Learn about the data types in Umbraco.
A Data Type defines the type of input for a property. So when adding a property (on Document Types, Media Types and Members) and selecting the Type you are selecting a Data Type. There are preconfigured Data Types available in Umbraco and more can be added in the Settings section.
A Data Type can be something basic such as TextString, Number, True/False and so on. Or it can be more complex such as Multi Node Tree Picker, Image Cropper, Block Grid and so on.
The Data Type references a Property Editor and if the Property Editor has settings these are configured on the Data Type. This means you can have multiple Data Types referencing the same Property Editor.
An example of this could be to have two dropdown Data Types both referencing the same dropdown Property Editor. One configured to show a list of cities, the other a list of countries.
Follow these steps to create a new Dropdown Data Type:
Go to the Settings section within the backoffice.
Select the + icon to the right of the Data Types folder.
Choose New Data Type....
Name the Data Type.
Click on Select a property editor.
Find and click on the Dropdown editor.
Click Select.
Choose whether to enable multiple selections.
Add options.
Save the Data Type once you have added the required configuration.
Data Type configuration
Property Editor This is where you pick the Property Editor UI that the Data Type will be referencing. By default, Umbraco ships with a wide selection to choose from. Learn more about each of them in the Default Data Types article.
In the Settings box below, the configuration options specific to the chosen Property Editor UI will be available. Some Property Editors have many configuration options while some only have a few.
When you're happy with the list press Save. It is now possible to select this Data Type for a property on Document Types, Media Types, and Members. Doing this will then create a dropdown list for the editor to choose from and save the choice as a string.
To customize an existing Data Type go to the Settings section, expand the Data Types folder and select the Data Type you want to edit.
Besides the Data Types that are available out of the box there are some additional Property Editors. For example, think of the Slider and Block List.
To view the Data Type reference, go to the Settings section and expand the Data Types folder. Select the Data Type you wish to view the reference for and click the Info tab.
This gives you an overview of the Types that currently use the Data Type.
Learn more about viewing references or implementing tracking in the Tracking References article.
Learn about the default data types in Umbraco.
Here's a list of the default Data Types that come installed with Umbraco. There are plenty more that you can create based on the installed Property Editors.
Adds a list of approved colors. The approved colors are added as hex values by using the color picker. Optionally, you can enable labels to give the colors different names.
Displays a list of preset options as a list of checkbox controls. The preset options are added when configuring a Property Editor using the Data Type. Alternatively, the options can also be updated in the Settings section under Data Types. The value saved is a comma-separated string of IDs.
The Content Picker opens a modal to pick a specific page from the content structure. The value saved is the selected page's ID.
Displays a calendar UI for selecting date and time. The value saved is a standard DateTime value but does not contain time information.
Displays a calendar UI for selecting date and time. The value saved is a standard DateTime value.
Displays a list of preset options as a list where only a single value can be selected. The default Data Type does not contain any predefined options. The value saved is the selected value as a string.
Displays a list of preset options as a list where multiple values can be selected. The default Data Type does not contain any predefined options. The value saved is a comma-separated string of IDs.
Allows to upload and crop images by using a focal point. Specific crop definitions can also be added. This Data Type is used by default on the Image Media Type.
The Image Media Picker opens a modal to pick images from the Media tree or images from your Computer. The value saved is the selected media node UDI.
Is a non-editable control and can be used to only display the value. It can also be used in the Media section to load in values related to the node, such as width, height and file size.
There are six Label Data Types:
Label (bigint) - Allows to save a big integer value for a Label.
Label (datetime) - Allows to set a DateTime value for a Label.
Label (decimal) - Allows to set a decimal value for a Label.
Label (integer) - Allows to set an integer value for a Label.
Label (string) - Allows to set a long string value for a Label.
Label (time) - Allows to set time for a Label
This Data Type is used by Document Types that are set to display as a Collection.
This Data Type is used by Media Types that is set to display as a Collection.
This Data Type is used by Member Types that is set to display as a Collection.
The picker opens a modal to pick a specific media item from the Media tree. The value saved is the selected media node UDI.
Displays a dropdown with all the available members. A single member can be selected. The value saved is the ID of the member.
This Data Type allows an editor to add an array of links. These can either be internal Umbraco pages external URLs or links to media in the Media section. The Data Type can be configured by limited number of links it is possible to add.
The picker opens a modal to pick multiple images from the Media tree. The value saved is a comma separated string of media node UDIs.
The picker opens a modal to pick multiple media items from the Media tree. The value saved is a comma separated string of media node UDIs.
A textbox to input a numeric value.
This Data type enables editors to choose from a list of radiobuttons.
A TipTap-based What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor. This is the standard editor used to edit a larger amount of text. The editor has a lot of settings, which can be changed on the Richtext editor Data Type in the Settings section.
Learn more about the configuration options in the Rich Text Editor articles.
A textbox that allows you to use multiple tags on a Document Type. You can specify a Tag Group for the Data Type, if you need to use Tags on different sections of your site.
A textarea provides a multi-line plain-text editing control. You can set the maximum allowed characters for the textarea and the number of rows, if any.
A normal HTML input text field.
A checkbox which saves either 0 or 1, depending on the checkbox being checked or not. A common use is to create a property with the 'umbracoNaviHide' alias and the Data Type True/False. This will provide editors with the option to hide nodes in the navigation menu on the website.
Adds an upload field, which allows documents or images to be uploaded to Umbraco. This does not add them to the media library, they are added to the document data.
There are five Upload Data Types:
Upload Article - Used for uploading and storing documents.
Upload Audio - Used for uploading and storing digital audio files.
Upload File - Used for uploading and storing different types of files in the Media section
Upload Vector Graphics - Used for uploading and storing Scalable Vector Graphics (svg) files which are text files containing source code to draw the desired image.
Upload Video - Used for uploading and storing video files.
