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Custom Fields — Plugixa Recipe

Custom Fields PRO let you attach additional structured data to every recipe — author bio URL, affiliate disclosure, preparation tips, YouTube playlist, “best paired with”, or anything else your publication needs.

Values are stored in wp_plugixarecipe_meta (key → value pairs keyed by recipe_id). Field definitions are stored in wp_plugixarecipe_custom_fields.

Defining a custom field

Navigate to Recipes → Custom Fields.

Custom fields list

Click Add New.

Custom field form

Field Description
Field Key * Machine-readable key (e.g., author_bio_url); unique
Field Label * Display label shown in the recipe editor and the frontend
Field Type * text, textarea, number, select, checkbox, radio, date, url
Field Options JSON / comma list — for select, checkbox, radio
Placeholder Input placeholder
Required Must be filled on save
Show on frontend Render on the single recipe page
Menu order Sort position in the editor / frontend
Language Locale when WPML/Polylang is active

Save. The field now appears on every recipe’s Custom Fields tab.

Filling values on a recipe

Open a recipe, switch to the Custom Fields tab.

Custom fields tab in the recipe editor

Each field renders using its declared type:

  • text / url / number / date — single input.
  • textarea — multi-line.
  • select — dropdown built from field_options.
  • radio — inline option buttons.
  • checkbox — multiple selection, stored as JSON array.

Rendering on the frontend

If Show on frontend is enabled for a field, it appears on the single recipe page in a Custom Fields section below the description:

Custom fields on the frontend

The template is templates/single-recipe.php; you can override it by copying to wp-content/themes/{your-theme}/plugixarecipe/single-recipe.php.

Reordering custom fields

From Recipes → Custom Fields → Ordering, drag fields into the desired order. This controls:

  • Editor tab order.
  • Frontend display order.

Multilingual custom fields

Custom fields follow the same translation-group pattern as categories and cuisines. You can define an author_bio_url field in English and a translated enlace_biografia_autor field in Spanish, share a translation_group between them, and the editor will surface the right label per language.

Programmatic access

Read a custom field value on the frontend:

$value = PlugixaRecipe\CustomFields::get( $recipe_id, 'author_bio_url' );

All custom field values are also emitted in the REST response under custom_fields:

GET /wp-json/plugixarecipe/v1/recipes/{id}

{
  "id": 42,
  "title": "…",
  "custom_fields": {
    "author_bio_url": "https://example.com/bio",
    "paired_with": ["Merlot", "Chianti"]
  }
}

Why not use WordPress post_meta?

Plugixa Recipe stores recipes in custom tables, not wp_posts. A dedicated wp_plugixarecipe_meta table gives:

  • Faster queries (single table scan with direct index).
  • Clean removal on uninstall.php.
  • No collision with other plugins’ post meta.

Upgrading from a different FAQ / recipe plugin

Use the Import / Export tool — custom fields can be mapped from incoming CSV / JSON columns into your defined fields during import.

Quick Links

Plugin page Changelog