
label: 'Positive',
8
value: 'positive',
9
intent: 'positive',
10
},
11
{
12
label: 'Negative',
13
value: 'negative',
14
intent: 'negative',
15
},
16
],
17
cancel: {
18
label: 'Cancel',
19
value: false,
20
},
21
});
22
23
if (result) {
24
ctx.notice(`Success! ${result}`);
25
} else {
26
ctx.alert('Cancelled!');
27
}
These properties provide access to "entity repos", that is, the collection of resources of a particular type that have been loaded by the CMS up to this moment. The entity repos are objects, indexed by the ID of the entity itself.

All the models of the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID.

View on Github

All the fields currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. If some fields you need are not present, use the loadItemTypeFields function to load them.

View on Github

All the fieldsets currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. If some fields you need are not present, use the loadItemTypeFieldsets function to load them.

View on Github

All the regular users currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. It will always contain the current user. If some users you need are not present, use the loadUsers function to load them.

View on Github

All the SSO users currently loaded for the current DatoCMS project, indexed by ID. It will always contain the current user. If some users you need are not present, use the loadSsoUsers function to load them.

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These methods let you open the standard DatoCMS dialogs needed to interact with records.

Opens a dialog for creating a new record. It returns a promise resolved with the newly created record or null if the user closes the dialog without creating anything.

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const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
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const item = await ctx.createNewItem(itemTypeId);
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if (item) {
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
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} else {
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ctx.alert('Closed!');
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}

Opens a dialog for selecting one (or multiple) record(s) from a list of existing records of type itemTypeId. It returns a promise resolved with the selected record(s), or null if the user closes the dialog without choosing any record.

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const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
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const items = await ctx.selectItem(itemTypeId, { multiple: true });
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if (items) {
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${items.map((i) => i.id).join(', ')}`);
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} else {
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ctx.alert('Closed!');
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}

Opens a dialog for editing an existing record. It returns a promise resolved with the edited record, or null if the user closes the dialog without persisting any change.

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const itemId = prompt('Please insert a record ID:');
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const item = await ctx.editItem(itemId);
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if (item) {
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
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} else {
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ctx.alert('Closed!');
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}
These methods can be used to asyncronously load additional information your plugin needs to work.

Loads all the fields for a specific model (or block). Fields will be returned and will also be available in the the fields property.

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const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
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const fields = await ctx.loadItemTypeFields(itemTypeId);
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ctx.notice(
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`Success! ${fields
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.map((field) => field.attributes.api_key)
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.join(', ')}`,
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);

Loads all the fieldsets for a specific model (or block). Fieldsets will be returned and will also be available in the the fieldsets property.

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const itemTypeId = prompt('Please insert a model ID:');
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const fieldsets = await ctx.loadItemTypeFieldsets(itemTypeId);
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ctx.notice(
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`Success! ${fieldsets
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.map((fieldset) => fieldset.attributes.title)
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.join(', ')}`,
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);

Loads all the fields in the project that are currently using the plugin for one of its manual field extensions.

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const fields = await ctx.loadFieldsUsingPlugin();
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ctx.notice(
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`Success! ${fields
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.map((field) => field.attributes.api_key)
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.join(', ')}`,
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);

Loads all regular users. Users will be returned and will also be available in the the users property.

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const users = await ctx.loadUsers();
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${users.map((user) => user.id).join(', ')}`);

Loads all SSO users. Users will be returned and will also be available in the the ssoUsers property.

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const users = await ctx.loadSsoUsers();
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${users.map((user) => user.id).join(', ')}`);
These methods can be used to take the user to different pages.

Moves the user to another URL internal to the backend.

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await ctx.navigateTo('/');
Information about the current plugin. Useful to access the plugin's global configuration object.

The current plugin.

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The current DatoCMS project.

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The ID of the current environment.

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The account/organization that is the project owner.

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UI preferences of the current user (right now, only the preferred locale is available).

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An object containing the theme colors for the current DatoCMS project.

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A number of methods that you can use to control the size of the plugin frame.

Listens for DOM changes and automatically calls setHeight when it detects a change. If you're using datocms-react-ui package, the <Canvas /> component already takes care of calling this method for you.

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Stops resizing the iframe automatically.

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Triggers a change in the size of the iframe. If you don't explicitely pass a newHeight it will be automatically calculated using the iframe content at the moment.

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These methods can be used to show UI-consistent toast notifications to the end-user.

Triggers an "error" toast displaying the selected message.

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const message = prompt(
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'Please insert a message:',
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'This is an alert message!',
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);
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await ctx.alert(message);

Triggers a "success" toast displaying the selected message.

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const message = prompt(
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'Please insert a message:',
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'This is a notice message!',
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);
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await ctx.notice(message);

Triggers a custom toast displaying the selected message (and optionally a CTA).

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const result = await ctx.customToast({
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type: 'warning',
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message: 'Just a sample warning notification!',
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dismissOnPageChange: true,
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dismissAfterTimeout: 5000,
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cta: {
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label: 'Execute call-to-action',
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value: 'cta',
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},
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});
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if (result === 'cta') {
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ctx.notice(`Clicked CTA!`);
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}
These methods can be used to update both plugin parameters and manual field extensions configuration.

Updates the plugin parameters.

Always check ctx.currentRole.meta.final_permissions.can_edit_schema before calling this, as the user might not have the permission to perform the operation.

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await ctx.updatePluginParameters({ debugMode: true });
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await ctx.notice('Plugin parameters successfully updated!');

Performs changes in the appearance of a field. You can install/remove a manual field extension, or tweak their parameters. If multiple changes are passed, they will be applied sequencially.

Always check ctx.currentRole.meta.final_permissions.can_edit_schema before calling this, as the user might not have the permission to perform the operation.

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const fields = await ctx.loadFieldsUsingPlugin();
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if (fields.length === 0) {
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ctx.alert('No field is using this plugin as a manual extension!');
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return;
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}
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for (const field of fields) {
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const { appearance } = field.attributes;
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const operations = [];
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if (appearance.editor === ctx.plugin.id) {
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operations.push({
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operation: 'updateEditor',
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newParameters: {
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...appearance.parameters,
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foo: 'bar',
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},
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});
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}
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appearance.addons.forEach((addon, i) => {
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if (addon.id !== ctx.plugin.id) {
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return;
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}
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operations.push({
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operation: 'updateAddon',
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index: i,
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newParameters: { ...addon.parameters, foo: 'bar' },
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});
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});
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await ctx.updateFieldAppearance(field.id, operations);
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ctx.notice(`Successfully edited field ${field.attributes.api_key}`);
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}
These methods let you open the standard DatoCMS dialogs needed to interact with Media Area assets.

Opens a dialog for selecting one (or multiple) existing asset(s). It returns a promise resolved with the selected asset(s), or null if the user closes the dialog without selecting any upload.

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const item = await ctx.selectUpload({ multiple: false });
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if (item) {
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
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} else {
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ctx.alert('Closed!');
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}

Opens a dialog for editing a Media Area asset. It returns a promise resolved with:

  • The updated asset, if the user persists some changes to the asset itself
  • null, if the user closes the dialog without persisting any change
  • An asset structure with an additional deleted property set to true, if the user deletes the asset.
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const uploadId = prompt('Please insert an asset ID:');
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const item = await ctx.editUpload(uploadId);
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if (item) {
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${item.id}`);
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} else {
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ctx.alert('Closed!');
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}

Opens a dialog for editing a "single asset" field structure. It returns a promise resolved with the updated structure, or null if the user closes the dialog without persisting any change.

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const uploadId = prompt('Please insert an asset ID:');
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const result = await ctx.editUploadMetadata({
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upload_id: uploadId,
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alt: null,
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title: null,
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custom_data: {},
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focal_point: null,
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});
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if (result) {
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ctx.notice(`Success! ${JSON.stringify(result)}`);
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} else {
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ctx.alert('Closed!');
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}