YAML types

The YAML types plugin allows you to create custom tags for your YAML files. Custom YAML types provide a variety of uses, and can help you organize and structure your content, as well as validate the content that you are managing.

With custom YAML types, you can further keep concerns around content in the content layer, and allow you to avoid holding too much business logic in your templates.

Custom YAML types have a variety of uses, such as:

• Verifying reusable data structures
• Simplifying template logic
• Restructuring data between the content and template layer
• Integrating with external content sources, such as Google Sheets or headless CMSes

Example

Here is an example of a custom YAML type being used. In it, we have a custom type named !Person that accepts firstName and lastName options. The custom type is constructed into an object Person, with getter fullName that joins the first and last name together.

1. Use the custom type in YAML:

avengers:
- !Person
    firstName: Tony
    lastName: Stark
- !Person
    firstName: Steve
    lastName: Rogers
- !Person
    firstName: Carol
    lastName: Danvers

2. Create the custom type:

module.exports = (pod) => {
    class Person {
        constructor(options) {
            this.firstName = options.firstName;
            this.lastName = options.lastName;
        }
        get fullName() {
            return `${this.firstName} ${this.lastName}`;
        }
    }
    const yamlPlugin = pod.plugins.get('YamlPlugin');
    yamlPlugin.addType('!Person', {
        kind: 'mapping',
        construct: data => {
            return new Person(data);
        },
    });
}

3. Use the Person objects in templates. Note that we never declared any fullName in YAML. That property was defined in our Person object.

{% for person in avengers %}
    {{person.fullName}}
{% endfor %}