chromestatus-adding-a-field

Development

How to add a new field to a feature across the entire stack (Data, API, and Frontend).

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Adding a Field to a Feature

This guide explains how to add a new field to a feature entry, ensuring it is properly persisted in the database, exposed via the API, and editable in the frontend.

1. Data Layer (Backend)

The primary data model for features is FeatureEntry located in internals/core_models.py.

Add Property to `FeatureEntry`

Add your new field as an ndb property.

# internals/core_models.py

class FeatureEntry(ndb.Model):
  # ...
  my_new_field = ndb.StringProperty()  # Use appropriate ndb type (IntegerProperty, BooleanProperty, etc.)

2. API Layer (Backend)

Update `api_specs.py`

The FeaturesAPI uses api/api_specs.py to map request fields to database properties and handle types.

# api/api_specs.py

FEATURE_FIELD_DATA_TYPES: FIELD_INFO_DATA_TYPE = [
  # ...
  ('my_new_field', 'str'),  # 'str', 'int', 'bool', 'link', 'emails', etc.
]

Update Converters (Optional)

If your field needs custom formatting for the JSON response (e.g., date to string), update api/converters.py. Most simple types are handled automatically by to_dict.

# api/converters.py

def feature_entry_to_json_verbose(fe: FeatureEntry, ...):
    # ...
    d: VerboseFeatureDict = {
        # ...
        'my_new_field': fe.my_new_field,
    }

3. OpenAPI Specification

Update openapi/api.yaml if you want the field to be part of the official API documentation and generated models.

# openapi/api.yaml
# (Find the relevant schema, e.g., Feature or FeatureEntry if exists, 
# or update the endpoint response descriptions)

4. Frontend Layer

Define Form Field Metadata

Add the field's metadata (label, help text, component type) in client-src/elements/form-field-specs.ts.

// client-src/elements/form-field-specs.ts

export const ALL_FIELDS: Record<string, Field> = {
  // ...
  my_new_field: {
    type: 'input', // 'textarea', 'checkbox', 'select', etc.
    attrs: TEXT_FIELD_ATTRS,
    label: 'My New Field',
    usage: ALL_INTENT_USAGE_BY_FEATURE_TYPE,
    help_text: html`Explain what this field is for.`,
  },
};

Add to Form Definitions

Include the field in the relevant forms in client-src/elements/form-definition.ts.

// client-src/elements/form-definition.ts

export const FLAT_METADATA_FIELDS: MetadataFields = {
  name: 'Feature metadata',
  sections: [
    {
      name: 'Feature metadata',
      fields: [
        // ...
        'my_new_field',
      ],
    },
  ],
};

5. Verification

Backend: Run npm test to ensure NDB properties and converters work.
Frontend: Run npm run webtest or manually verify the new field appears in the feature edit form.
API: Manually check /api/v0/features/{id} to see if the field is present.