• What is a Custom Post Type?
• What are taxonomies?
• What are terms in WordPress?
• 1. How to create a new Custom Publication Type or CPT
• 2. Configure your CPT
• General Settings
• Labels
• Advanced Settings
• Meta Fields (Metacampos)
• What is a Meta Fields or Metacamp?
• Metacamp configuration
• Types of metafield
• Text
• Date
• Time
• Datetime (Date and time)
• Textarea (Text area)
• WYSIWYG (Rich Text Editor)
• Switcher (Switch or switch)
• Checkbox
• Iconpicker (Icon Selector)
• Media (Media Archive)
• Gallery (Media Gallery)
• Radio
• Repeater
• Select (drop-down selector)
• Number
• Colorpicker (Color Picker)
• Posts (Publications)
• HTML (HTML Code)
• Custom values in Checkbox and Radio types
• Allow Custom
• Get options from the glossary
• Save as array
• Other metafield parameters
• Creating taxonomies to a JetEngine Custom Post Type
• General Settings
• 2. Labels
• 3. Advanced Settings
• 4. Meta fields (Metacampos)
• Add and edit taxonomy

What is a Custom Post Type?

Custom Post Types, also called CPTs, in WordPress are content types such as posts or pages. As WordPress evolved from a simple blogging platform to a robust CMS, the term Post remained.

However, a Post Type can be any type of content. By default, WordPress comes with these post types: Post (entry), Page, Attachment, Review and Navigation menu. Other examples of publication types are Portfolio, Testimonials, Products, etc.

In the image we can see the Post Types that WordPress includes by default: Posts, Media, Pages and Comments. And we also see one created by us: Movies.

With Post Type of the JetEngine plugin included in the Crocoblock suite, you can create your own Custom Post Types and call them whatever you want. For example, if you have a movie website, you may want to create a post type to add movies. This type of publication can have different custom fields and even its own custom Taxonomy structure (e.g. categories and tags).

What are taxonomies?

Taxonomy in WordPress are one of those things that everyone uses, but they don’t know they are using it. WordPress taxonomies, derived from the Linnaean biological taxonomy classification method, are used as a way to group posts and custom post types.

WordPress has two very popular taxonomies that people use on a regular basis: Categories and Tags and that allow us to classify the posts and then we can get listings of them filtering them by categories or tags.

What are terms in WordPress?

In WordPress, terms refer to the different elements included in a taxonomy. For example, the entries of a website have the taxonomy categories, and within categories we have created different terms that help us to classify our publications. We can also create different labels to assign to our publications, each of these labels is a term.

So we can say that the Post Type Entries has two taxonomies (categories and tags) and in these taxonomies we can create as many terms as we want. As we can see in the image Time Management, Productivity, Writing, … are terms of the category taxonomy. And Basic is a taxonomy tag term. The difference between these two taxonomies is that categories are hierarchical and tags are non-hierarchical.

1. How to create a new Custom Publication Type or CPT

First of all you have to install and activate the JetEngine plugin from the Crocoblock suite. If you haven’t already done so, log in to the WordPress administration panel, go to the Crocoblock section of the menu and click on the Update & Installation menu option. From here you will be able to install and activate any of the plugins of this suite.

Log in to the WordPress administration panel, go to the JetEngine section on the left side menu and click on Post Type.

Here you will see the List of custom post types, where all your CPTs will be displayed when you have them. Click the Add New button to create your first CPT.

2. Configure your CPT

Now you must fill in the necessary information to create your new custom publication type.

General Settings

• Post Type Name. This is the title of the CPT that will be visible in the list of publication types.
• Post Type Slug (Post Type Sl ug). It is automatically generated from the name you entered above. The slug will be used for the permalink of this CPT file, example https://dominio.com/películas.
• “Edit post type / meta box” link . This option creates a shortcut from each such custom post editing page to the page you are currently on. If enabled, a small gear icon appears in the upper right corner of the metafield block on a post editing page. When the user clicks on it, he/she will be taken to the Custom Publication Type edit page.

Labels

As the Custom Post Type is visible in the WordPress administration panel, its name will be used for several options. In the Labels block you can translate all these labels. For example, instead of the Add New Post option, you can change it to Add New Movie. Review the list of tags and update your translation. In the following image you can see an example of all translations.

Advanced Settings

In the Advanced Settings block there is a set of functions that are connected to the CPT displayed on the WordPress desktop.

If these options are difficult for you to interpret, leave them as they are by default and that’s it.

• Is Public. As long as this option is enabled, the CPT is visible and accessible on the desktop and can be viewed by both administrators and users.
• Exclude From Search. You can create a CPT that only administrators will use. In this case, you can enable this option and posts of this custom type will not be available to the front-end search tools (the part that the user sees).
• Publicly Queryable. This switch is connected to the Is Public switch. if enabled, queries of this CPT can be performed on the front-end (part seen by the user).
• Show Admin UI(ShowAdmin UI). If you disable this option, the tab or link for editing custom posts will disappear from the control panel. You will be able to see the list of publications but not edit them.
• Show in Admin Menu, Show in Naw Menu, Show in Rest API (Show in Admin Menu, Show in Naw Menu, Show in Rest API ). These three switches allow to configure the visibility of the CPT in a more specific way. You can choose to hide the CPT from the administration menu, the navigation menu or the REST API.

• Register Query Var (Register Query Var). If you activate this switch, a query_var will be registered for this CPT.
• Rewrite. Enables the possibility to rewrite the slug of the file for this type of publications.
• Rewrite Slug (Rewrite slug). To be able to use this field it is necessary that the previous one (Rewrite) is activated, from here we can rewrite the slug of this type of publications and change it for another one.
• Rewrite With Front. Similar to the previous one but through $front property.
• Capability Type. In this field, you define which string WP will use to develop the capabilities of this CPT, by default post.

• Has Archive. Activate this switch if you want the CPT to have a publication archive. The publications archive is that page where the list of all publications is displayed.
• Hierarchical (Hierarchical). If you want this type of publication to be hierarchical, activate this option. It means that publications can have a higher publication, e.g. pages.

• Menu Position. The number you enter here will be the position number where this CPT’s tab will be displayed in the WordPress Admin Panel navigation menu.
• Menu Icon. Each tab in the navigation menu of the WordPress administration panel has an icon. Here you can choose one for your CPT tab.
• Supports. From this drop-down menu, you can choose additional support blocks to be displayed on the CPT editor page. You can include: Title (Title), Gutenberg Editor (Editor), Comments (Comments), Revisions (Revisions), Trackbacks, Author (Author), Excerpt (Excerpt), Page Attributes, Featured Image (Thumbnail), Custom Fields, and Publication Formats.

Meta Fields (Metacampos)

Now we are going to see how to configure the custom meta fields created with the JetEngine plug-in and we will take a closer look at the types of these fields.

What is a Meta Fields or Metacamp?

Meta fields allow you to add additional information to your custom post, which you can then display on the front-end (the part that the user sees) with the help of dynamic widgets. You can also use them to filter the list of publications.

In the case of simple publications such as Entries, they only have a Title, the body that we edit with the Gutenberg editor and a featured image. But with JetEngine we can add metafields of different types. These are all the types of metafields that JetEngine’s Post Type allows us to add:

• Text
• Date
• Time
• Datetime (Date and time)
• Textarea (Text Area)
• WYSIWYG (Rich Text Editor)
• Switcher
• Checkbox
• Iconpicker (Icon Selector)
• Media (Media Archive)
• Gallery (Media Gallery)
• Radio (Radio button)
• Repeater
• Select (drop-down selector)
• Number
• Colorpicker (Color Picker )
• Posts (Publications)
• HTML (HTML Code)

You can drag and drop the fields to sort them by hovering the mouse pointer over this icon

Metacamp configuration

To create a meta field, first click on the New Meta Field button. Then we must fill in the form of this new meta-field.

• Label: write here the title of the field. This is how it will be shown to you and other users later on.
• Name/ID: this value is generated automatically, according to the text you enter in the Label field. If you want to change it, please note that this ID must not include spaces and make sure that it contains only letters and numbers. The autocomplete will also add a random number to the name if it is not unique. Fields with similar IDs might confuse you and cause some problems if you want to use them elsewhere. That is why autocomplete avoids the use of similar IDs.
• Object type: here you can choose the type of object. The Field option means that you will be able to add values there. Tab, Accordion and Endpoint will create a specific layout. You can group one or several metafields in a Tab (using Tab + Endpoint) or in an Accordion (Accordion + Endpoint).

Remember that you can drag and drop the fields to place them between Tab and Endpoint or between Accordion and Endpoint using this icon

Types of metafield

When you select “Field” in the Objet Type we now have to select which type of field we want to use, we will do this in the Field Type option. Below we will look at each of the types.

Text

If you want to add an additional field with custom text to the post type, this type meets your requirements perfectly. You can add additional information about publications using this field. In addition, you can specify the maximum number of characters available in the field.

Date

This metafield is ideal for adding dates of events, meetings, conferences, etc. You can also save the date as a timestamp by activating the Save as timestamp switch, which will allow you to make queries and filters by date. This meta field allows you to add the date manually or through a calendar box, as you prefer.

The date input format is yy-mm-dd, example 22/12/30, but don’t worry because when we represent this field in the Front-end (part that the user sees) we can format the output as we like.

Time

This is an appropriate type to add a timestamp to your publications. Add a specific time for events, meetings, conferences or duration in this meta field. You can use the box to select hours and minutes with the sliders or edit with the keyboard with this format hh:mm:ss, from the keyboard you can indicate hours, minutes and seconds, for example 01:25:15.

Datetime (Date and time)

allows you to select the date and time in the same place. You can also save the date and time as a timestamp by activating the Save as timestamp switch, this will give you the possibility to make queries and filters by date. This meta field allows you to add the date and time manually or through a calendar box, as you prefer.

The date input format is yy-mm-ddThh:mm, example 11-22-25T15:27, but don’t worry because when we render this field on the Front-end (part that the user sees) we can format the output as we like.

Textarea (Text area)

You can use this type to add a textual area to publications with line-by-line text layout. In addition, you can set the character limit for this field value.

WYSIWYG (Rich Text Editor)

This type of meta field includes a basic rich text editor with which you can format the text to your liking by adding bold, italics, size, color, bullets, links, etc. to the text.

Switcher (Switch or switch)

You can add a switch as a custom field to your publications, products, events, etc., allowing you to enable/disable the appropriate option in the meta field block. You can also use this switch to set conditional display logic for another metafield. For example, if this switch is not activated, other metafields are not displayed.

Checkbox

This type gives you the option to add checkboxes with different options. You can put one or more and add these options manually or through a glossary that you can create from the JetEngine menu > JetEngine > Glossaries. Creating a glossary allows you to use the same glossary and different meta tags even from other Post Types.

Iconpicker (Icon selector)

This meta field includes an icon selector with which you can choose an appropriate icon for each publication.

Media (Media Archive)

This type will help to add a media file, image in particular, although you should not forget that you can also use the featured image to add an image to the post. You can also add any type of file you can upload to the WordPress media library (PDF, MP3, MP4, …).

Gallery (Media Gallery)

This type will help to add one or more media files to the post, especially images, but you can also add any type of file you can upload to the WordPress media library (PDF, MP3, MP4, …).

Radio

The radio type is perfect for adding radio options. They differ from the check boxes in that the radio buttons only allow us to select one of the available options. You can add the available options manually or through a glossary that you can create from the JetEngine menu > JetEngine > Glossaries. Creating a glossary allows you to use the same glossary and different meta tags even from other Post Types.

Repeater

This type will help to add the content block with an undetermined number of elementor, you can add as many as you need. You can also select the type of metafield (Text, Date, Time, Datetime, …), and you can include more than one metafield in each element.

Select (drop-down selector)

Use this content type to add a drop-down selector for the publication. In case you enable Allow to select multiple value options, you will be able to select multiple options at the same time. This value can also be displayed using the proper callback for a dynamic field.

Number

If you need a field that can be filled with numbers only, this one will be perfect.

Colorpicker (Color Picker)

With this type of metafield you can select a color using the color palette or by typing its hex code.

Posts (Publications)

This type allows you to select a publication from another CPT or even from the same CTP you are creating.

HTML (HTML Code)

You can add custom HTML code to this meta field. It will be useful for inserting embedded code such as videos, audios, documents, etc. This code will not be shown in the publication editing page, what you will see is the execution of the code itself, it can be used to add help for the publication editor. This meta field does not actually store anything, it only represents the code we enter in the edit page.

Custom values in Checkbox and Radio types

WARNING!
The following functionality can be used for custom posts, custom taxonomies and options page.

When you choose the Checkbox or Radio metafield types, two additional options appear: Allow Custom and Get options from the glossary.

Allow Custom

This option allows adding custom values to those fields, saving them in a database of the current publication but without saving them in the list of default values.

If you want these custom values to apply to all posts in the CPT, enable the Save Custom option and all your posts will contain this new value.

WARNING!
The Radio type metafield is configured by analogy with the checkbox described above.

Get options from the glossary

Enabling this option will allow you to add Glossary options to the list. You will be able to specify the specific glossary. To create a new glossary go to JetEngine > JetEngine> Glossaries and press the +New Glossary button.

Save as array

When this option is enabled, the marked values will be stored as a simple PHP array. You need to use this option if you are going to edit this field on a front-end form. If you do not enable the Save as matrix option, the field will not be pre-filled in the form.

NOTE!
It is recommended to activate this option when creating the metafield. If you fill this field in your CPT and then enable the Save as array option, then the field will be reset and you will have to add the data again.

Other metafield parameters

There are Description and Field width parameters, where you can add an informative text for the editor and set the width of the metafield.

You can specify the Character limit and set a Default value for the current field. In addition, it is possible to enable the Is required option to make the field mandatory.

The Conditional logic field allows you to make fields visible only if conditions are met.

NOTE!
The Default value option is available only for text field types.

After you have added as many meta boxes as you need, click the Update Post Type button to save the changes.

You can display the content you have added in custom meta fields using Elementor in listings and templates.

Creating taxonomies to a JetEngine Custom Post Type

In the WordPress admin panel menu click on JetEngine > Taxonomies and then click on the Add New button to go ahead and create a new taxonomy. The process is very similar to the creation of a CPT. There are the same blocks: General Settings, Labels, Advanced Settings and Meta fields.

Remember at the beginning of this topic I explained what Taxonomies and Terms are.

General Settings

In General Settings there are fields such as:

• Taxonomie Name: set the name of the taxonomy, e.g. Projects or Portfolio, depending on the type of publication this taxonomy is created.
• Taxonomy Slug (Taxonomy Slug): it is filled automatically. The slug must consist only of the characters letters (without accents), numbers and ‘-‘ or ‘_’. For example taxonomy_name.
• Type of publication: from the list, choose for which type of publication this taxonomy will be created, it can be for one that we have created or for an existing one.
• Edit taxonomy/meta box’ link (Link ‘Edit taxonomy/meta box’): In my opinion this is useless. In the Post Type tab it does have a function, but in the case of Taxonomies I have not seen that it has one.

2. Labels

The taxonomy is visible in the WordPress administration panel, its name will be used for several options. In the Labels block you can translate all these labels. For example, instead of the Add New Category option, you can change it to Add New Category. Review the list of tags and update your translation.

In the following image you can see an example of all the translations for a type of category that I have called Genre (designed to create movie genres).

3. Advanced Settings

This block allows you to configure the taxonomy display mode. Simply decide if you want it to be public or displayed in the admin menu, etc. The only option to highlight is Hierarchical, if we activate this checkbox it will be shown as the Categories are shown in the Entries, if you leave it unchecked it will behave as the Tags behave in the Entries.

It has the same options as in the Post Type tab that you can see here.

4. Meta fields (Metacampos)

Use them to display any additional information for taxonomy, such as media, radio options, repeaters, etc. You can also customize the width of the fields to make them take up less space and arrange them side by side.

It works exactly the same as in the Post Types that you can see here.

Add and edit taxonomy

Once you have created the taxonomy you can add and edit the terms from the WordPress menu.

You will be able to select the terms for a customized publication in the right column.

If you have come this far I hope this tutorial has helped you, if so it would be great if you could leave me a rating.