Fields

Repeater Behavior

How ContentLatch evaluates ACF Repeater fields—any-row WHEN conditions, every-row THEN validation, two-level nesting, and row context in findings.

ContentLatch evaluates ACF Repeater (and Flexible Content) fields with row context rather than flattening every value into one string. Requires ACF Pro.

WHEN: any-row

WHEN conditions on Repeater or Flexible Content targets use any-row semantics. The condition matches if any applicable row or layout instance meets the operator.

Example: if any Ingredients row’s title contains a restricted term, a condition-only rule targeting that field can fire.

THEN: every-row

THEN validations apply to every matching row or instance. Each failing row can produce a finding. Audit may collapse repeated failures for the same rule/field into one finding that lists the affected rows.

Nesting depth

Path	Supported
Repeater → scalar	Yes
Repeater → Repeater → scalar	Yes (exactly two Repeater levels)
Three or more Repeater levels	No

A common nested pattern looks like:

Ingredients (Repeater)
  └── Ingredient Title (text)
  └── Section Ingredients (Repeater)
        └── Ingredient (text)

Directions (Repeater)
  └── Section Title (text)
  └── Section Directions (Repeater)
        └── Direction (text)

That shape is a generic two-level Repeater example used in plugin tests—not a customer claim.

No rows

When a THEN validation is configured for every Repeater row and the Repeater has no rows, ContentLatch can fail with a finding that asks editors to add at least one row (for example, “Add at least one Ingredients row.”).

Empty WHEN on a missing instance is evaluated against an empty value (so is_empty can match; contains does not).

Row numbers in findings

Editor and audit messages can include row context so editors know which instance failed:

Single row: … in row 3.
Nested coordinates: outer/inner display rows such as 2/1
Multiple rows collapsed: … in 3 rows (rows 1, 2, 5).
Flexible Content may include the layout label in the message

Block editor: ACF Repeater Blocking with row context — Ingredient is required in row 3.

Mixed nested rows

Outer and inner rows are evaluated independently. A failure on one inner row does not imply every sibling failed. Nested findings keep coordinates for the specific outer/inner pair when both levels apply.

Unsupported combinations

ContentLatch intentionally does not support:

Third-level (or deeper) Repeater nesting
Repeater → Group
Repeater inside Flexible Content
Nested Flexible Content
Cross-row logic (comparing one row to another)

Clone inside Repeater (Repeater → Clone → scalar) is supported when ACF Pro Clone is used; see ACF.