Table Multi (MCW)

The “Table multi (MCW)” attribute is an extended variant of the table text attribute. Instead of plain text inputs, a custom widget type can be configured for each table cell — e.g. select, radio buttons, checkboxes, date pickers, or text fields. The data is stored in a dedicated value table, so no own column is created in the MetaModel table for this attribute.

Typical use cases:

Technical specifications with mixed input types (text + selection + date)
Opening hours with weekday selection and time fields
Configurable feature lists with validated input

Warning

The column structure (number and type of columns) is not configured in the MetaModels backend, but in a PHP configuration file (contao/config/config.php). This requires developer knowledge.

Installation

The attribute is installed via the Contao Manager or Composer:

composer require metamodels/attribute_tablemulti

Settings when Creating the Attribute

The attribute has no specific settings in the MetaModels backend when creating. Only the general attribute settings are used:

Name, column name, description
Override variants

The actual configuration of the table structure is done in the PHP configuration file via $GLOBALS['TL_CONFIG']['metamodelsattribute_multi']:

$GLOBALS['TL_CONFIG']['metamodelsattribute_multi']['mm_example']['my_field'] = [
    'minCount'     => 0,
    'maxCount'     => 0,
    'columnFields' => [
        'col_name' => [
            'label'     => 'Name',
            'inputType' => 'text',
            'eval'      => ['style' => 'width:200px'],
        ],
        'col_type' => [
            'label'     => 'Type',
            'inputType' => 'select',
            'options'   => ['a' => 'Option A', 'b' => 'Option B'],
            'eval'      => ['style' => 'width:150px'],
        ],
    ],
];

Here mm_example represents the table name of the MetaModel and my_field the column name of the attribute.

Settings in Render Settings

The attribute has its own render setting:

Option	Description
Hide table header	Hides the column headings in the frontend output.
Template	Selection of a custom template for the output.
CSS class	Optional CSS class added to the output element.

Settings in the Input Form

When the attribute is added to an input form, the following options are available:

Display

Option	Description
Backend class	CSS classes for the display of the field in the backend form.
Template for backend	Selection of a custom widget template for the backend form.

Filter Rules

The table multi attribute can be used with the following filter rules:

Filter rule	Note
Single select / Multi-select	Filters by existing cell values (distinct values from the value table).

Special Functions

Database storage

The table values are not stored in the MetaModel table, but in the dedicated value table tl_metamodel_tablemulti with the columns att_id, item_id, row (row index), col (column identifier), and value. This means no column is created in the MM table and no database migration is needed.

Widget types per column

In contrast to the table text attribute, the individual columns can be assigned any Contao widget type: text, select, checkbox, radio, datePicker, colorPicker, etc.

Storage format

Binary UUIDs are converted to readable UUIDs before storage. Array values are stored serialized and automatically deserialized when reading.