Directus Docs

# Custom Displays

Displays are small inline components that allow you to create new ways of viewing field values throughout the App. Learn more about Displays.

# 1. Setup the Boilerplate

Every display is a standalone "package" that contains at least a metadata file and a Vue component. We recommend using the following file structure:

src/
	index.js
	display.vue

# src/index.js

import DisplayComponent from './display.vue';

export default {
	id: 'custom',
	name: 'Custom',
	description: 'This is my custom display!',
	icon: 'box',
	component: DisplayComponent,
	types: ['string'],
};
  • id — The unique key for this display. It is good practice to scope proprietary displays with an author prefix.
  • name — The human-readable name for this display.
  • description — A short description (<80 characters) of this display shown in the App.
  • icon — An icon name from the material icon set, or the extended list of Directus custom icons.
  • component — A reference to your Vue component.
  • types — A CSV of supported types.

TIP

See the TypeScript definition (opens new window) for more info on what can go into this object.

# src/display.vue

<template>
	<div>Value: {{ value }}</div>
</template>

<script>
export default {
	props: {
		value: String,
	},
};
</script>

The props you can use in an display are:

  • value — The value of the parent field.
  • interface - The interface of the parent field.
  • interface-options - The options for the parent field's interface.
  • type — The type of the parent field.
  • collection — The collection name of the parent field.
  • field — The key of the parent field.

Instead of defining the component inside a Vue SFC file, you can use a functional component. This allows you to make simple displays that don't need a full component rendered:

export default {
	id: 'custom',
	name: 'Custom',
	description: 'This is my custom display!',
	icon: 'box',
	component: function ({ value }) {
		return value.toLowerCase();
	},
	types: ['string'],
};

# 2. Install Dependencies

Set up a package.json file by running:

npm init -y

To be read by the Admin App, your custom display's Vue component must first be bundled into a single index.js file. We recommend bundling your code using the directus-extension CLI from our @directus/extensions-sdk package. The CLI internally uses a Rollup configuration tailored specifically to bundling Directus extensions. To install the Extension SDK, run this command:

npm i -D @directus/extensions-sdk

For the directus-extension CLI to recognize the extension type, the input path and the output path, add this field to the root of the package.json file:

"directus:extension": {
	"type": "display",
	"path": "dist/index.js",
	"source": "src/index.js",
	"host": "^9.0.0-rc.87",
	"hidden": false
}

# 3. Develop Your Custom Display

The display itself is simply a function or a Vue component, providing a blank canvas for creating anything you need.

# 4. Build and Deploy

To build the display for use within Directus, run:

npx directus-extension build

Finally, move the output from your display's dist folder into your project's /extensions/displays/my-custom-display folder. Keep in mind that the extensions directory is configurable within your env file, and may be located elsewhere.

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