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Dynamic Columns Reference: Every Field Type for Posts and Product Tables
A dynamic column is a column that Ninja Tables fills from each row's post or product, such as a custom field, a featured image, a price or a shortcode. This page lists every field type for each source and the options each type has. For a step-by-step walkthrough, see Create custom columns.
Where to add a dynamic column
| Table | Path | Settings block |
|---|---|---|
| WP Posts/CPTs (Pro) | Table Rows › Edit query › Add new column | Dynamic post data |
| WooCommerce products (Pro) | Table Rows › Source settings › Add new column | Dynamic column data |
| WooCommerce reviews (Pro) | Table Rows › Source settings › Add new column | Dynamic column data |
| FluentCart products (Free) | Table Rows › Source settings › Add new column | Dynamic column data |
Every dynamic column has the usual column fields (Column name, Column key, Type, Responsive visibility) plus two settings:
- Field type: where the value comes from.
- Field value: which field, key, size or template to use. What you enter here depends on the field type.
Click Add column to save it. To change a dynamic column later, open the column header › Column settings on the Table Rows tab.
The Field type list only shows the types the table's source supports, so a WP Posts table never offers Product Data. Dynamic columns are a Pro feature on WP Posts and WooCommerce tables.
Field types by source
| Field type | WP Posts | WooCommerce products & reviews | FluentCart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced Custom Fields (ACF) | ✅ (when ACF is active) | ✅ (when ACF is active) | – |
| Post Meta | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Shortcode / Computed Value or HTML | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ (simpler, see below) |
| Featured Image | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Product Data | – | ✅ | ✅ |
| Post Data | – | ✅ | ✅ |
| Product Taxonomy | – | ✅ | ✅ |
On WooCommerce reviews tables, the product field types refer to the product that was reviewed.
Advanced Custom Fields (ACF)
Shows the value of an ACF field. This type only appears in the list when the Advanced Custom Fields plugin is active.
- Field value: the ACF field's Name (selector), for example
book_author. It is shown in the Name column of your ACF field group.
A field that holds a list is shown as comma-separated text, and a list of groups is separated by semicolons. Values are cleaned the way WordPress cleans post content, so basic HTML such as links and bold text is kept and scripts are removed.
Post Meta
Shows any custom field (post meta) stored with the post or product.
- Field value: the meta key, for example
price_note.
Basic HTML in the value is kept and scripts are removed. A post without that key shows an empty cell.
This also works for fields made with Meta Box, JetEngine, Toolset, Pods and similar plugins, because they store their values as post meta. See Post meta field.
Shortcode / Computed Value or HTML
Builds the cell from a template. You can mix HTML, placeholders and shortcodes.
- Field value: the template, for example
<a href="{post.permalink}">Read {post.post_title}</a>.
Placeholders you can use:
| Placeholder | Value |
|---|---|
{post.ID}, {post.post_title}, {post.post_date} and any other field of the post | The post's field |
{post.permalink} | The post's URL |
{post.featured_image_url} | The URL of the post's featured image |
{postmeta.META_KEY} | A post meta value |
{acf.FIELD_NAME} | An ACF field value (when ACF is active) |
[yourshortcode param="{post.ID}"] | A shortcode, with placeholders as its parameters |
The result runs through WordPress, so any shortcode in the template is executed. Placeholder values are cleaned before they are put in the template, and values placed inside shortcode parameters are escaped for attributes.
On FluentCart tables, a placeholder only works when it is the whole field value, for example just {post.post_title} or {postmeta.my_key}. To mix text, HTML and shortcodes, write them without placeholders.
See Shortcode / computed value or HTML.
Featured Image
Shows the post's or product's featured image.
- Field value: the image size. WordPress offers thumbnail, medium, medium_large, large, 1536x1536 and 2048x2048. Your theme and plugins (such as WooCommerce) can add more.
- WP Posts tables: turn on Link to post permalink, then Open link in new tab if you want a new tab.
- WooCommerce and FluentCart tables: under When clicked, choose Lightbox, Product page or Nothing. Open link in new tab appears for Product page.
See Featured image.
Product Data
Store data for each product. The Field value list depends on the store:
| Field value | WooCommerce | FluentCart |
|---|---|---|
| Product Price | ✅ | ✅ |
| Product Price Range | – | ✅ |
| Product Variations | – | ✅ |
| Product Stock Status | ✅ | – |
| Product Stock | – | ✅ |
| Stock Availability | – | ✅ |
| Product Quantity input field | ✅ | ✅ |
| Buy Now Button | ✅ | ✅ |
| Product SKU | ✅ | – |
| Product Average Rating | ✅ | – |
- Buy Now Button adds a Buy now button text field. Its default text is the product's own add-to-cart text. The cell depends on the product, see WooCommerce integration.
- Product Quantity input field shows WooCommerce's quantity box with plus and minus buttons, and follows the product's minimum, maximum and step. It is empty for external and grouped products, for products that can't be bought, and for out-of-stock products.
- Product Stock Status shows In Stock, Out of Stock or On Backorder.
- Product Price shows the price the way WooCommerce shows it, so sale prices and price ranges look the same as in your shop.
- Product Average Rating adds Filled star color, Empty star color, No review text and Show rating value. See Product average rating column.
Post Data
Standard post fields of the product: Post Author, Post Date, Product Title, Product Short Description, Product Long Description and Post Status. WooCommerce tables also offer Post Comment Count.
When Field value is Product Title, you can turn on Link to post permalink to link the title to the product page, and Open link in new tab to open it in a new tab.
Product Taxonomy
Shows the product's terms in a taxonomy, such as categories, tags, product type, shipping class or brand. The Field value list shows the taxonomies registered for products on your site, named after their internal names, for example Product cat, Product tag, Product type, Product shipping class and Product brand.
Options:
- Link to taxonomy: links each term to its archive page.
- Taxonomy separator: the text between terms when a product has several.
- Make taxonomies as table filter: clicking a term filters the table to that term instead of opening its page. It appears once Link to taxonomy is on.
- Open link in new tab.
On FluentCart tables, these options appear for the Product Categories taxonomy.
Options on query columns (WP Posts)
The columns you pick when you create a WP Posts table also have link options, set from the column header › Column settings:
- Title: Link to post permalink and Open link in new tab.
- Author: Link to author permalink, and Make author a table filter, which appears once the link is on.
- Taxonomies: Link to taxonomy, Taxonomy separator, Make taxonomies as table filter, and Open link in new tab.
See WP Posts table.