Add support for Enum fields

[yellowBanano]

Not allow to change or work with enum type from MySQL 8. In order to change smth for field, I need to modify settings directly in database in directus_fields table

My version of directus -- Directus 9.0.0-rc.51
DB -- MySQL 8
deployment -- npx

[benhaynes]

We'll need to look into SQL vendor support for this, but I imagine the process of adding this to be:

• Add support for the type in our Directus super-set data type list
• Add a conditional field to the Field's Schema pane for adding/managing the list of permitted values
• Update the applicable interfaces (dropdown, radios, etc) to work with this type, pulling options from the schema instead of the choices interface options

[benhaynes]

That I'm unsure of — @rijkvanzanten, are you aware of how we handle enums as of now?

[rijkvanzanten]

We don't have any special handling for enum fields. I believe some database vendors might return those choices as part of the default value definition, others as part of the type. As of right now, Directus' dropdown interface doesn't work with ENUM types in the database 👍🏻

[delucca]

Thanks for the info.

I'll eagerly wait for this support :)

[minyan-gu]

hey guys - just check if there is any update on this.

For the field type detected as unknown, please can we at least set up our own dropdown list values through the interface, the values doesn't have to get sync'd with the ENUM type from DB to start with (ofc ideally should be). We can start off by setting those dropdown values manually, which is a great improvement already.

On latest version of Directus, the interface is not available still for unknown type, so the user has to enter those database enum values manually, which is quite a pain.

[BenStirrup]

The suggestion of @minyan-gu seems sensible. Would it be possible to do it any way or with a workaround ?

[TyrionFront]

HI team !)
Just another one "thumbs up" to make this feature alive.

[SharadKumar]

Prisma supports enums. I am using it on a project with Directus, but not able to utilise enum for things like status fields.

I would be quite useful if Directus had a way to support this (or even a workaround)! Not always can we use Directus with a new database.

[TyrionFront]

I'm currently using Drizzle-ORM which supports it as well and in fact in most cases is a way more performant than Prisma. But the point is not about using enums within a codebase - on that lvl you may have all required flexibility you need. it's about the ability to work with enums within DIrectus UI and that is not an option yet, unfortunately.

[rijkvanzanten]

Heya! Thanks for opening this feature request!

This feature request has received over 15 votes from the community. This means we'll move this feature request to the Under Review state!

The Core team will schedule a meeting to review this request as soon as possible. The discussion will then be approved or denied. You may or may not be invited to join this meeting with the core team.

For more information, see our Feature Request Process.

[BenStirrup]

Any update ? 🙏 The absence of such a feature is a deal breaker for us 😢.

[ihadabs]

@rijkvanzanten any update on this?
At least allowing the choosing of any interface on Directus if the type=unknown
This might also work help for all unknown types.

Currently, it shows no options for interface or display:

[rijkvanzanten]

I'm down to discuss adding a new "raw" interface that can be used with fields of unknown types, but I don't think that blanketly allowing just the select-dropdown for any unknown field is the right solution for supporting Enums. For enums specifically, I'm also not sure if the existing dropdown interface is the right interface for the job. I'd expect the interface to pull the available options from the database itself rather than a duplicate set of options on the interface level 🤔

[ihadabs]

@rijkvanzanten Pulling available enum options would be great, but still, for us and most teams it is a one-time setup so we would not mind if there was a drop-drown interface and we could add the options ourselves ^^

If we'll build something just for enums, then it's basically a dropdown with all of its configuration BUT the options values have to match one of the enum values. Also, options have to be reevaluated whenever Directus fetches the schema and discovers that some enum values have been changed. (Directus can still show the dropdown options that have a matching enum value).

Example:

enum = "green" | "red"

directus options:
title: "Some Green", value: "green"
title: "The red", value: "red"

if enum changed to = "green" | "blue"

directus options:
title: "Some Green", value: "green"
title: "The red", value: "red" /// This should not be displayed for editors, and maybe show an error in the field configuration settings

/// Directus can maybe also add the default shape for an enum value
/// Where title is same as the value
title: "blue", value: "blue"

/// So basically Directus will fetch enum values and while setting up the field
/// + it will add the options which are missing (by checking current options values if there were any)
/// + it may delete any options which don't have a matching enum value

[SharadKumar]

Just having dropdown Interface to handle enums, that Admin can once setup, will be quite beneficial than not having any support at all.

[SharadKumar]

This issue was raised for v9. I can confirm it is also applicable to the latest v10.9.x

[EdouardDem]

@SharadKumar
Hi everyone. I've found a workaround for a specific use case using the directus-sync CLI. Here's how you can do it:

1. First, set up the Directus-Sync CLI as outlined here: directus-sync GitHub.
2. Dump the structure of your Directus instance by running npx directus-sync pull. This command leverages Directus's snapshot endpoint to save your Directus configuration into separate JSON files.
3. Locate the file representing the "unknown" field, such as a Postgres Enum field, e.g., directus-config/snapshot/fields/organization/type.json. Edit the JSON to "force" the dropdown interface by modifying the meta.interface and meta.options properties. For example:

{
  "collection": "organization",
  "field": "type",
  "type": "unknown",
  "meta": {
    "collection": "organization",
    "conditions": null,
    "display": "raw",
    "display_options": null,
    "field": "type",
    "group": null,
    "hidden": false,
    "interface": "select-dropdown",
    "note": null,
    "options": {
      "choices": [
        {
          "value": "startup",
          "text": "Startup"
        },
        {
          "value": "incubator",
          "text": "Incubator"
        },
        {
          "value": "enterprise",
          "text": "Enterprise"
        }
      ]
    },
    "readonly": false,
    "required": true,
    "sort": 4,
    "special": null,
    "translations": null,
    "validation": null,
    "validation_message": null,
    "width": "half"
  },
  "schema": {
    "name": "type",
    "table": "organization",
    "data_type": "\"OrganizationType\"",
    "default_value": null,
    "max_length": null,
    "numeric_precision": null,
    "numeric_scale": null,
    "is_nullable": false,
    "is_unique": false,
    "is_primary_key": false,
    "is_generated": false,
    "generation_expression": null,
    "has_auto_increment": false,
    "foreign_key_table": null,
    "foreign_key_column": null
  }
}

4. Push the modified schema back to Directus with npx directus-sync push.
5. You should now see the dropdown in the form and also in the search bars.

Notes:

Currently, I haven't been able to implement this with a multi-select dropdown. In Postgres, the format for a list of enums is {value1,value2,value3}. Directus doesn't natively parse and stringify this format. A custom transformer, like cast-csv, could potentially be incorporated here: Directus Payload Service.

I hope this solution is helpful.

[mpcref]

I would like to be able to group by enum fields on the Kanban Layout.
Is there any way I can work around the current limitation in order to achieve this?