Module Module: Matrix Fieldtype & Inputfield

[kongondo]

FieldtypeMatrix and InputfieldMatrix

Modules Directory: http://modules.processwire.com/modules/fieldtype-matrix/

GitHub: https://github.com/kongondo/FieldtypeMatrix 

The module Matrix enables you to save data from a 2D-Matrix table. The rows and columns of the matrix table are made up of pages retrieved via a ProcessWire selector or via a page field selection of parent pages. The matrix values are made up of the data input in the matrix cells, i.e. the 'intersection of rows and columns'.
 
Example Usage
You have Products whose prices vary depending on colour, size, material, etc. Using the Fieldtype, you can create a table with rows made up of colours and columns made up of sizes the combination of each making up their respective values (in this case price). So rather than creating multiple text fields to do the following:

Colour		Size		Price
Red		Small		£10
Red		Medium		£20
Red		Large		£30
Red		X-large		£35
Green		Small		£9
Green		Medium		£15
Etc...

You can instead have the following in one field:

		Small		Medium		Large 		X-Large
Red		£10		£20		£30		£35
Green		£9		£15
Blue		Etc...
Yellow
Purple

If you set a selector in the Field's settings, to retrieve pages to build your matrix's rows and columns, it follows that all pages using the template the Fieldtype is attached to will have identical rows and columns. In some cases, this could be the intention. For instance, you might have 'Car' pages, e.g. Audi, Volvo, Ford, Citroen, Mazda, BWM, etc., each of which uses a 'Cars' template that has a single FiedltypeMatrix called 'car_attributes'. If you set a selector to build the Fieldtype's rows and columns, your users can easily compare the cars based on a combination of different values. The following matrix table best illustrates this:

        Type            Engine Size Fuel Efficiency Carbon Emissions  Warranty  Road Tax  Price
1994   Audi brand 1    values, etc.            
2000   Audi brand 2             
2006   Audi brand 3              
2012   Audi brand 4            
             

Each of your car pages would have similar matrices. 

This allows you to make easy but powerful queries. Such a setup allows you to compare within and across car brands. Say you wanted to find out which car(s) offered the best value for money given certain parameters such as warranty, emissions etc. You can easily make such comparisons (see code below). You can also compare within one car type, e.g. which brand of BMWs does best in what area...The possibilities are endless.

In the database, Rows and column pages data are stored as their respective page->id. Matrix-values store any data (varchar(255)).
 
If instead you wanted a template's pages to each have a matrix built of different rows and columns, you would have to name a Multiple Page Field (attached to the same template as the as your matrix field) in the matrix field's settings. When editing those pages, your matrix table's rows and columns will be built using the published children pages of the 2 pages you select in the Multiple page field..
 
The module allows the creation of matrix tables of any sizes (rows x columns). The rows and columns dynamically grow/shrink depending on the addition of row/column pages that match what you set in the matrix field's settings (see its 'Details Tab'). Please note that, if such pages are deleted/trashed/hidden/unpublished, their data (and presence) in the matrix are also deleted.

Entering values in the matrix

You have three choices:

• Manually entry
• Uploading a comma delimited (CSV) file. This can be delimited by other characters (tab, pipe, etc); not just commas
• Copy-pasting CSV values. (Tip: you can copy paste directly from an Excel spreadsheet. Such values will be 'tab-delimited').

In addition, if your server supports it, in the field's settings, you can enable the use of MySQL's fast LOAD DATA INFILE to read and save your submitted CSV values.

Note that for large tables, you may have to increase your PHP's max_input_vars from the default 1000 otherwise PHP will timeout/return an error and your values will not be saved. I have successfully tested the module with up to ~3000+ values (10x350 table), the Fieldtype is not really optimised (nor was it intended) to handle mega large matrix tables. For such, you might want to consider other strategies. 

 
Install
Install as any other module.
 
API + Output
A typical output case for this module would work like this:
 
The matrix's rows, columns and values are subfields of your matrix's field. So, if you created a field called 'products' of the type FieldtypeMatrix, you can access as:

product.row, product.column and product.value respectively

 

foreach($page->matrix as $m) {
  echo "
    <p>
    Colour: $m->row<br />
    Size: $m->column<br />
    Price: $m->value
    </p>
    ";
}

Of if you want to output a matrix table in the frontend: 
 

//create array to build matrix
$products = array();

foreach($page->matrix as $m) $products[$m->row][$m->column] = $m->value;

$tbody ='';//matrix rows
$thcols = '';//matrix table column headers

$i = 0;//set counter not to output extraneous column label headers
$c = true;//set odd/even rows class
foreach ($products as $row => $cols) {

          //matrix table row headers (first column)
          $rowHeader = $pages->get($row)->title;

          $tbody .= "<tr" . (($c = !$c) ? " class='even' " : '') . "><td class='MatrixRowHeader'>" . $rowHeader . "</td>";

          $count = count($cols);//help to stop output of extra/duplicate column headers

          foreach ($cols as $col => $value) {

                    //matrix table column headers
                    $columnHeader = $pages->get($col)->title;

                    //avoid outputting extra duplicate columns
                    if ($i < $count) $thcols .= "<th class='MatrixColumnHeader'>" . $columnHeader . "</th>";

                    //output matrix values
                    $currency = $value > 0 ? '£' : '';
                    $tbody .= "<td>" . $currency . $value . "</td>";

                    $i++;

          }

          $tbody .= "</tr>";

}

//final matrix table for output
 $tableOut =   "<table class='Matrix'>
                <thead>
                  <tr class=''>
                    <th></th>
                    $thcols
                   </tr>
                </thead>
                <tbody>
                  $tbody
                </tbody>
            </table>";

echo $tableOut;

The module provides a default rendering capability as well, so that you can also do this (below) and get a similar result as the first example above (without the captions). 

echo $page->matrix;

Or this

foreach($page->matrix as $m) {
         echo $m; 
}

Finding matrix items
The fieldtype includes indexed row, column and value fields. This enables you to find matrix items by either row types (e.g. colours) or columns (e.g. sizes) or their values (e.g. price) or a combination of some/all of these. For instance:

//find all pages that have a matrix value of less than 1000
$results = $pages->find("products.value<1000"); 

//find some results in the matrix (called products) of this page
$results = $page->products->find("column=$country, value=Singapore");//or
$page->products->find("column=$age, value>=25");
//$country and $age would be IDs of two of your column pages

Other more complex queries are possible, e.g. find all products that are either red or purple in colour, come in x-large size and are priced less than $50.

Credits
@Ryan on whose Fieldtype/InptufieldEvents this is largely based
@charger and @sakkoulas for their matrix ideas
 
Screens
 
Field Details Tab

 
Inputfield

Larger matrix table

 
Example output

[kongondo]

Some follow up questions here about select row/column pages per page vs per field:

Coming soon...pls wait...

Resolved this (answered my own questions ) see below update..

Edited December 19, 2014 by kongondo

[sakkoulas]

This is great kongondo, thank you         

[charger]

Great stuff!! Thanks a lot! I did some testing, and everything seems to work.

I have one feature that I'm missing. I'm aware this is not the core idea of this module, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Ok, so here it is:

If I have a selector for columns/rows that goes like parent=1283|1284, it works as expected by listing the children of both parents. The output could be like this:

S
M
L
Cotton
Nylon

However, it would be cool to have an option (checkbox) that creates all possible combinations of the selected children, like this:

S Cotton
M Cotton
L Cotton
S Nylon
M Nylon
L Nylon

In my case, I need this because I have multiple currencies for the rows.

As mentioned, I don't know if this too much out of scope and maybe needs an additional module.

[kongondo]

@Charger,

I see no easy way of doing that (3-way relationship) using this particular module. I'll see if I can do a bespoke one for your needs.

[kongondo]

Update: version 0.0.2

Added ability to reuse a single matrix field across pages/templates to build unique matrix tables on a page by page basis. This is achieved by specifying the name of a Multiplepages select field in the Fieldtype settings (Details Tab). It allows you to select row and column parent pages from within the page containing the matrix itself. The child pages of these parents are used to build the matrix. This setting overrides the Row and Column selector settings of the fieldtype.

Example usage:

1. Create a Multiplepages field and call it, for example, 'product_select'. Set it up as you wish (e.g. custom PHP, selectors, etc for selectable pages). You may wish to use ASM select to make things prettier/easier below.
2. Add it to the same template(s) where you will be using a matrix field.
3. In your matrix field's Details Tab, specify the name of the page field (i.e. 'product_select') under the 'Matrix Row and Column Parent Pages' setting.
4. Edit the page where you will be building a matrix table.
5. Select 2 pages in your 'product_select' whose child pages will be used to create your matrix rows and columns. The order is important! The first selected page will be assumed to be the row pages parent and the second one the column pages parent. Any additional pages here will be ignored.
6. Save your page and your matrix table will be built using the children of the selected parent pages.
7. Note: The usual error checking will be done and 'thrown' (e.g. if parent pages do not have children, if your specified page field is not a page field/does not return a PageArray, etc.
8. Note 2: You can swap/change the row/column pages in your page field (product_select) HOWEVER, all previously saved values will be deleted(!) on save and your matrix table rebuilt to reflect the new specified row/column structure.

Todo/think about

• Copy values from Excel and directly paste this in a similarly structured matrix table
• Export matrix table?
• 1-click clear all values entered in a matrix table
• Etc?

Download:

https://github.com/kongondo/FieldtypeMatrix

Screens

Named Page Field to select rows and columns parent pages

Row and Column parent pages selection in a specified Page Field

Reusing a single matrix field on a different page(s)

[mr-fan]

WOW

[kongondo]

Great stuff!! Thanks a lot! I did some testing, and everything seems to work.

I have one feature that I'm missing. I'm aware this is not the core idea of this module, but I wanted to mention it anyway. Ok, so here it is:

If I have a selector for columns/rows that goes like parent=1283|1284, it works as expected by listing the children of both parents. The output could be like this:

S
M
L
Cotton
Nylon

However, it would be cool to have an option (checkbox) that creates all possible combinations of the selected children, like this:

S Cotton
M Cotton
L Cotton
S Nylon
M Nylon
L Nylon

In my case, I need this because I have multiple currencies for the rows.

As mentioned, I don't know if this too much out of scope and maybe needs an additional module.

@Charger,

I see no easy way of doing that (3-way relationship) using this particular module. I'll see if I can do a bespoke one for your needs.

Hmm, or maybe I should include this in the present module but with a max 3-way relationship? Otherwise it get messy if more. The 3rd relationship (materials in your case) would only kick in if user configures it in the Fieldtype settings as you suggested. What do you guys think?

[netcarver]

Looks great kongondo!! Very impressed.

How are the intersection values being stored? (Sorry, I've not dug around in the code.)

[kongondo]

...How are the intersection values being stored? (Sorry, I've not dug around in the code.)

That turned out (later) to be the easy bit . They are stored similar to Page Fields...(see second screenshot below)

Matrix array (see post below - we use this only for grabbing db values to later manipulate to build matrix cells/intersections. We use a different array for saving)

Matrix db table (see update below [version 0.0.3] about avoiding saving records with empty values)

Edited December 22, 2014 by kongondo

[netcarver]

@kongondo, is there any need to store the empty results?

Just wondered as once you get into the world of combinatorials things quickly get memory hungry big; and PHP associative arrays aren't exactly the world's most efficient storage format. Any idea how this fieldtype works out memory wise? 

[kongondo]

@Steve,

Good catch about empty values! Don't know how I mised that! I have corrected it in Version 0.0.3 (post here soon), thanks!

Memory issue: That was my next question. I would like to do/see some real world tests....+ there's also PHP post limits...Would appreciate if anybody could help test , thanks.

[sakkoulas]

i do tests with matrixField and seems to be working fine, (i have edit a little the inputfieldMatrix.module to retrieve matrix_columns and matrix_rows from a pagefield inside the same page) i'm still testing it, for any issues i will post here...

Thaaaaaaanks kongondo

[kongondo]

Update: version 0.0.3
 
Small but important update to correct oversight whereby records with empty values were being saved to the database, thx @netcarver.

[kongondo]

i do tests with matrixField and seems to be [/size]working fine, (i have edit a little the inputfieldMatrix.module to retrieve matrix_columns and matrix_rows from a pagefield inside the same page) i'm still testing it, for any issues i will post here...

How is that different from version 0.0.2 I posted earlier?

[sakkoulas]

no different but i have to tested that way from version 0.0.1

[kongondo]

....PHP associative arrays aren't exactly the world's most efficient storage format. Any idea how this fieldtype works out memory wise? 

Am listening ...Ideas?

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/804045/preferred-method-to-store-php-arrays-json-encode-vs-serialize

[sakkoulas]

hmm is it possible in settings to search for matrix_row or matrix_column  where $field = $page->field;

  

[netcarver]

Partial reply...

Looking at this some more I don't think this will be a major concern for most small combinations that people were suggesting (like {S, M, L, XL} crossed with {Red, Green, Blue}) but I am interested in how this might scale if people start specifying a set of pages for the x-axis with a larger number of members - say 30 options and a set of pages for the y-axis with another 20 options. Or perhaps if a user mistypes a selector and end up with 1000s of pages in one of the axis - would there be issues? (I'm kinda asking as I'm hitting an issue with a module of my own that needs a safe fallback position if something goes wrong.)

When I've looked at memory usage in the past, I've tended to use the memory_get_usage() function to track this kind of thing.

[kongondo]

hmm is it possible in settings to search for matrix_row or matrix_column  where $field = $page->field;  

Yes. They are subfields of whatever your field is. The subfields are the names of the columns in the Fieldtype's db table, i.e. matrix_row, matrix_column and matrix_value.

The selector format would be: field.subfield=value

E.g., if your your matrix field was called 'product', you would search for: . product.matrix_row, product.matrix_column and product.matrix_value.

I'm in a hurry atm, see examples here:

http://processwire.com/api/selectors/#subfield

https://processwire.com/talk/topic/5040-events-fieldtype-inputfield-how-to-make-a-table-fieldtypeinputfield/

https://processwire.com/talk/topic/5040-events-fieldtype-inputfield-how-to-make-a-table-fieldtypeinputfield/

[teppo]

@kongondo, this looks great, thanks for making it available!

Will take a closer look soon, but just a (very) minor note at this point: I can't help wondering why the subfields are prefixed with matrix_ -- doesn't honestly matter that much, but I fail to see much value in that either, just slight increase in verbosity compared to non-prefixed alternatives 

[sakkoulas]

kongondo, about the way that pagefield shows columns and rows,   i have changed inputfield Matrix.module selector and i have two pagefields one for columns and one for rows, so every time i add a page to pagefield the matrixfield shows the specific page.title. 

the problem is that if matrix_value has a value and delete the pageField with the specific matrix column the cell is not deleted until i clear the value from the specific cell and save the page. 

[kongondo]

....Will take a closer look soon, but just a (very) minor note at this point: I can't help wondering why the subfields are prefixed with matrix_ -- doesn't honestly matter that much, but I fail to see much value in that either, just slight increase in verbosity compared to non-prefixed alternatives 

Thanks @teppo. Yeah, I battled with this one; I am not a fan of such prefixes myself . I was trying to avoid collision with MySQL reserved words - row(?), value and column. Funny though that in my tests selectors still work when I drop the 'matrix' prefix...hmm. 

Guys..suggestions for naming the row/column/value  COLUMNS? Maybe:

mrow - mcolumn (or mcol)  - mvalue

OR maybe...

use the PW data COLUMN for 'values' (i.e. intersection/combination cell/value of row vs column), i.e.

$page->product.mrow//rows
$page->products.mcol//columns
$page->products.data//their data/values

Any thoughts? Thanks.

[teppo]

@kongondo: had to check, and apparently column is a reserved word, row and value should be fine. Either way, prefixed values make sense after all, no point in having only one prefixed. Also, I kind of prefer matrix_* over m*, and matrix_value over data, so wouldn't chance anything to be honest

[kongondo]

kongondo, about the way that pagefield shows columns and rows,   i have changed inputfield Matrix.module selector and i have two pagefields one for columns and one for rows, so every time i add a page to pagefield the matrixfield shows the specific page.title. 

the problem is that if matrix_value has a value and delete the pageField with the specific matrix column the cell is not deleted until i clear the value from the specific cell and save the page. 

@sakkoulas,

Does this mean that all the rows and columns that make up your matrix table will have have their corresponding pages displayed in your page fields? It's an interesting idea but would probably not work well (visually) if you have a large table? The list of pages in your page fields could get very long