Flex Objects is a new concept in Grav 1.7 that adds support for custom data types which can be easily integrated to your site. Flex Objects are provided by the Flex Objects Plugin which is required by the Admin Panel and included in the Grav Core + Admin Plugin package.
Flex Directories in this documentation has nothing to do with the older Flex Directories Plugin. In fact the old plugin has been superseded with this feature together with Flex Objects Plugin.
Flex is a set of Directories of a given type. Grav has its own built-in types, such as User Accounts and Pages. Plugins and themes can also define their own types and register those with Grav.
Flex is a container for Flex Directories.
This gives a single access point for all the data in the site, given that the data is inside a Flex Directory. This makes all the objects available to every page and plugin in your site.
TIP: Even if Flex User Accounts or Pages are not enabled, you can still access Flex versions of them in both frontend and Admin Panel.
Flex Type is the blueprint for your Flex Directory.
It defines everything that is needed to display and modify the content: data structure, form fields, permissions, template files, even storage layer.
Flex Directory keeps a collection of Flex Objects of a single Flex Type.
Each Directory contains a Collection of Objects with optional support for Indexes to speed up queries to Storage.
Flex Collection is a structure that contains Flex Objects.
The collection usually contains only the objects which are needed to display the page or to perform the given action. It provides useful tools to further filter or manipulate the data as well as methods to render the whole collection.
Flex Object is a single instance of some Flex Type.
The object represents a single entity. The object gives access to its properties, including any associated data, such as Media. Object also knows how to Render itself or which Form to use to edit its contents. Actions like creating, updating and deleting objects are supported by the object itself.
Flex Index is used to make fast queries to Flex Directory.
It contains meta-data for the Flex Objects, but not the objects themselves.
Flex Storage is a storage layer for the Flex Objects.
It can be a single file, set of files in a single folder or set of folders. Flex also supports custom storages, such as database storages.
Flex Form integrates to Form Plugin and allows Flex Object to be created or edited.
Flex supports multiple views, which allow different parts of the object to be modified.
Flex Administration is implemented by Flex Objects Plugin.
It adds a new section to Admin Plugin allowing site administrators to manage Flex Objects. Each Flex Directory comes with CRUD-type ACL, which can be used to restrict parts of Admin and actions within them to certain users.
There is still a lot of work to do. Here are the current limitations when considering use of Flex Objects:
Found errors? Think you can improve this documentation? Simply click the Edit link at the top of the page, and then the icon on Github to make your changes.
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