Some models exist only to serve another one: the film stocks a Movie is shot on, the countries a Client can be in. Simplist lets you keep those lookup lists out of the way, either as child models grouped under the model they belong to, or as nested options hidden inside a single field.
Child models
A child model is an ordinary model — its own fields, its own documents — that is grouped under a parent instead of standing on its own. It stays out of the sidebar and the models list, so a workspace with a dozen small lookup lists still shows only the models people actually work in.
To make one, open a top-level model and find the Child models section on its page. Choose New child model, then name it and add fields exactly as you would for any model, and choose Create child model.
Creating a child also gives the parent a relation field to it, named after the child’s plural name and set up to hold several links at once. Create a “Filmstock” child under Movies and every Movie gets a Filmstocks field straight away, ready to pick from.
Child models are listed, and linked, in the parent’s Child models section; open one from there to add or edit its documents.
Nesting is one level deep: a child model cannot have children of its own, so the Child models section only appears on top-level models.
Nesting a model you already have
If a lookup list started life as a top-level model, you can move it under its parent later. Open the model and choose Model actions → Nest under Parent. Simplist works out the parent from the model’s own relation fields — a model worth nesting already points at the thing it belongs to — so the menu names the model it would move under before you click. No new field is added, because the relation already exists.
When nesting is not possible the item reads Make this a child model and is greyed out, and hovering it says why. The model must:
- have at least one relation field, all pointing at one model (or at that model and its existing child models);
- not already be a child of something else;
- not have child models of its own;
- not relate only to a model that is itself a child.
Nested options
For the smallest lists — a handful of stages or categories that only ever make sense inside one field — there is no need for a visible model at all. When adding a field, choose Nested options as its type, then type the options in place and pick how the field should look:
- Dropdown — pick one
- Radio — pick one
- Checklist — pick many (the default)
Behind the scenes this creates a hidden model with one document per option, and the field links to them. That hidden model never appears in the sidebar, the models list or any Child models section; you manage it entirely through the field.
Which to choose
- Use a Select or Multi-select field for a fixed list of labels — see Models and fields.
- Use Nested options when you want the options to be linked records rather than labels, but never need to open them.
- Use a child model when the entries deserve fields of their own (a film stock’s ISO, a country’s currency) and you want to browse them, but not see them in the sidebar.
- Use an ordinary model, linked with a Relation field, when the entries matter in their own right.
A Select or Multi-select field that has outgrown its options can be turned into a model of its own later with Convert to collection, described in Models and fields.