Welding Matrix into shape, mate!
This plugin requires Craft CMS 3.0.0 or later.
To install the plugin, either install it from the plugin store, or follow these instructions:
- Install with composer via
composer require vaersaagod/matrixmatefrom your project directory. - Install the plugin in the Craft Control Panel under Settings -> Plugins, or from the command line via
./craft install/plugin matrixmate. - For MatrixMate to do anything, you need to configure it. But first, continue reading!
MatrixMate enables you to improve the Matrix authoring experience by sorting block types into groups and block type fields into tabs.
Additionally, MatrixMate offers these nifty features:
- Maximum limits can be set per block type
- Ungrouped block types can be hidden, or displayed as native Matrix buttons
- A single block type can be added to multiple groups (sometimes it makes sense!)
- Block types can be explicitly hidden, even without using the grouping feature
- A single Matrix field can be configured differently for different contexts (e.g. sections, entry types, category groups etc)
MatrixMate began life as a fork of famed Craft plugin Pimp My Matrix (aka Spoon for Craft 3), and we give big props to its author Josh Angell for inspiring MatrixMate.
The featureset overlap between Spoon and MatrixMate is pretty obvious, but a big difference is that unlike Spoon, MatrixMate does not feature a field configuration UI inside Craft's Control Panel. Instead, MatrixMate is completely configured using a PHP config file.
Read more about configuring MatrixMate here
MatrixMate does not support Matrix fields that are nested in other fieldtypes (e.g. SuperTable). If you need SuperTable support, you should consider using Spoon instead.
MatrixMate is configured by creating a config file named matrixmate.php in your Craft config folder (i.e. where your general.php and db.php files sit).
The config file should look something like this:
<?php
return [
'fields' => [
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'groups' => [[
'label' => 'Content',
'types' => ['text', 'images', 'video'],
], [
'label' => 'Listings',
'types' => ['news', 'employees'],
]],
'types' => [
'text' => [
'tabs' => [[
'label' => 'Text',
'fields' => ['heading', 'text'],
], [
'label' => 'Settings',
'fields' => ['columns'],
]],
],
'news' => [
'maxLimit' => 1,
],
],
],
'anotherMatrixFieldHandle' => [
...
],
],
];To explain what the above example would do:
For a Matrix field with the handle matrixFieldHandle, the above configuration would create two block type groups called "Content" and "Listings". The fields inside the text block type would be sorted into two tabs called "Text" and "Settings", and the news block type would be limited to a single block, using the maxLimit setting.
For a more detailed overview of the different settings available when configuring MatrixMate, see the Configuration settings section.
By default, a MatrixMate field config will apply everywhere that the field is used. However, you can use context keys to apply different configs for the same field across different types of content:
<?php
return [
'fields' => [
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'*' => [
'groups' => [
...
],
],
'section:news,section:blog' => [
'groups' => [
...
],
],
],
],
];The above example would apply a specific configuration for a Matrix field with the handle "matrixFieldHandle" when that field is used in entries belonging to the sections news and blog (note that a comma separated list is used to apply the same configuration to multiple contexts).
Additionally, a "global" config that will apply everywhere else is added using the asterisk (*) key. The global config is completely optional - it's totally fine to only have specific context keys declared (in which case the Matrix field will render natively; i.e. without any modifications, everywhere else).
section:{handle} - Apply to all entry types for a particular Section
entryType:{handle} - Apply to a particular Entry Type
categoryGroup:{handle} - Apply to a particular Category Group
globalSet:{handle} - Apply to a particular Global Set
users - Apply to User account settings pages
The below settings apply to a Matrix field configuration, e.g.
<?php
return [
'fields' => [
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
// Field configuration here
],
],
];Default: 'Fields'
If any of the block types in a field config is setup with custom tabs, MatrixMate will put any fields that isn't added to a tab into a "default" tab called "Fields". To change the name for the default tab, add a key called 'defaultTabName' to the field config:
<?php
return [
'fields' => [
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'defaultTabName' => 'Misc',
],
],
];To not render any default tabs (effectively hiding all fields that aren't put into tabs), defaultTabName can be set to false:
<?php
return [
'fields' => [
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'defaultTabName' => false,
],
],
];This setting only applies to block types that are configured to use tabs, and can be overridden on a per-type basis (see 'types' config section below).
Block types can be grouped by adding a key 'groups' to a field configuration.
A single group is declared by adding an associate array to 'groups', containing the keys 'label' (string, the name of the group) and 'types' (array with the handles for the block types the group should contain):
...
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'groups' => [[
'label' => 'Content',
'types' => ['text', 'heading'],
], [
'label' => 'Misc',
'types' => ['newsletter', 'feed'],
]],
],Note that empty groups (or groups containing a types array without any actual/valid block type handles) as well as groups missing labels, will not be rendered.
Using the 'types' key in a field configuration enables you to sort block type fields into tabs, and/or add a maximum limit to the number of instances a particular block type is allowed to have.
The 'types' array should use relevant block types' handles as keys, with each block type's configuration as an array for the values:
...
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'types' => [
'text' => [
// Block type config here
],
'news' => [
// Block type config here
],
],
],To sort a block type's fields into tabs, add a key called 'tabs' to a block type's configuration inside the 'types' array. Each tab should be an associative array with the keys 'label' (string; the tab's title) and 'fields' (an array containing the handles for the fields belonging to this tab):
...
'types' => [
'text' => [
'tabs' => [[
'label' => 'Content',
'fields' => ['heading', 'text'],
], [
'label' => 'Settings',
'fields' => ['columns'],
]],
],
],The above example would sort the fields heading, text and columns into two tabs; "Content" and "Settings".
The order of the fields inside the 'fields' array doesn't matter, as MatrixMate will not reorder the fields - it will simply hide and show them depending on which tab is currently active.
Tabs missing labels or that have an empty 'fields' array (or an array without any valid field handles) will not display. If only a single valid tab is found in the config, no tabs will be rendered.
When custom tabs have been added, Any fields belonging to a particular field that is not added to a tab, will be put into a "default" tab called "Fields". See the next section for details.
When using the 'tabs' setting to add custom tabs, MatrixMate will put any fields that haven't been added to a tab into a "default" tab called "Fields". To change the name for the default tab, add a key called 'defaultTabName' to the relevant block type's config:
...
'types' => [
'text' => [
'tabs' => [[
'label' => 'Content',
'fields' => ['heading', 'text'],
], [
'label' => 'Settings',
'fields' => ['columns'],
]],
'defaultTabName' => 'Misc',
],
],To not render a default tab - in effect, hiding any fields that don't belong to a custom tab - set 'defaultTabName' to false:
...
'types' => [
'text' => [
'tabs' => [[
'label' => 'Content',
'fields' => ['heading', 'text'],
], [
'label' => 'Settings',
'fields' => ['columns'],
]],
'defaultTabName' => false,
],
],Adding a 'defaultTabName' setting to a block type config will override the same setting set on field level.
To set a maximum limit for a particular type, add a key called 'maxLimit' to that type's config:
...
'types' => [
...
'news' => [
'maxLimit' => 1,
],
],Default: false
By default, MatrixMate will render native Matrix buttons for any block types that don't belong to a group. To hide all ungrouped block types instead, set hideUngroupedTypes to true:
...
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'groups' => [...],
'hideUngroupedTypes' => true,
],This setting only applies when using the grouping feature.
hiddenTypes [array]
To explicitly hide one or several block types, add an array of block type handles to a key hiddenTypes:
...
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
'hiddenTypes' => ['newsletter', 'feed'],
],This setting will hide any and all block types added to it, regardless of whether those types have been added to any groups or not, and regardless of the value for the hideUngroupedTypes setting.
Danger Zone
This is an aside, but since the config/matrixmate.php file is just PHP, you can of course go nuts with logic to concoct whatever complex setup you require. As a simple example, here's how you could go about rendering a particular config only if the currently logged in user is not an admin user:
<?php
$isUserAdmin = Craft::$app->getUser()->admin;
return [
'fields' => [
'matrixFieldHandle' => [
...
'section:news,section:blog' => !$isUserAdmin ? [
'groups' => [
...
],
] : null,
],
],
];Obviously, putting logic inside a config file like the above is potentially A Very Bad Idea and can easily introduce performance issues or other bugs in your application.
If you do add logic to the config file that is potentially taxing (code resulting in a lot of database queries, for instance), you should consider using Craft's cache component (i.e. Craft::$app->getCache()) where applicable. You can also consider disabling MatrixMate completely for non-CP requests, using Craft's disabledPlugins config setting in config/general.php, e.g. by doing something like this:
<?php
$isCpRequest = \explode('/', \parse_url($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], PHP_URL_PATH))[1] ?? null === 'admin';
return [
'*' => [
...
'disabledPlugins' => \array_filter([!$isCpRequest ? 'matrixmate' : null]),
],
...
];Note: Even if the MatrixMate plugin is not relevant for frontend requests, doing something like the above is a totally unneccessary micro-optimization unless you do have some heavy, custom logic in your config/matrixmate.php config file.
All the configured user-facing text strings, like tab and group labels, will be translated using the 'site' static translation category.
The plugin is released under the MIT license, meaning you can do what ever you want with it as long as you don't blame us (and honor the original license). It's free, which means there is absolutely no support included, but you might get it anyway. Just post an issue here on GitHub if you have one, and we'll see what we can do.
See CHANGELOG.MD.
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