Link your contents to each other

A reference links one content to another, like a property to its city or a product to its brand. This article teaches you to declare a reference field, to link your contents in the editor and to show these links on your pages.

Understand a reference

A reference links one content to another, for example a property to its city or a product to its brand. It is set by a reference field, which you name and declare on the type of the content that points.

The target content is most often a term of a category, but a field can target any public type. A reference reads both ways: the property shows its city and the city’s page lists its properties.

A type can carry several fields to the same type. A product can thus have a “Main brand” and “Partner brands”, two distinct links to the “Brands” category.

Declare a reference field

You must be an administrator of the site.

1. In the administration menu, open Content types.
2. Click Edit on the row of the type that points, for example Products.
3. In the Reference fields section, click Add reference field. A row is added.
4. In Reference name, enter the name of the link, for example Main brand.
5. In Target type, choose the type of the contents to link, for example Brands.
6. In Cardinality, choose Single or Multiple.
7. Click Save.

Renaming a field keeps the links already set. The cross on a row removes the field on save.

A category targeted by a field appears in the administration menu under the type that targets it. Sort with a category details this.

Link a content in the editor

1. Open the content in the editor, for example a product.
2. In the right-hand sidebar, open the document tab, the one that carries the name of the type.
3. Open the References tab. Each reference field of the type has its block there, under its name.
4. Click in the Search… field. The list shows ten contents of the target type, in alphabetical order.
5. Type a few letters to narrow it down, then click a content. It shows above the field.

The link is saved as soon as you choose the content. You do not have to save the open content. The cross on a linked content removes it at once.

A Single field no longer shows the search once a content is chosen. To change it, remove it then choose the other.

The search offers published contents, drafts and private contents that you have the right to read. A linked content that is a draft appears on your site only once published.

Show the references of a content

The References block shows, on the page of a content, the contents linked by a field. For example, the brand of a product or the services of a project.

1. In the content or in the template of its type, add the References block. Add a block explains how.
2. In the Settings tab of the sidebar, Reference field panel, choose the Field to display.
3. Format the two blocks it contains, described in the table that follows.

The Reference item accepts the blocks of a list card: the title, the excerpt and the media of the linked content. On a term that has colors and an icon, it takes them. Show the data of a content explains how to show the title or a field of the linked content.

Placed in a template, the block reads the field on the type of the displayed content. A single template thus serves all the types that declare this field.

List the contents that point to a page

On the page of a term, a list can show all the contents that target it: on the page “Lyon”, the properties in Lyon. You do not have to choose them, the list follows your references.

1. Open the term in the editor, or the template of the pages of its category.
2. Add the Content list block.
3. In the Settings tab, Query panel, set Query source to Reference.
4. Optional: in Reference field, choose the field that must point. Any reference field, the default choice, accepts them all.
5. Optional: in Restrict to post types, check the types to list. With no box checked, the list accepts all types.

The list targets the displayed content: the one whose content holds the list, or the one the template shows. In the editor, its preview already shows the contents that target the open term.

Choosing a specific field is useful when a type points twice to the same type. With “Main brand”, Nike’s page lists only the products whose main brand is Nike.

List the contents sorted the same way

In the template of the pages of a type that carries a reference field, a list can show the contents sorted like the one being read. On an article of the “Get started” section, it shows all the articles of “Get started”.

1. Open the template of the pages of the type in the editor.
2. Add the Content list block.
3. In the Query panel, set Query source to Siblings.
4. In Shared reference, choose the field that the contents share. It is chosen automatically when the type has only one.

The list shows everything that points, through this field, to what the content being read targets. The content being read stays in the list, marked as the current content. Its card takes the Active state, which you style in the Styles tab of the card.

As long as no field is chosen, the list stays empty. The Siblings source is offered only in the template of a type that declares a reference field.

Filter a list by reference

A content list can let your visitors filter by reference, for example by city or by brand. Several values checked in the same filter widen the result, two filters narrow it. List and filter your contents details the filters.

See also

• Sort with a category
• List and filter your content
• Show a content’s data
• Choose the look with templates