useAsTitle non-relationship virtual field use case

[wet folio]

This is a slightly different use than I've seen others post about.

I have a collection of members. For a some users, I would like the "name" to display just the first name with last-initial.

This is would be useful because organization leaders can see the full member roster. A parent can see the roster, but cannot see the full name of other members.

Even if I pre-calculate and store it in the database, the current access level is what would determine the field to use. So the error about being unable to use a non-relationship virtual field for useAsTitle would persist.

Is there any sort of workaround, even a convoluted one?

const virtualNameHook: FieldHook<Member, string, Member> = 
    ({ siblingData, req }) => {
        
        //TODO: Some access method finding particular role
        return req.user 
            ? `${siblingData.firstName} ${siblingData.lastName}`
            : `${siblingData.firstName} ${siblingData.lastName?.slice(0,1)}`;
    };

//....

    {
        name: 'name',
        virtual: true,
        type: 'text',
        hooks: {
            afterRead: [
                virtualNameHook
            ]
        }
    },

[viscid pebble]

New Community-Help Thread Created!

Help is on the way! To mark it as solved, use the /solve command. In the meantime, here are some existing threads that may help you:

Documentation:

• Collection Configs - Admin Options
• Fields Overview - Virtual Field Configuration
• Fields Overview - Field Types - Virtual Fields
• Fields Overview - Virtual Field Configuration - Configuring Virtual Fields
• Fields Overview - Virtual Field Configuration - Virtual Fields in API Responses

Community-Help:

• Custom Select Component (for field type relationship)

[kindred condor]

admin.useAsTitle cannot currently point at a non-relationship virtual field, and that restriction is enforced in config validation. So there isn’t a supported way to make useAsTitle itself dynamically choose between fullName and firstName + lastInitial.

The practical workaround is to make useAsTitle point at a real field, then use an afterRead field hook on that field to return either the full name or the masked version based on req.user. That gives you a per-request title without needing a virtual useAsTitle.

[balmy stump]

Right..so the virtual field restriction exists because useAsTitle needs to be queryable — it drives the document title in list views, relationship dropdowns, and breadcrumbs, all of which require the field to exist in the database

even if that were not the case, the access-based display you're describing wouldn't work via useAsTitle — the title is comes client-side from form field state, not from a server-side afterRead hook

the only approach I can think of would be to keep a real name field (full name) and a displayName field (first + last initial), both stored. Then use access control on name to restrict who can read the full name, and use displayName as useAsTitle:

{
  name: 'displayName',
  type: 'text',
  admin: { hidden: true },
  hooks: {
    beforeChange: [({ siblingData }) => {
      return `${siblingData.firstName} ${siblingData.lastName?.slice(0, 1)}.`
    }],
  },
},
{
  name: 'firstName',
  type: 'text',
},
{
  name: 'lastName',
  type: 'text',
  access: {
    read: ({ req }) => isOrgLeader(req.user), // only leaders see full last name
  },
},