Clicking the edit link for an entity field brings you to a page full of settings for that field, while a click on the widget name opens a corresponding page for the widget. (You can switch between these pages using the tabs at the top of the page.)

The settings available for a field depend on its field type and its widget. Usually the help texts explain quite well how the different settings are used. Below are descriptions for the most common settings.

• Required: Users will get an error message if trying to save a node (or other entity) while required fields are empty.
• Help text: Any help text will usually be displayed in small font below the input field. Best practice dictates that every field should have help text, unless there is a good reason otherwise.
• Default value: This sets the default value when creating new nodes/entities. (The default value will not be automatically used if the field is left empty – it just saves the effort of filling in the most common value by hand.)
• Number of values: If there is a need, fields can accept multiple values. For example, you may allow users to upload several images to an article. This setting either allows a fixed number of values (normally just one), or unlimited. This second option provides a button with the text add another item below the field, allowing the user to add more items when required. If the field uses a check boxes/radio buttons widget, multiple-value fields will be displayed as check boxes instead of radio buttons.
• Allowed values (list fields only): In this text area, you may enter a list of values the user should be able to select from - one per line. It is possible to separate the data stored in the database and the value presented to the user by writing lines on the form stored data|displayed data. Only the data stored in the database has to match the field type – a number list could, for example, have 0|free of charge as a possible value, displaying free of charge to all users while still storing a number in the database.
• Text processing (text fields only): This option determines if a text input should be able to hold markup, or if it is always plain text. See the section on text formats in Chapter 5 for more information.