Select Field - Payload

The Select Field provides a dropdown-style interface for choosing options from a predefined list as an enumeration.

To add a Select Field, set the type to select in your Field Config:

import type { Field } from 'payload'

export const MySelectField: Field = {
  // ...
  // highlight-start
  type: 'select',
  options: [
    // ...
  ],
  // highlight-end
}

Config Options

Option	Description
`name` *	To be used as the property name when stored and retrieved from the database. More details.
`options` *	Array of options to allow the field to store. Can either be an array of strings, or an array of objects containing a `label` string and a `value` string.
`hasMany`	Boolean when, if set to `true`, allows this field to have many selections instead of only one.
`label`	Text used as a field label in the Admin Panel or an object with keys for each language.
`unique`	Enforce that each entry in the Collection has a unique value for this field. This creates a database-level unique index on the field's path. More details.
`validate`	Provide a custom validation function that will be executed on both the Admin Panel and the backend. More details.
`index`	Build an index for this field to produce faster queries. Set this field to `true` if your users will perform queries on this field's data often.
`saveToJWT`	If this field is top-level and nested in a config supporting Authentication, include its data in the user JWT.
`hooks`	Provide Field Hooks to control logic for this field. More details.
`access`	Provide Field Access Control to denote what users can see and do with this field's data. More details.
`hidden`	Restrict this field's visibility from all APIs entirely. Will still be saved to the database, but will not appear in any API or the Admin Panel.
`defaultValue`	Provide data to be used for this field's default value. More details.
`localized`	Enable localization for this field. Requires localization to be enabled in the Base config.
`required`	Require this field to have a value.
`admin`	Admin-specific configuration. See the default field admin config for more details.
`custom`	Extension point for adding custom data (e.g. for plugins)
`enumName`	Custom enum name for this field when using SQL Database Adapter (Postgres). Auto-generated from name if not defined.
`dbName`	Custom table name (if `hasMany` set to `true`) for this field when using SQL Database Adapter (Postgres). Auto-generated from name if not defined.
`interfaceName`	Create a top level, reusable Typescript interface & GraphQL type.
`filterOptions`	Dynamically filter which options are available based on the user, data, etc. More details
`typescriptSchema`	Override field type generation with providing a JSON schema
`virtual`	Provide `true` to disable field in the database, or provide a string path to link the field with a relationship. See Virtual Fields

* An asterisk denotes that a property is required.

<Banner type="warning"> **Important:** Option values should be strings that do not contain hyphens or special characters due to GraphQL enumeration naming constraints. Underscores are allowed. If you determine you need your option values to be non-strings or contain special characters, they will be formatted accordingly before being used as a GraphQL enum. </Banner>

Used to dynamically filter which options are available based on the current user, document data, or other criteria.

Some examples of this might include:

Restricting options based on a user's role, e.g. admin-only options
Displaying different options based on the value of another field, e.g. a city/state selector

The result of filterOptions will determine:

Which options are displayed in the Admin Panel
Which options can be saved to the database

To do this, use the filterOptions property in your Field Config:

import type { Field } from 'payload'

export const MySelectField: Field = {
  // ...
  // highlight-start
  type: 'select',
  options: [
    {
      label: 'One',
      value: 'one',
    },
    {
      label: 'Two',
      value: 'two',
    },
    {
      label: 'Three',
      value: 'three',
    },
  ],
  filterOptions: ({ options, data }) =>
    data.disallowOption1
      ? options.filter(
          (option) =>
            (typeof option === 'string' ? options : option.value) !== 'one',
        )
      : options,
  // highlight-end
}

<Banner type="warning"> **Note:** This property is similar to `filterOptions` in [Relationship](./relationship) or [Upload](./upload) fields, except that the return value of this function is simply an array of options, not a query constraint. </Banner>

Admin Options

To customize the appearance and behavior of the Select Field in the Admin Panel, you can use the admin option:

import type { Field } from 'payload'

export const MySelectField: Field = {
  // ...
  admin: {
    // highlight-line
    // ...
  },
}

The Select Field inherits all of the default admin options from the base Field Admin Config, plus the following additional options:

Property	Description
`isClearable`	Set to `true` if you'd like this field to be clearable within the Admin UI.
`isSortable`	Set to `true` if you'd like this field to be sortable within the Admin UI using drag and drop. (Only works when `hasMany` is set to `true`)
`placeholder`	Define a custom text or function to replace the generic default placeholder

Example

import type { CollectionConfig } from 'payload'

export const ExampleCollection: CollectionConfig = {
  slug: 'example-collection',
  fields: [
    {
      name: 'selectedFeatures', // required
      type: 'select', // required
      hasMany: true,
      admin: {
        isClearable: true,
        isSortable: true, // use mouse to drag and drop different values, and sort them according to your choice
      },
      options: [
        {
          label: 'Metallic Paint',
          value: 'metallic_paint',
        },
        {
          label: 'Alloy Wheels',
          value: 'alloy_wheels',
        },
        {
          label: 'Carbon Fiber Dashboard',
          value: 'carbon_fiber_dashboard',
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
}

Custom Components

Field

Server Component

tsx

import type { SelectFieldServerComponent } from 'payload'
import type React from 'react'

import { SelectField } from '@payloadcms/ui'

export const CustomSelectFieldServer: SelectFieldServerComponent = ({
  clientField,
  path,
  schemaPath,
  permissions,
}) => {
  return (
    <SelectField
      field={clientField}
      path={path}
      schemaPath={schemaPath}
      permissions={permissions}
    />
  )
}

Client Component

tsx

'use client'
import type { SelectFieldClientComponent } from 'payload'

import { SelectField } from '@payloadcms/ui'
import React from 'react'

export const CustomSelectFieldClient: SelectFieldClientComponent = (props) => {
  return <SelectField {...props} />
}

Label

Server Component

tsx

import React from 'react'
import { FieldLabel } from '@payloadcms/ui'
import type { SelectFieldLabelServerComponent } from 'payload'

export const CustomSelectFieldLabelServer: SelectFieldLabelServerComponent = ({
  clientField,
  path,
}) => {
  return (
    <FieldLabel
      label={clientField?.label || clientField?.name}
      path={path}
      required={clientField?.required}
    />
  )
}

Client Component

tsx

'use client'
import React from 'react'
import { FieldLabel } from '@payloadcms/ui'
import type { SelectFieldLabelClientComponent } from 'payload'

export const CustomSelectFieldLabelClient: SelectFieldLabelClientComponent = ({
  field,
  path,
}) => {
  return (
    <FieldLabel
      label={field?.label || field?.name}
      path={path}
      required={field?.required}
    />
  )
}