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Custom Fields - Plugixa Testimonial

Attach custom data to testimonials - anything from a “region” tag to a product SKU to a downloadable resource URL. Each testimonial then renders those fields alongside the card (or you can access them via the API for your own display logic).

The Custom Fields screen. Three fields - Portfolio URL, Industry and Verified Customer - each showing its label, its key, its type as a coloured chip (URL, Select, Checkbox), whether it is required, whether it is Visible on the front end, how many values are stored, and the languages it is translated into.

Typical use cases

  • Agencies / SaaS - tag testimonials with industry, team_size, deployment_date.
  • E-commerce - attach product_sku, order_value, region.
  • Service businesses - service_type, project_duration, project_value.
  • Multi-team workflows - owning_team, account_manager.

Creating a field definition

Go to Plugixa Testimonial → Custom Fields → Add New.

The Add Custom Field screen. EN and FR language tabs sit above Field Label, Placeholder Text, Field Key - annotated “Leave empty to auto-generate from label” - and a Field Type selector, with Required Field and Show on Frontend toggles below and a Publish panel on the right.

Field Notes
Field label Displayed in the testimonial editor and (optionally) the frontend. Translatable.
Field key Machine name (industry, order_value). Must be unique per language. Immutable after creation. Used in REST responses and templates.
Field type See table below.
Options For select - one option per line.
Placeholder Shown in the input. Translatable.
Required Gate save when empty.
Show in frontend Toggle public visibility on the submission form and display cards.
Menu order Position in the testimonial editor (drag-and-drop in the Custom Fields list).
Status publish, draft, trash.
Language When multilingual is active.

Field types

Type Input Value stored
text Single-line text string
textarea Multi-line text string
url URL input validated URL string
number Number input number
date Date picker ISO date string
select Dropdown single option value
checkbox Checkbox 1 / 0
color Color picker hex string (rendered as a swatch on frontend)

Adding a new type requires a small plugin-side addition to the field-type registry. File a feature request.

Assigning values to testimonials

When you open a testimonial editor, the custom-fields panel appears below the default fields. Enter values for any defined fields, then save.

Values are stored in wp_plugixatestimonial_meta with meta_key = field_key.

Frontend rendering

On the submission form

Fields with show_in_frontend = true automatically appear on [plugixa_testimonial_form], rendered by their field type. Required fields are enforced client- and server-side.

On testimonial cards

When a shortcode has show_custom_fields="1", the card renders:

<div class="pxt-custom-fields">
  <div class="pxt-custom-field pxt-custom-field--text">
    <span class="pxt-custom-field-label">Industry</span>
    <span class="pxt-custom-field-value">SaaS</span>
  </div>
  <div class="pxt-custom-field pxt-custom-field--color">
    <span class="pxt-custom-field-label">Brand color</span>
    <span class="pxt-custom-field-value">
      <span class="pxt-color-swatch" style="background:#4a90e2"></span> #4a90e2
    </span>
  </div>
</div>

Color values render as an inline swatch. URL values render as clickable <a> links. Other types render as plain text.

Template override

Copy templates/grid.php (or slider.php / masonry.php / list.php) to {your-theme}/plugixa-testimonial/{layout}.php and edit. The $custom_fields variable is an associative array keyed by field_key.

<?php if ( ! empty( $custom_fields['industry'] ) ) : ?>
    <span class="pxt-custom-badge">
        <?php echo esc_html( $custom_fields['industry'] ); ?>
    </span>
<?php endif; ?>

Multilingual custom fields

Custom fields are multilingual-aware.

Translatable fields: field_label, placeholder. Shared fields: field_key, field_type, field_options, is_required, show_in_frontend, menu_order.

This means you can translate the label users see (Industry → Industrie) while the machine name (industry) stays the same across all languages - so your templates keep working regardless of language.

The custom fields list with the language filter set to All, showing the English fields and the French translation together, with the Translations column marking which languages each field exists in.

The custom fields list filtered to French. One row remains, “URL du portfolio”, the French translation of Portfolio URL; the other two fields have no French translation and so do not appear.

Ordering

In the Custom Fields list, use Order Fields for drag-and-drop reordering. The order affects:

  • The order of fields in the testimonial editor.
  • The order of fields in the frontend submission form.
  • The render order of fields on testimonial cards.

Deleting a field

Click Delete on a row and confirm. The deletion:

  • Removes the field definition from custom_fields.
  • Cascade-deletes every value in meta with matching meta_key.

There is no “orphan values” option currently - deleting the definition is destructive. Export your data first if you need to preserve values.

REST API

Method Endpoint Description
GET /wp-json/plugixatestimonial/v1/custom-fields List ordered by menu_order, includes value_count.
POST /wp-json/plugixatestimonial/v1/custom-fields Create (auto-generates field_key from label if missing).
GET /wp-json/plugixatestimonial/v1/custom-fields/{id} Get one.
PUT /wp-json/plugixatestimonial/v1/custom-fields/{id} Update (field_key is ignored on update).
DELETE /wp-json/plugixatestimonial/v1/custom-fields/{id} Delete with cascade.
POST /wp-json/plugixatestimonial/v1/custom-fields/reorder Bulk update menu_order.

Custom-field values for a specific testimonial appear on the custom_fields key in GET /testimonials/{id} and the frontend API.

All endpoints require manage_options + Pro license.

Saving values on create/update

The plugin automatically persists custom_fields values when you create or update a testimonial via POST / PUT /testimonials. The request body:

{
  "client_name": "Jane Doe",
  "testimonial_text": "...",
  "custom_fields": {
    "industry": "SaaS",
    "team_size": "50-200",
    "brand_color": "#4a90e2"
  }
}

Import / Export

When you export testimonials via Import / Export, custom-field values appear as separate columns (CSV) or nested keys (JSON). On import, matching keys are auto-populated.

Hooks

There are no custom-field hooks. The plugin fires eight filters in total and no actions; see the Hooks Reference for the full list and what each one can change.

Troubleshooting

Field not appearing in the testimonial form

  • Check the field status = publish, not draft / trash.
  • For multilingual: the field must have a translation in the current admin language.

Field value not showing on the frontend

  • show_in_frontend is on.
  • The shortcode has show_custom_fields="1".
  • The testimonial actually has a value saved for that field.

Can’t change the field_key

Correct - the field_key is immutable after creation to protect existing data. If you need a new key, create a new field, migrate the values (via SQL or the API), and delete the old field.

Quick Links

Plugin page Changelog