Craft 5x Field Linktype: Is there a way to get linked entry from native Link field (similar to Hyper)?

[alexander-dal]

Hi,

I’m currently using the Hyper plugin, but I’m exploring a transition to Craft’s native Link field and was wondering if the following is also possible with the native field:

When I link to an Entry in a Hyper field, I can access the linked Entry id and compare it to the current entry:

{% set isActive = entry and entry.id and entry.id == linkItem.hyperField.linkValue %}

When I use the native Link field and link to an Entry, the field returns something like:

craft\fields\data\LinkData
  -> value = "{entry:279@1:url}"
  -> renderedValue = "https://example.com/contact"

My question:

Is it possible to access the linked Entry ID in any way when using the native Link field? I would need it for active nav state logic.

Would love to know if there’s an approach I’m missing — or if this is just a limitation of the native field type.

Thanks in advance!

[brandonkelly]

Yep, you can fetch the linked element using the getElement() method on the link field’s value:

{% set element = entry.myLinkField.getElement() ?? null %}

[alexander-dal]

Ah great! Thank you!

One more thing that came up - Is there any plan to support multiple links within a single field or is using a Matrix field with one link field the preferred approach?

[brandonkelly]

Yeah if you need an arbitrary number of links, you’d need to use a Matrix field.