Repeater Fields

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Overview

The Repeater field allows you to create and edit repeatable, structured data and store that data in a JSON column or HasMany relationship:

namespace App\Nova;

use App\Nova\Repeaters;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\ID;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\Repeater;
use Laravel\Nova\Http\Requests\NovaRequest;
 
class Invoice extends Resource
{
	/**  
	 * Get the fields displayed by the resource. 
	 * 
	 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
	 */
	public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
	{
		return [
			ID::make(),
			Repeater::make('Line Items')
				->repeatables([
					Repeaters\LineItem::make(),
				]),
		];
	}
}

After defining a Repeater field, your resource will have an elegant interface for adding and editing repeatable items in the field:

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Repeatables

A Repeatable object represents the repeatable data for a Repeater field. It defines the set of fields used for the repeatable item. It also optionally defines an Eloquent Model class when the Repeater is using the HasMany preset.

The Repeater field is not limited to a single type of repeatable. It also supports multiple “repeatable” types, which may contain their own unique field sets and models. These repeatables could be used to create interfaces for editing flexible content areas, similar to those offered by content management systems.

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Generating Repeatables

To generate a new Repeatable, invoke the nova:repeatable Artisan command:

php artisan nova:repeatable LineItem

After invoking the command above, Nova generates a new file at app/Nova/Repeater/LineItem.php. This file contains a fields method in which you may list any supported Nova field. For example, below we will define a Repeatable representing a line item for an invoice:

namespace App\Nova\Repeaters;

use Laravel\Nova\Http\Requests\NovaRequest;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\Currency;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\Number;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\Repeater\Repeatable;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\Textarea;

class LineItem extends Repeatable
{
	/**
	 * Get the fields displayed by the repeatable.
	 *
	 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
	 */
	public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
	{
		return [
			Number::make('Quantity')->rules('required', 'numeric'),
			Textarea::make('Description')->rules('required', 'max:255'),
			Currency::make('Price')->rules('required', 'numeric'),
		];
	}
}

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Confirming Repeatable Removal

You may instruct Nova to present a confirmation modal before removing a repeatable by invoking the confirmRemoval method when defining the repeatable:

use App\Nova\Repeaters;
use Laravel\Nova\Fields\Repeater;
use Laravel\Nova\Http\Requests\NovaRequest;

// ...

/**  
 * Get the fields displayed by the resource. 
 * 
 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
 */
public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
{
	return [
		Repeater::make('Attachments')->repeatables([
			Repeaters\File::make()->confirmRemoval(),
			Repeaters\Note::make(),
			Repeaters\Video::make()->confirmRemoval(),
		]),
	];
}

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Repeater Presets

The Repeater field includes two storage “presets” out-of-the-box: Json and HasMany. Each preset defines how the repeatable data is stored and retrieved from your database.

For example, an Invoice resource could use a Repeater field to edit the line items for an invoice. Using the Laravel\Nova\Fields\Repeater\JSON preset, those line items would be stored in a line_items JSON column. However, when using the HasMany preset, the line items would be stored in a separate ‘line_items’ database table, with fields corresponding to each database column.

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JSON Preset

The JSON preset stores repeatables in a JSON column in your database. For example, the line items for an invoice could be store in a line_items column. When a resource with a Repeater field using the JSON preset is saved, the repeatables are serialized and saved to the column.

To use the JSON preset, simply invoke the asJson method on your Repeater field definition:

use App\Nova\Repeaters;

// ...

/**
 * Get the fields displayed by the resource. 
 * 
 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
 */
public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
{
	return [
		Repeater::make('Line Items', 'line_items')
			->repeatables([
				Repeaters\LineItem::make(),
			])
			->asJson(),
	];
}

Before using this preset, you should ensure that the underlying Eloquent attribute for the resource’s repeater column is configured to cast to an array (or equivalent) within your Eloquent model class:

/**
 * The attributes that should be cast.
 *
 * @var array<string, mixed>
 */
protected $casts = [
	'line_items' => 'array',
];

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HasMany Preset

The HasMany preset stores repeatables via Eloquent using a HasMany relationship. For example, instead of storing the line items for an invoice in JSON format, the data would be saved in a separate line_items database table, complete with dedicated columns mapping to each field in the repeatable. The Repeater field will automatically manage these relations when editing your resources.

To use the HasMany preset, simply invoke the asHasMany method on your Repeater field definition:

use App\Nova\Repeaters;

// ...

/**
 * Get the fields displayed by the resource. 
 * 
 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
 */
public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
{
	return [
		Repeater::make('Line Items', 'lineItems')
			->repeatables([
				Repeaters\LineItem::make(),
			])
			->asHasMany(),
	];
}

The HasMany preset requires each repeatable to specify the underlying model it represents by setting the model property on the Repeatable. For example, a LineItem repeatable would need to specify the underlying \App\Models\LineItem model it represents:

/**  
 * The underlying model the repeatable represents. 
 * 
 * @var class-string
 */
public static $model = \App\Models\LineItem::class;

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Upserting Repeatables Using Unique Fields

By default, when editing your repeatables configured with the HasMany preset, Nova will delete all of the related items and recreate them every time you save your resource. To instruct Nova to “upsert” the repeatable data instead, you should ensure you have a unique identifier column on your related models. Typically, this will be an auto-incrementing column or a UUID. You may then use the uniqueField method to specify which column contains the unique key for the database table:

use App\Nova\Repeaters;

// ...

/**
 * Get the fields displayed by the resource. 
 * 
 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
 */
public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
{
	return [
		ID::make(),
		
		Repeater::make('Line Items')
			->asHasMany()
			->uniqueField('uuid')
			->repeatables([
				Repeaters\LineItem::make()
			])
	];
}

In addition, the fields method for the Repeatable must contain a field matching the uniqueField:

use Laravel\Nova\Fields\ID;

// ...

/**  
 * Get the fields displayed by the repeatable. 
 * 
 * @return array<int, \Laravel\Nova\Fields\Field>
 */
public function fields(NovaRequest $request): array
{
	return [
		ID::hidden('uuid'), // The unique ID field

		// Other fields...
	];
}

In this example, we utilized the ID::hidden method, which prevents Nova from showing the ID field to the user, but still passes its value to Nova when saving or updating the resource.

When used alongside JSON preset, Nova will generate the unique identifier by default (UUID) for each item. You may customize this using field hydration for the related field.

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Repeater Field Capabilities

While a Repeatable can use many of the same fields as typical Nova resources and actions, they do not behave in the same way. For instance, methods like creationRules, and updateRules are not supported because the validation rules are the same for both creation and edit modes. Also, fields inside a Repeatable do not support dependent field (dependsOn) functionality.

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Supported Fields

The Repeater field allows for every field supported by Nova, except for the following:

• HasOne
• MorphOne
• HasMany
• MorphMany
• BelongsTo
• MorphTo
• BelongsToMany
• MorphToMany
• File - Requires usage of uniqueField

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Partially-Supported Fields

The following fields are partially supported:

• Vapor File Field
• Markdown Field
• Trix Field

The Markdown and Trix fields support being used for text, but do not currently support attachments.