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Cart and Checkout – Additional checkout fields

A common use-case for developers and merchants is to add a new field to the Checkout form to collect additional data about a customer or their order.

This document will outline the steps an extension should take to register some additional checkout fields.

Available field locations

Additional checkout fields can be registered in three different places:

Title Identifier
Contact information contact
Addresses (Shipping and Billing) address
Order information order

A field can only be shown in one location, it is not possible to render the same field in multiple locations in the same registration.

Contact information

The contact information section currently renders at the top of the form. It contains the email field and any other additional fields.

Showing the contact information section with two fields rendered, email and an additional checkout field (optional)

Fields rendered here will be saved to the shopper’s account. They will be visible and editable render in the shopper’s “Account details” section.

Address

The “Address” section currently contains a form for the shipping address and the billing address. Additional checkout fields can be registered to appear within these forms.

The shipping address form showing the additional checkout field at the bottom

Fields registered here will be saved to both the customer and the order, so returning customers won’t need to refill those values again.

If a field is registered in the address location it will appear in both the shipping and the billing address. It is not possible to have the field in only one of the addresses.

You will also end up collecting two values for this field, one for shipping and one for billing.

Order information

As part of the additional checkout fields feature, the checkout block has a new inner block called the “Order information block”.

This block is used to render fields that aren’t part of the contact information or address information, for example it may be a “How did you hear about us” field or a “Gift message” field.

Fields rendered here will be saved to the order. They will not be part of the customer’s saved address or account information. New orders will not have any previously used values pre-filled.

The order information section containing an additional checkout field

By default, this block will render as the last step in the Checkout form, however it can be moved using the Gutenberg block controls in the editor.

The order information block in the post editor"

Accessing values

Additional fields are saved to individual meta keys in both the customer meta and order meta, you can access them using helper methods, or using the meta keys directly, we recommend using the helper methods, as they’re less likely to change, can handle future migrations, and will support future enhancements (e.g. reading from different locations).

For address fields, two values are saved: one for shipping, and one for billing. If the customer has selected ‘Use same address for billing` then the values will be the same, but still saved independently of each other.

For contact and order fields, only one value is saved per field.

Helper methods

CheckoutFields provides a function to access values from both customers and orders, it’s are get_field_from_object.

To access a customer billing and/or shipping value:

		use Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Package;
use Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Domain\Services\CheckoutFields;

$field_id = 'my-plugin-namespace/my-field';
$customer = wc()->customer; // Or new WC_Customer( $id )
$checkout_fields = Package::container()->get( CheckoutFields::class );
$my_customer_billing_field = $checkout_fields->get_field_from_object( $field_id, $customer, 'billing' );
$my_customer_shipping_field = $checkout_fields->get_field_from_object( $field_id, $customer, 'shipping' );

	

To access an order field:

		use Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Package;
use Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Domain\Services\CheckoutFields;

$field_id = 'my-plugin-namespace/my-field';
$order = wc_get_order( 1234 );
$checkout_fields = Package::container()->get( CheckoutFields::class );
$my_order_billing_field = $checkout_fields->get_field_from_object( $field_id, $order, 'billing' );
$my_order_shipping_field = $checkout_fields->get_field_from_object( $field_id, $order, 'shipping' );

	

After an order is placed, the data saved to the customer and the data saved to the order will be the same. Customers can change the values for future orders, or from within their My Account page. If you’re looking at a customer value at a specific point in time (i.e. when the order was placed), access it from the order object, if you’re looking for the most up to date value regardless, access it from the customer object.

Guest customers

When a guest customer places an order with additional fields, those fields will be saved to its session, so as long as the customer still has a valid session going, the values will always be there.

Logged-in customers

For logged-in customers, the value is only persisted once they place an order. Accessing a logged-in customer object during the place order lifecycle will return null or stale data.

If you’re at a place order hook, doing this will return previous data (not the currently inserted one):

		$customer = new WC_Customer( $order->customer_id ); // Or new WC_Customer( 1234 )
$my_customer_billing_field = $checkout_fields->get_field_from_object( $field_id, $customer, 'billing' );

	

Instead, always access the latest data if you want to run some extra validation/data-moving:

		$customer = wc()->customer // This will return the current customer with its session.
$my_customer_billing_field = $checkout_fields->get_field_from_object( $field_id, $customer, 'billing' );

	

Accessing all fields

You can use get_all_fields_from_object to access all additional fields saved to an order or a customer.

		use Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Package;
use Automattic\WooCommerce\Blocks\Domain\Services\CheckoutFields;

$order = wc_get_order( 1234 );
$checkout_fields = Package::container()->get( CheckoutFields::class );
$order_additional_billing_fields = $checkout_fields->get_all_fields_from_object( $order, 'billing' );
$order_additional_shipping_fields = $checkout_fields->get_all_fields_from_object( $order, 'shipping' );
$order_other_additional_fields = $checkout_fields->get_all_fields_from_object( $order, 'other' ); // Contact and Order are saved in the same place under the additional group.

	

This will return an array of all values, it will only include fields currently registered, if you want to include fields no longer registered, you can pass a third true parameter.

		
$order = wc_get_order( 1234 );
$checkout_fields = Package::container()->get( CheckoutFields::class );
$order_additional_billing_fields = $checkout_fields->get_all_fields_from_object( $order, 'billing' ); // array( 'my-plugin-namespace/my-field' => 'my-value' );

$order_additional_billing_fields = $checkout_fields->get_all_fields_from_object( $order, 'billing', true  ); // array( 'my-plugin-namespace/my-field' => 'my-value', 'old-namespace/old-key' => 'old-value' );

	

Accessing values directly

Values are saved under a predefined prefix, this is needed to able to query fields without knowing which ID the field was registered under, for a field with key 'my-plugin-namespace/my-field', it’s meta key will be the following if it’s an address field:

  • _wc_billing/my-plugin-namespace/my-field
  • _wc_shipping/my-plugin-namespace/my-field

Or the following if it’s a contact/order field:

  • _wc_other/my-plugin-namespace/my-field.

Those prefixes are part of CheckoutFields class, and can be accessed using the following constants:

		echo ( CheckoutFields::BILLING_FIELDS_PREFIX ); // _wc_billing/
echo ( CheckoutFields::SHIPPING_FIELDS_PREFIX ); // _wc_shipping/
echo ( CheckoutFields::OTHER_FIELDS_PREFIX ); // _wc_other/

	

CheckoutFields provides a couple of helpers to get the group name or key based on one or the other:

		CheckoutFields::get_group_name( "_wc_billing" ); // "billing"
CheckoutFields::get_group_name( "_wc_billing/" ); // "billing"

CheckoutFields::get_group_key( "shipping" ); // "_wc_shipping/"

	

Use cases here would be to build the key name to access the meta directly:

		$key      = CheckoutFields::get_group_key( "other" ) . 'my-plugin/is-opt-in';
$opted_in = get_user_meta( 123, $key, true ) === "1" ? true : false;

	

Checkboxes values

When accessing a checkbox values directly, it will either return "1" for true, "0" for false, or "" if the value doesn’t exist, only the provided functions will sanitize that to a boolean.

Supported field types

The following field types are supported:

  • select
  • text
  • checkbox

There are plans to expand this list, but for now these are the types available.

Using the API

To register additional checkout fields you must use the woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field function.

The registration function takes an array of options describing your field. Some field types take additional options.

Options

General options

These options apply to all field types (except in a few circumstances which are noted inline).

Option name Description Required? Example Default value
id The field’s ID. This should be a unique identifier for your field. It is composed of a namespace and field name separated by a /. Yes plugin-namespace/how-did-you-hear No default – this must be provided.
label The label shown on your field. This will be the placeholder too. Yes How did you hear about us? No default – this must be provided.
optionalLabel The label shown on your field if it is optional. This will be the placeholder too. No How did you hear about us? (Optional) The default value will be the value of label with (optional) appended.
location The location to render your field. Yes contact, address, or order No default – this must be provided.
type The type of field you’re rendering. It defaults to text and must match one of the supported field types. No text, select, or checkbox text
attributes An array of additional attributes to render on the field’s input element. This is not supported for select fields. No [ 'data-custom-data' => 'my-custom-data' ] []
required Can be a boolean or a JSON Schema array. If boolean and true, the shopper must provide a value for this field during the checkout process. For checkbox fields, the shopper must check the box to place the order. If a JSON Schema array, the field will be required based on the schema conditions. See Conditional visibility and validation via JSON Schema. No true or ["type" => "object", "properties" => [...]] false
hidden Can be a boolean or a JSON Schema array. Must be false when used as a boolean. If a JSON Schema array, the field will be hidden based on the schema conditions. See Conditional visibility and validation via JSON Schema. No false or ["type" => "object", "properties" => [...]] false
validation An array of JSON Schema objects that define validation rules for the field. See Conditional visibility and validation via JSON Schema. No [{"type": "object", "properties": {...}}] []
sanitize_callback A function called to sanitize the customer provided value when posted. No See example below By default the field’s value is returned unchanged.
validate_callback A function called to validate the customer provided value when posted. This runs after sanitization. No See example below The default validation function will add an error to the response if the field is required and does not have a value. See the default validation function.
Example of sanitize_callback. This function will remove spaces from the value
		'sanitize_callback' => function( $field_value ) {
	return str_replace( ' ', '', $field_value );
},

	
Example of validate_callback. This function will check if the value is an email
		'validate_callback' => function( $field_value ) {
	if ( ! is_email( $field_value ) ) {
		return new WP_Error( 'invalid_alt_email', 'Please ensure your alternative email matches the correct format.' );
	}
},

	

Options for text fields

Text fields don’t have any additional options beyond the general options listed above.

Options for select fields

As well as the options above, select fields must also be registered with an options option. This is used to specify what options the shopper can select.

Select fields will mount with no value selected by default, if the field is required, the user will be required to select a value.

You can set a placeholder to be shown on the select by passing a placeholder value when registering the field. This will be the first option in the select and will not be selectable if the field is required.

Option name Description Required? Example Default value
options An array of options to show in the select input. Each options must be an array containing a label and value property. Each entry must have a unique value. Any duplicate options will be removed. The value is what gets submitted to the server during checkout and the label is simply a user-friendly representation of this value. It is not transmitted to the server in any way. Yes see below No default – this must be provided.
placeholder If this value is set, the shopper will see this option in the select. If the select is required, the shopper cannot select this option. No Select a role Select a $label
Example of options value
		[

	[
		'value' => 'store_1',
		'label' => 'Our London Store'
	],
	[
		'value' => 'store_2',
		'label' => 'Our Paris Store'
	],
	[
		'value' => 'store_3',
		'label' => 'Our New York Store'
	]
]

	

Options for checkbox fields

As well as the options above, checkbox field support showing an error message if it’s required and not checked.

Option name Description Required? Example Default value
error_message A custom message to show if the box is unchecked. No You must confirm you are over 18 before placing the order. Please check this box if you want to proceed.

Attributes

Adding additional attributes to checkbox and text fields is supported. Adding them to select fields is not possible for now.

These attributes have a 1:1 mapping to the HTML attributes on input elements (except pattern on checkbox).

The supported attributes are:

  • data-* attributes
  • aria-* attributes
  • autocomplete
  • autocapitalize
  • pattern (not supported on checkbox fields)
  • title
  • maxLength (equivalent to maxlength HTML attribute)
  • readOnly (equivalent to readonly HTML attribute)

maxLength and readOnly are in camelCase because the attributes are rendered on a React element which must receive them in this format.

Certain attributes are not passed through to the field intentionally, these are autofocus and disabled. We are welcome to hear feedback and adjust this behaviour if valid use cases are provided.

Usage examples

Rendering a text field

This example demonstrates rendering a text field in the address section:

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_init',
	function() {
		woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field(
			array(
				'id'            => 'namespace/gov-id',
				'label'         => 'Government ID',
				'optionalLabel' => 'Government ID (optional)',
				'location'      => 'address',
				'required'      => true,
				'attributes'    => array(
					'autocomplete'     => 'government-id',
					'aria-describedby' => 'some-element',
					'aria-label'       => 'custom aria label',
					'pattern'          => '[A-Z0-9]{5}', // A 5-character string of capital letters and numbers.
					'title'            => 'Title to show on hover',
					'data-custom'      => 'custom data',
				),
			),
		);
	}
);

	

This results in the following address form (the billing form will be the same):

The shipping address form with the Government ID field rendered at the bottom

The rendered markup looks like this:

			<input type="text" id="shipping-namespace-gov-id" autocapitalize="off"
       autocomplete="government-id" aria-label="custom aria label"
       aria-describedby="some-element" required="" aria-invalid="true"
       title="Title to show on hover" pattern="[A-Z0-9]{5}"
       data-custom="custom data" value="" >

	

Rendering a checkbox field

This example demonstrates rendering a checkbox field in the contact information section:

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_init',
	function() {
		woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field(
			array(
				'id'       => 'namespace/marketing-opt-in',
				'label'    => 'Do you want to subscribe to our newsletter?',
				'location' => 'contact',
				'type'     => 'checkbox',
			)
		);
	}
);

	

This results in the following contact information section:

The contact information section with a newsletter subscription checkbox rendered inside it

Note that because an optionalLabel was not supplied, the string (optional) is appended to the label. To remove that an optionalLabel property should be supplied to override this.

Rendering a select field

This example demonstrates rendering a select field in the order information section:

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_init',
	function() {
		woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field(
			array(
				'id'          => 'namespace/how-did-you-hear-about-us',
				'label'       => 'How did you hear about us?',
				'placeholder' => 'Select a source',
				'location'    => 'order',
				'type'        => 'select',
				'options'     => [
					[
						'value' => 'google',
						'label' => 'Google'
					],
					[
						'value' => 'facebook',
						'label' => 'Facebook'
					],
					[
						'value' => 'friend',
						'label' => 'From a friend'
					],
					[
						'value' => 'other',
						'label' => 'Other'
					],
				]
			)
		);
	}
);

	

This results in the order information section being rendered like so:

The select input before being focused

The select input before being focused

The select input when focused

The select input when focused

If it is undesirable to force the shopper to select a value, mark the select as optional by setting the required option to false.

Validation and sanitization

It is possible to add custom validation and sanitization for additional checkout fields using WordPress action hooks.

These actions happen in two places:

  1. Updating and submitting the form during the checkout process and,
  2. Updating address/contact information in the “My account” area.

Sanitization

Sanitization is used to ensure the value of a field is in a specific format. An example is when taking a government ID, you may want to format it so that all letters are capitalized and there are no spaces. At this point, the value should not be checked for validity. That will come later. This step is only intended to set the field up for validation.

Using the woocommerce_sanitize_additional_field filter

To run a custom sanitization function for a field you can use the sanitize_callback function on registration, or the woocommerce_sanitize_additional_field filter.

Argument Type Description
$field_value boolean|string The value of the field.
$field_key string The ID of the field. This is the same ID the field was registered with.
Example of sanitization

This example shows how to remove whitespace and capitalize all letters in the example Government ID field we added above.

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_sanitize_additional_field',
	function ( $field_value, $field_key ) {
		if ( 'namespace/gov-id' === $field_key ) {
			$field_value = str_replace( ' ', '', $field_value );
			$field_value = strtoupper( $field_value );
		}
		return $field_value;
	},
	10,
	2
);

	

Validation

There are two phases of validation in the additional checkout fields system. The first is validating a single field based on its key and value.

Single field validation

Using the woocommerce_validate_additional_field action

When the woocommerce_validate_additional_field action is fired the callback receives the field’s key, the field’s value, and a WP_Error object.

To add validation errors to the response, use the WP_Error::add method.

Argument Type Description
$errors WP_Error An error object containing errors that were already encountered while processing the request. If no errors were added yet, it will still be a WP_Error object but it will be empty.
$field_key string The id of the field. This is the ID the field was registered with.
$field_value boolean|string The value of the field
The WP_Error object

When adding your error to the WP_Error object, it should have a unique error code. You may want to prefix the error code with the plugin namespace to reduce the chance of collision. Using codes that are already in use across other plugins may result in the error message being overwritten or showing in a different location.

Example of single-field validation

The below example shows how to apply custom validation to the namespace/gov-id text field from above. The code here ensures the field is made up of 5 characters, either upper-case letters or numbers. The sanitization function from the example above ensures that all whitespace is removed and all letters are capitalized, so this check is an extra safety net to ensure the input matches the pattern.

		add_action(
'woocommerce_validate_additional_field',
	function ( WP_Error $errors, $field_key, $field_value ) {
		if ( 'namespace/gov-id' === $field_key ) {
			$match = preg_match( '/[A-Z0-9]{5}/', $field_value );
			if ( 0 === $match || false === $match ) {
				$errors->add( 'invalid_gov_id', 'Please ensure your government ID matches the correct format.' );
			}
		}
	},
	10,
	3
);

	

It is important to note that this action must add errors to the WP_Error object it receives. Returning a new WP_Error object or any other value will result in the errors not showing.

If no validation errors are encountered the function can just return void.

Multiple field validation

There are cases where the validity of a field depends on the value of another field, for example validating the format of a government ID based on what country the shopper is in. In this case, validating only single fields (as above) is not sufficient as the country may be unknown during the woocommerce_validate_additional_field action.

To solve this, it is possible to validate a field in the context of the location it renders in. The other fields in that location will be passed to this action.

Using the woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_{location}_fields action

This action will be fired for each location that additional fields can render in (address, contact, and order). For address it fires twice, once for the billing address and once for the shipping address.

The callback receives the keys and values of the other additional fields in the same location.

It is important to note that any fields rendered in other locations will not be passed to this action, however it might be possible to get those values by accessing the customer or order object, however this is not supported and there are no guarantees regarding backward compatibility in future versions.

Argument Type Description
$errors WP_Error An error object containing errors that were already encountered while processing the request. If no errors were added yet, it will still be a WP_Error object but it will be empty.
$fields array The fields rendered in this locations.
$group 'billing'|'shipping'|'other' If the action is for the address location, the type of address will be set here. If it is for contact or order, this will be ‘other’.

There are several places where these hooks are fired.

  • When checking out using the Checkout block or Store API.
    • woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_address_fields (x2)
    • woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_contact_fields
    • woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_other_fields
  • When updating addresses in the “My account” area
    • woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_address_fields (x1 – only the address being edited)
  • When updating the “Account details” section in the “My account” area
    • woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_contact_fields
Example of location validation

In this example, assume there is another field registered alongside the namespace/gov-id called namespace/confirm-gov-id. This field will be a confirmation for the Government ID field.

The example below illustrates how to verify that the value of the confirmation field matches the value of the main field.

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_address_fields',
	function ( \WP_Error $errors, $fields, $group ) {
		if ( $fields['namespace/gov-id'] !== $fields['namespace/confirm-gov-id'] ) {
			$errors->add( 'gov_id_mismatch', 'Please ensure your government ID matches the confirmation.' );
		}
	},
	10,
	3
);

	

If these fields were rendered in the “contact” location instead, the code would be the same except the hook used would be: woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_contact_fields.

Conditional visibility and validation via JSON Schema

The required, hidden, and validation properties accept an array of JSON Schema to create conditional logic for fields. This allows you to dynamically control field visibility, requirement status, and validation rules based on the values of other fields.

Schema is evaluated in the frontend in real-time, and on the backend at any update. This ensures fast and responsive UI, and consistent results between the client and server.

JSON Schema Structure

Each schema in the array should be a valid JSON Schema object that defines conditions for when the property should be applied. The schema is evaluated against the current cart and checkout state, which includes all field values and various options (payment, shipping, customer).

Basic structure of a JSON Schema object:

		{
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "fieldId": {
      "enum": ["value1", "value2"]
    }
  },
  "required": ["fieldId"]
}

	

If you’re not familiar with JSON Schema, you can get a quick introduction to it from the official website, or from one of the libraries used like AJV or OPIS. Checkout builds an abstraction on top of both of them.

Document object

When you’re writing your rules, you’re writing a partial schema for the document object, essentially describing the ideal state you want for your field to be required or hidden. An example of the document object looks like this:

Document object { “cart”: { “coupons”: [ “my_coupon” ], “shipping_rates”: [ “free_shipping:1” ], “items”: [ 27, 27, 68 ], “items_type”: [ “simple”, “variation” ], “items_count”: 3, “items_weight”: 0, “needs_shipping”: true, “prefers_collection”: false, “totals”: { “totalPrice”: 6600, “totalTax”: 600 }, “extensions”: {} }, “checkout”: { “create_account”: false, “customer_note”: “”, “additional_fields”: { “namespace/mycontact-field”: “myvalue” }, “payment_method”: “bacs” }, “customer”: { “id”: 1, “billing_address”: { “first_name”: “First Name”, “last_name”: “Last Name”, “company”: “Company”, “address_1”: “Address 1”, “address_2”: “Address 2”, “city”: “City”, “state”: “State”, “postcode”: “08000”, “country”: “US”, “email”: “[email protected]”, “phone”: “1234567890”, “namespace/myfield”: “myvalue” }, “shipping_address”: { “first_name”: “First Name”, “last_name”: “Last Name”, “company”: “Company”, “address_1”: “Address 1”, “address_2”: “Address 2”, “city”: “City”, “state”: “State”, “postcode”: “08000”, “country”: “US”, “phone”: “1234567890”, “namespace/myfield”: “myvalue” }, “address”: { “first_name”: “First Name”, “last_name”: “Last Name”, “company”: “Company”, “address_1”: “Address 1”, “address_2”: “Address 2”, “city”: “City”, “state”: “State”, “postcode”: “08000”, “country”: “US”, “phone”: “1234567890”, “namespace/myfield”: “myvalue” } } }

It’s full schema is this one:

Document schema { “$schema”: “http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#”, “title”: “Cart and Checkout Schema”, “description”: “Schema for cart, checkout, and customer information”, “type”: “object”, “properties”: { “cart”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Information about the shopping cart”, “properties”: { “coupons”: { “type”: “array”, “description”: “List of coupon codes applied to the cart”, “items”: { “type”: “string” } }, “shipping_rates”: { “type”: “array”, “description”: “List of currently selected shipping rates”, “items”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Shipping rate identifier using the full shipping rate ID so method_id:instance_id, for example: flat_rate:1” } }, “items”: { “type”: “array”, “description”: “List of product IDs in the cart, IDs will be dubplicated depending on the quantity of the product in the cart, so if you have 2 of product ID 1, the array will have 2 entries of product ID 1”, “items”: { “type”: “integer” } }, “items_type”: { “type”: “array”, “description”: “Types of items in the cart, for example: simple, variation, subscription, etc.”, “items”: { “type”: “string” } }, “items_count”: { “type”: “integer”, “description”: “Total number of items in the cart”, “minimum”: 0 }, “items_weight”: { “type”: “number”, “description”: “Total weight of items in the cart”, “minimum”: 0 }, “needs_shipping”: { “type”: “boolean”, “description”: “Whether the items in the cart require shipping” }, “prefers_collection”: { “type”: “boolean”, “description”: “Whether the customer prefers using Local Pickup” }, “totals”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Cart totals information”, “properties”: { “totalPrice”: { “type”: “integer”, “description”: “Total price of the cart in smallest currency unit (e.g., cents), after applying all discounts, shipping, and taxes” }, “totalTax”: { “type”: “integer”, “description”: “Total tax amount in smallest currency unit (e.g., cents), after applying all discounts, shipping, and taxes” } } }, “extensions”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Additional cart extension data, this is similar to what’s passed in Store API’s extensions parameter” } } }, “checkout”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Checkout preferences and settings”, “properties”: { “create_account”: { “type”: “boolean”, “description”: “Whether the customer checked the create account checkbox, this will be false if the customer is logged in, cannot create an account, or forced to create an account.” }, “customer_note”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Customer’s note or special instructions for the order, this will be empty if the customer didn’t add a note.” }, “additional_fields”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Additional checkout fields, both applied to the contact or the order locations.”, “additionalProperties”: { “type”: “string” }, “patternProperties”: { “^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+/[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Custom fields with namespace identifiers” } } }, “payment_method”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Selected payment method identifier, this will be the payment method ID regardless if the customer selected a saved payment method or new payment method” } } }, “customer”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Customer information”, “properties”: { “id”: { “type”: “integer”, “description”: “Customer ID, this will be 0 if the customer is not logged in” }, “billing_address”: { “$ref”: “#/definitions/address”, “description”: “Customer’s billing address” }, “shipping_address”: { “$ref”: “#/definitions/address”, “description”: “Customer’s shipping address” }, “address”: { “$ref”: “#/definitions/address”, “description”: “This is a dynamic field that will be the billing or shipping address depending on the context of the field being evaluted.” } } } }, “definitions”: { “address”: { “type”: “object”, “description”: “Customer address information”, “properties”: { “first_name”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “First name of the recipient” }, “last_name”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Last name of the recipient” }, “company”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Company name” }, “address_1”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Primary address line” }, “address_2”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Secondary address line” }, “city”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “City name” }, “state”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “State or province, this will be the state code if it’s a predefined list, for example: CA, TX, NY, etc, or the field value if it’s a freeform state, for example: London.” }, “postcode”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Postal or ZIP code” }, “country”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Country code (e.g., US, UK)” }, “email”: { “type”: “string”, “format”: “email”, “description”: “Email address” }, “phone”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Phone number” } }, “additionalProperties”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Custom fields with namespace identifiers” }, “patternProperties”: { “^[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+/[a-zA-Z0-9_-]+$”: { “type”: “string”, “description”: “Custom fields with namespace identifiers” } } } } }

Examples

Required and visible field

In this example we make the field required and visible only if local pickup is being used.

		'required' => [
    "type" => "object",
	"properties" => [
		"cart" => [
			"properties" => [
				"prefers_collection" => [
					"const" => true
				]
			]
		]
	]
],
'hidden' => [
	"type" => "object",
	"properties" => [
		"cart" => [
			"properties" => [
				"prefers_collection" => [
					"const" => false
				]
			]
		]
	]
]

	

Notice that for hidden, we inverse the field, meaning, this field should only be hidden if prefers_collection is false, which is almost all cases except when it’s selected. In the examples above, we used the keyword const.

Validation schema example

Validation is slightly different from conditional visibility and requirement. In validation, you will pass in a subset of schema (only applicable to your field), and its role is to validate the field and show any errors if there.

In this example, we ensure that VAT is made up of a country code and 8-12 numbers.

		'validation' => [
	"type" => "string",
	"pattern" => "^[A-Z]{2}[0-9]{8,12}$"
	"errorMessage" => "Please enter a valid VAT code with 2 letters for country code and 8-12 numbers."
]

	

Validation can also be against other fields, for example, an alternative email field that shouldn’t the current email:

		'validation' => [
	"type" => "string",
	"format" => "email",
	"not" => [
		"const" => ["$data", "0/customer/billing_address/email"]
	]
	"errorMessage" => "Please enter a valid VAT code with 2 letters for country code and 8-12 numbers."
]

	

In the example above, we used format keyword and $data to refer to the current field value via JSON pointers. We also used the errorMessage property to provide a custom error message.

$data keyword and JSON pointers

$data keyword is a way in JSON schema to reference another field’s value. In the above example, we use it to refer to the billing email via JSON pointers.

When dealing with JSON pointers, there are some things to keep in mind:

  • The forward slash / is used to navigate through the JSON object, so for additional fields, a field named my-plugin-namespace/my-field will need to be referenced as my-plugin-namespace~1my-field.

Keywords and values that are not in spec

We support JSON Schema Draft-07, which is simple and doesn’t support all the keywords and values that are in the latest spec, but we feel like it covers most of the use cases. On top of that, we introduced some non-standard keywords and values that are not in the spec, their implementation might be different between Opis and AJV (or any future implementation), this is the list of such keywords and values:

  • errorMessage: Custom error message for validation, in AJV, this is errorMessage and in Opis, this is $error, we only support errorMessage and maps that internally for Opis. We also don’t support templates in errorMessage for now.
  • $data: Refers to the current field value via JSON pointers, both Opis and AJV use the same implementation.

Evaluation Logic

  • For required: If any schema in the array matches the current checkout state, the field will be required.
  • For hidden: If any schema in the array matches the current checkout state, the field will be hidden.
  • For validation: The value of the field will be evaluated against the partial schema provided and an error will be shown if it didn’t match.

Performance Considerations

Complex JSON Schema conditions can impact checkout performance. Keep your schemas as simple as possible and limit the number of conditions to what’s necessary for your use case.

Backward compatibility

Due to technical reasons, it’s not yet possible to specify the meta key for fields, as we want them to be prefixed and managed. Plugins with existing fields in shortcode Checkout can be compatible and react to reading and saving fields using hooks.

Assuming 2 fields, named my-plugin-namespace/address-field in the address step and my-plugin-namespace/my-other-field in the order step, you can:

React to saving fields

You can react to those fields being saved by hooking into woocommerce_set_additional_field_value action.

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_set_additional_field_value',
	function ( $key, $value, $group, $wc_object ) {
		if ( 'my-plugin-namespace/address-field' !== $key ) {
			return;
		}

		if ( 'billing' === $group ) {
			$my_plugin_address_key = 'existing_billing_address_field_key';
		} else {
			$my_plugin_address_key = 'existing_shipping_address_field_key';
		}

		$wc_object->update_meta_data( $my_plugin_address_key, $value, true );
	},
	10,
	4
);

add_action(
	'woocommerce_set_additional_field_value',
	function ( $key, $value, $group, $wc_object ) {
		if ( 'my-plugin-namespace/my-other-field' !== $key ) {
			return;
		}

		$my_plugin_key = 'existing_order_field_key';

		$wc_object->update_meta_data( $my_plugin_key, $value, true );
	},
	10,
	4
);

	

This way, you can ensure existing systems will continue working and your integration will continue to work. However, ideally, you should migrate your existing data and systems to use the new meta fields.

React to reading fields

You can use the woocommerce_get_default_value_for_{$key} filters to provide a different default value (a value coming from another meta field for example):

		add_filter(
	"woocommerce_get_default_value_for_my-plugin-namespace/address-field",
	function ( $value, $group, $wc_object ) {

		if ( 'billing' === $group ) {
			$my_plugin_key = 'existing_billing_address_field_key';
		} else {
			$my_plugin_key = 'existing_shipping_address_field_key';
		}

		return $wc_object->get_meta( $my_plugin_key );
	},
	10,
	3
);

add_filter(
	"woocommerce_get_default_value_for_my-plugin-namespace/my-other-field",
	function ( $value, $group, $wc_object ) {

		$my_plugin_key = 'existing_order_field_key';

		return $wc_object->get_meta( $my_plugin_key );
	},
	10,
	3
);

	

A full example

In this full example we will register the Government ID text field and verify that it conforms to a specific pattern.

This example is just a combined version of the examples shared above.

		add_action(
	'woocommerce_init',
	function() {
		woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field(
			array(
				'id'            => 'namespace/gov-id',
				'label'         => 'Government ID',
				'location'      => 'address',
				'required'      => true,
				'attributes'    => array(
					'autocomplete' => 'government-id',
					'pattern'      => '[A-Z0-9]{5}', // A 5-character string of capital letters and numbers.
					'title'        => 'Your 5-digit Government ID',
				),
			),
		);
		woocommerce_register_additional_checkout_field(
			array(
				'id'            => 'namespace/confirm-gov-id',
				'label'         => 'Confirm government ID',
				'location'      => 'address',
				'required'      => true,
				'attributes'    => array(
					'autocomplete' => 'government-id',
					'pattern'      => '[A-Z0-9]{5}', // A 5-character string of capital letters and numbers.
					'title'        => 'Confirm your 5-digit Government ID',
				),
			),
		);

		add_action(
			'woocommerce_sanitize_additional_field',
			function ( $field_value, $field_key ) {
				if ( 'namespace/gov-id' === $field_key || 'namespace/confirm-gov-id' === $field_key ) {
					$field_value = str_replace( ' ', '', $field_value );
					$field_value = strtoupper( $field_value );
				}
				return $field_value;
			},
			10,
			2
		);

		add_action(
		'woocommerce_validate_additional_field',
			function ( WP_Error $errors, $field_key, $field_value ) {
				if ( 'namespace/gov-id' === $field_key ) {
					$match = preg_match( '/[A-Z0-9]{5}/', $field_value );
					if ( 0 === $match || false === $match ) {
						$errors->add( 'invalid_gov_id', 'Please ensure your government ID matches the correct format.' );
					}
				}
				return $error;
			},
			10,
			3
		);
	}
);

add_action(
	'woocommerce_blocks_validate_location_address_fields',
	function ( \WP_Error $errors, $fields, $group ) {
		if ( $fields['namespace/gov-id'] !== $fields['namespace/confirm-gov-id'] ) {
			$errors->add( 'gov_id_mismatch', 'Please ensure your government ID matches the confirmation.' );
		}
	},
	10,
	3
);

	

Last updated: March 17, 2025