New Extension: FieldFrame
EE add-on developer (and EE Insider guest author) Brandon Kelly released today a beta of his new extension FieldFrame.
FieldFrame is more than just an extension, it’s a “framework for rapid development of fieldtype extensions.” FieldFrame makes it easy to build custom fieldtypes for the EE control panel publish form.
Normally, when you want to create a new fieldtype, you have to build an entire extension, usually redoing code that has been written a hundred times. With Brandon’s extension/framework you only have to write the minimal amount of code to get your fieldtype working in ExpressionEngine.
Brandon mentioned to me that a certain prolific developer redid an extension as a FieldFrame Fieldtype and ended up writing 1/6 of the code. That’s some serious savings!
Since I like to test everything I post here on EE Insider, I created a simple Fieldtype called RI States Select, which gives you a custom drop-down field with all 50 states in the US.
This is a great extension—a true developer’s tool—and hopefully Brandon will support this through the EE 2.0 transition.
The extension is in beta, currently free for anyone to download and try out.
Posted on Mar 09, 2009 by Ryan Irelan
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Brandon Kelly — 19:38 on 03.09.2009
Thanks for posting this, Ryan! And cool little fieldtype!
Deron Sizemore — 07:22 on 03.10.2009
So instead of selecting a custom field type like “text input” I could create my own field type?
Ryan Irelan — 07:43 on 03.10.2009
You would create your own fieldtype and then select that from the list instead. The framework basically lets you make custom fieldtypes faster than writing a whole new extension.
Richard Angstmann — 13:56 on 03.10.2009
This is obviously way above my head in terms of me actually developing anything with it - but what a cool little framework this is. I’d heard about it via Twitter, but didn’t really grasp what it would actually do. Now I can see how powerful it is gonna be.
Great work (yet again) by Brandon…
Erwin Heiser — 15:16 on 03.10.2009
Awesome work, I’d really like a bag of whatever Brandon is smoking
Deron Sizemore — 04:04 on 03.12.2009
I think I’m like Richard was previously… still not grasping the whole concept of this. I understand that I can create my own fieldtype and then select that from the list instead of say, text input, but after that, that’s where I’m a little fuzzy on the details. In your example above, did you simply create a “states” field type and enter in all fifty states so that when that field type is selected, all fifty states are instantly populated in that field?
I see that you’ve released your states field type on GitHub. Is that easy to do as well? Just create a new field type, export it and make it available for download?
AJP — 09:05 on 03.23.2009
At first I was like “why is it Rhode Island State Select”... But then DUH! I’m already using this and others. Field Frame freaking (f)rocks! (I couldn’t think of a rocks type word that starts with F)
Jordan — 11:30 on 11.10.2010
Personally, I think Expression Engine is a great invention! It is also cool to note that you do not have to undergo the painful process of redoing codes for the whole extension. This is great stuff, thanks for the info!