Today we are happy to announce a public beta of a new plugin for Movable Type that helps users using Right Fields on Movable Type 3.x upgrade to Movable Type 4.2 using Custom Fields. There has been a great need in our community for this, which is why some of our veterans stepped up to assemble partial solutions to this problem. These solutions helped a great number of people, but were not able to address everyone's need universally, because the solution to this problem was not trivial. Recognizing this, we began a process with the community to identify and document what the ideal solution would look like. Then we implemented it so that users who felt they couldn't upgrade to Movable Type 4 could finally do so.
The plugin is called "Linked Entry Custom Fields" because the plugin does not exclusively help you migrate from Right Fields to Custom Fields. The plugin also provides your version of Movable Type Pro with an additional custom field type: linked entries. Linked entries, a feature native to Right Fields, provides a way for bloggers to establish relationships between related blog posts. You can imagine using this feature for example to help curate a list of related entries that you want to link to at the bottom of your post. So even if you have never used Right Fields, you may find some value in this plugin as well.
As with any beta, it is important for users to first make a backup of their system before beginning the migration and upgrade process. This is especially true with this plugin as there is a lot of data being moved around and there is potential for an unanticipated bug resulting in data loss. That being said, we would not be releasing this plugin now without having run a number of tests ourselves and feeling it was of sufficient quality to be released publicly.
To get started, visit the Linked Entry Custom Field page in the Plugin Directory.
salguod on October 3, 2008, 8:03 p.m. Reply
This is good news, thanks. I do have a question. The wiki page on the RF2CF requirements that you referred to above says that one of the goals is:
This plugin, as far as I can tell, doesn’t address that. Is that still planned for the future? I’m about to upgrade and I’m wondering if I should wait.
salguod on October 3, 2008, 8:05 p.m. Reply
What I meant was the conversion to assets. Chad’s RF2CF plugin does convert file fields, they just aren’t made into assets.
docia on September 12, 2012, 1:44 a.m. Reply
Custom fields are extremly useful I know that, but how can I use them at their 100%? Is there any tutorial where I can read more about it?
Amanda Thompson on September 12, 2012, 8:51 p.m. Reply
Hello and greetings from Rochester. A newbie question. Can you explain me what is the difference between the Right Fields and the Custom Fields in Moveable Type? Thank you in advance.
Zack Adamson on October 16, 2012, 2:26 a.m. Reply
This plugin hasn’t been updated since it first version. I am not sure I am going to use it. Even more, when I see the date it is for MT4, not MT5 which we all use now.
Mark Anthony on October 23, 2012, 2:01 a.m. Reply
“first make a backup of their system before beginning the migration” I found out that his must be done in the hard way :)
Amanda Peterson on November 7, 2012, 4:22 a.m. Reply
Custom fields was the reason I choose Moveable Type instead of other platforms. A friend of mine from Belgium who has lots of sites supported by Moveable Type told me about this feature and explain me how to use it. Since then I started to build my new web sites with Moveable Type using this functionality.
Glendun on November 18, 2012, 9:49 p.m. Reply
Hi salguod, which plugin are you using now - the one, provided by Byrne or the other one you mentioned in your comment? I am bit confused which one is better and it will be better to hear opinion from someone who have the needed experience.
Lorinda on November 26, 2012, 7:47 a.m. Reply
I know that RF2CF is good enough to use it, but I prefer the one which the boys from Movable Type suggest. It is always good to stick to the main line, because it is not sure for how long will the author of the plugin support and update the plugin. However, when you are with the original release then this is not an issue.