May I use relationship field to configure Columns in a piece

[ezzle]

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Question or comment

How to use relationship field to configure columns in a piece to get a similar result like for relationship field in filters ?

case 1 : nothing displayed

columns: { add: { title: { label: 'Title' }, '_directType[0].title' : { label: 'Direct Type' } } }

case 2 : Json displayed instead of the piece title

columns: { add: { title: { label: 'Title' }, '_directType' : { label: 'Direct Type' } } }
Please include as much detail as possible so we can help more quickly.

• What are you trying to do?
  use relationship field to configure columns in a piece to get a similar result like for relationship field in filters
• What have you already tried?
  case 1 & case 2
• Have you already checked the documentation? A3 documentation | A2 documentation
  • Did the docs have a related section but there was not enough information?

Details

Version of Node.js:
PLEASE NOTE: Only stable LTS versions (20.x, 22.x, 24.x as of 2026-02-24) are fully supported but we will do our best with newer versions. Avoid odd-numbered versions, which are not considered stable.

v24.11.1

macbookairt
Server Operating System:
MacOS Tahoe 26.3

The server (which might be your dev laptop) on which Apostrophe is running. Linux? MacOS X? Windows? Is Docker involved?
not
Additional context:

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[BoDonkey]

Hi @ezzle
Is there any way you can better explain what you are trying to achieve in detailed, plain language? Skip the technical part firat until we understand the end goal. Are you trying to move the direct type col to right after the title col?
Thanks,
bob

[boutell]

Depending on what you're trying to achieve, this may be the right technique for you:

https://apostrophecms.com/docs/guide/custom-ui.html#adding-custom-columns-to-the-apostrophecms-piece-type-manager

It's best to review the full page on custom admin UI:

https://apostrophecms.com/docs/guide/custom-ui.html

[ezzle]

Hi @ezzle Is there any way you can better explain what you are trying to achieve in detailed, plain language? Skip the technical part firat until we understand the end goal. Are you trying to move the direct type col to right after the title col? Thanks, bob

Hi. The context is the configuration of columns displayed in the admin manager for a piece type. The position of each column does not matter. I am looking for a way for displaying the title of a related piece ("_directType").

Thanks

[ezzle]

Depending on what you're trying to achieve, this may be the right technique for you:

https://apostrophecms.com/docs/guide/custom-ui.html#adding-custom-columns-to-the-apostrophecms-piece-type-manager

It's best to review the full page on custom admin UI:

https://apostrophecms.com/docs/guide/custom-ui.html

Hi.

Thanks.

I am looking for a way for displaying the title of a related piece ("_directType") instead of the json string of the entire related object. To achieve that, A custom UI component ids required . Right ?

Best regards,

Tshitshi

[boutell]

Actually, reading the source, I think this will work:

'_directType.0.title'

Our dot notation support is like MongoDB's, [] is neither supported nor needed. Just use .0.

Please let me know if that resolves it for you.