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How to get Initial Values from a Media Object

11 replies
Last updated: May 28, 2020
Is it possible to get initial values from an object like this:
{
  title: "Media",
  name: "media",
  type: "array",
  of: [
    {
      title: "Image",
      type: "image",
    },
    {
      title: "Video",
      type: "object",
      fields: [
        {
          title: "Video Url",
          name: "url",
          type: "url",
        },
        {
          title: "Autoplay",
          name: "autoplay",
          type: "boolean",
        },
        {
          title: "Controls",
          name: "controls",
         type: "boolean",   
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
},

AI Update

Yes, you can definitely set initial values for fields within an array of objects like your media array! There are a couple of approaches depending on what you want to achieve:

Setting Initial Values for Boolean Fields

For the boolean fields in your Video object (autoplay and controls), you can set default values directly in the field definition using the initialValue property:

{
  title: "Media",
  name: "media",
  type: "array",
  of: [
    {
      title: "Image",
      type: "image",
    },
    {
      title: "Video",
      type: "object",
      fields: [
        {
          title: "Video Url",
          name: "url",
          type: "url",
        },
        {
          title: "Autoplay",
          name: "autoplay",
          type: "boolean",
          initialValue: false  // Default value
        },
        {
          title: "Controls",
          name: "controls",
          type: "boolean",
          initialValue: true   // Default value
        },
      ],
    },
  ],
}

This will set default values whenever a new Video object is added to the array.

Using Initial Value Templates for More Complex Scenarios

If you need more sophisticated initialization (like setting values based on context, user information, or external data), you can use Initial Value Templates. These are configured in your sanity.config.ts file and allow you to:

  • Set dynamic values based on parameters
  • Access current user information
  • Fetch data from external APIs
  • Create multiple preset options for the same schema type
// sanity.config.ts
export default defineConfig({
  document: {
    newDocumentOptions: (prev, context) => {
      return [
        ...prev,
        {
          id: 'video-with-defaults',
          title: 'Video (autoplay enabled)',
          schemaType: 'video',
          value: {
            autoplay: true,
            controls: false
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  }
})

The field-level initialValue approach is usually the simplest solution for setting defaults on boolean fields within array items, and it works great for your use case!

I need to put default values on my video options (autoplay, controls, audio....)
(The whole thing is a document)
For controls, for example, this should work:
...
initialValue: {
  media: [{
    _type: 'video',
    controls: true
  }]
},
...
Thanks
user M
user M
It works with 
_type: "object"
But can I reference it from an object somewhere else with type: “video”. My document is a total mess now 😅
Depends on the schema - you might have to nest a lever deeper with 
_type: 'video'
inside a 
_type: 'object'
in that case I suspect. Or slightly differently. Would be good to see the schema 🙂
Sure, here is the schema
Basically I had everything in an object “Gallery”, which is cleaner, but then I needed initial values
Seems to work perfectly with 
_type: video
and then my video object:

export default {
  title: "Video",
  name: "video",
  type: "object",
  fields: [
    {
      title: "Video Url",
      name: "url",
      type: "url",
    },
    {
      title: "Autoplay",
      name: "autoplay",
      type: "boolean",
    },
    {
      title: "Controls",
      name: "controls",
      type: "boolean",
    },
    {
      title: "Loop",
      name: "loop",
      type: "boolean",
    },
    {
      title: "Audio",
      name: "audio",
      type: "boolean",
    },
  ],
}
in case someone is interested, I passed the initial value to “gallery” like this
  initialValue: {
    gallery: {
      _type: "object",
      media: [
        {
          _type: "video",
          autoplay: true,
          controls: true,
          loop: true,
          audio: true,
        },
      ],
    },
  },

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