FieldtypeComments

Stores user-posted comments for a page

The value is a CommentArray containing Comment objects. Provides built-in rendering for comment lists and submission forms.

Value type

CommentArray (extends PaginatedArray). Each item is a Comment (extends WireData).

Each comment's status is stored in a $comment->status property, which can have any one of the following values:

Status constantValueMeaning
Comment::statusSpam-2Identified as spam
Comment::statusPending0Awaiting moderation
Comment::statusApproved1Approved and visible
Comment::statusFeatured2Approved and featured

Each Comment object also includes several other properties (cite, text, email, etc.), which are outlined in the section below.

Getting and setting values
// Iterate comments on a page
foreach($page->comments as $comment) {
    echo $comment->cite;        // poster name
    echo $comment->text;        // comment text
    echo $comment->email;       // poster email (not shown publicly by default)
    echo $comment->website;     // poster website
    echo $comment->created;     // unix timestamp
    echo $comment->status;      // see Comment::status* constants
    echo $comment->stars;       // 1–5 or 0 if stars not enabled
    echo $comment->upvotes;
    echo $comment->downvotes;
    echo $comment->depth;       // nesting depth when threading enabled (0=top level)
    // See Comment.php for the full list of Comment properties
}

// Add a new comment programmatically (import, no filtering or notifications)
$comment = new Comment();
$comment->cite = 'John Smith';
$comment->email = 'john@example.com';
$comment->text = 'Great article!';
$comment->status = Comment::statusApproved;
$field = $fields->get('comments'); // get the CommentField object
$field->addComment($page, $comment, false); // false = no filtering/notifications

// Add a comment from user input (triggers moderation filtering and notifications)
$field->addComment($page, $comment, true);

// Update a comment property
$field->updateComment($page, $comment, ['status' => Comment::statusApproved]);

// Delete a comment
$field->deleteComment($page, $comment);

// Get a comment by ID
$comment = $field->getCommentByID($page, 123);

// Get a comment by its approval code (e.g. from a notification email link)
$comment = $field->getCommentByCode($page, $code);

// Count comments on a page
$total = $field->getNumComments($page);
$approved = $field->getNumComments($page, ['minStatus' => Comment::statusApproved]);

// Find comments across all pages in the field (database query)
$comments = $field->find('status=1, sort=-created, limit=10');
$comments = $field->find("pages_id=$page->id, status>=1");
$comments = $field->find('stars>=4, status=1, sort=-created');

// Vote on a comment (requires useVotes enabled on field)
$field->voteComment($page, $comment, true);   // upvote
$field->voteComment($page, $comment, false);  // downvote

// Threaded comments (requires depth > 0 on field)
$parent   = $comment->parent;    // parent Comment or null
$children = $comment->children;  // CommentArray of immediate children
$parents  = $comment->parents;   // CommentArray of all ancestors

// Store/retrieve arbitrary extra data on a comment (stored in the meta column)
$comment->meta('key', 'value');          // set
$value = $comment->meta('key');          // get
$all = $comment->meta();                 // get all as array
$comment->meta(['key1' => 1, 'key2' => 2]); // set multiple at once
$field->updateComment($page, $comment, ['meta' => $comment->meta()]); // save
Selectors

Page-level selectors (via $pages->find()):

// Pages with at least one approved comment
$pages->find('comments.count>0');

// Match comment text content
$pages->find('comments.data*=keyword');

Comment-level selectors (via $field->find()):

This enables you to find comments regardless of which page they appear on.

// Approved comments, newest first
$field->find('status=1, sort=-created, limit=20');

// Featured comments
$field->find('status=' . Comment::statusFeatured);

// Pending moderation
$field->find('status=' . Comment::statusPending);

// Comments on a specific page only
$field->find("pages_id=$page->id, status>=1");

// Comments with star rating of 4 or above
$field->find('stars>=4, status=1');

Examples of supported find() selector fields: id, status, flags, created, pages_id, parent_id, created_users_id, upvotes, downvotes, stars, text, cite, email, website, ip, user_agent.

Output / markup
// Render the comment list (uses CommentList class)
echo $page->comments->render();

// Render only the submission form (uses CommentForm class)
echo $page->comments->renderForm();

// Render both list and form
echo $page->comments->renderAll();

// Pass options to the renderer
echo $page->comments->render([
    'dateFormat' => 'Y-m-d',
    'useGravatar' => '',
]);

// Get object instances for full control
$commentList = $page->comments->getCommentList();
$commentForm = $page->comments->getCommentForm();
echo $commentList->render();
echo $commentForm->render();

Rendering can be customized by extending CommentList or CommentForm (or using the CommentListCustom / CommentFormCustom drop-in classes).

Notes
  • Moderation constants (moderate field setting):

    • FieldtypeComments::moderateNone (0) — no moderation; all comments published immediately
    • FieldtypeComments::moderateAll (1) — all comments require manual approval
    • FieldtypeComments::moderateNew (2) — only first-time commenters require approval
  • Votes constants (useVotes field setting):

    • FieldtypeComments::useVotesNo (0) — voting disabled
    • FieldtypeComments::useVotesUp (1) — upvotes only
    • FieldtypeComments::useVotesAll (2) — upvotes and downvotes
  • Stars constants (useStars field setting):

    • FieldtypeComments::useStarsNo (0) — disabled
    • FieldtypeComments::useStarsYes (1) — optional
    • FieldtypeComments::useStarsRequired (2) — required on submission
  • addComment($page, $comment, $send): pass $send=true when the comment comes from live user input (triggers moderation filtering and notification emails); pass $send=false for programmatic imports where no filtering or emails should run.

  • Database columns (one row per comment): id, pages_id, parent_id, data (comment text, FULLTEXT indexed), sort, status, flags, created, email, cite, website, ip, user_agent, created_users_id, code, subcode, upvotes, downvotes, stars, meta.

  • Compatible fieldtypes: FieldtypeComments only.

API reference: methods, hooks

Click any linked item for full usage details and examples. Hookable methods are indicated with the icon. In addition to those shown below, the CommentList class also inherits all the methods and properties of: Wire.

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Additional methods and properties

In addition to the methods and properties above, CommentList also inherits the methods and properties of these classes:

API reference based on ProcessWire core version 3.0.260