What causes "Unknown document type: %s" in octobercms/october?

Use the `EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_*` constants instead of raw strings when calling hasAccessToDocType.

octobercms/october · error · SystemException

Unknown document type: %s

Error message

Unknown document type: %s

What it means

SystemException thrown by `EditorExtension::hasAccessToDocType($user, $documentType)` when the given document type string is not a key of `DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS`. Valid keys are the constants cms-page, cms-partial, cms-layout, cms-content, cms-asset, cms-lang. This is a programmer/API-contract guard: the editor permission layer refuses unknown document types before any permission lookup.

Source

Thrown at modules/cms/classes/EditorExtension.php:303

     * @return array
     */
    public function getSettingsForms()
    {
        return [
            EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PAGE => $this->loadAndExtendCmsSettingsFields(\Cms\Classes\Page\Fields::class, 'page'),
            EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PARTIAL => $this->loadAndExtendCmsSettingsFields(\Cms\Classes\Partial\Fields::class, 'partial'),
            EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_LAYOUT => $this->loadAndExtendCmsSettingsFields(\Cms\Classes\Layout\Fields::class, 'layout')
        ];
    }

    /**
     * hasAccessToDocType
     * @return array
     */
    public static function hasAccessToDocType($user, $documentType)
    {
        if (!array_key_exists($documentType, EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS)) {
            throw new SystemException(sprintf('Unknown document type: %s', $documentType));
        }

        return $user->hasAnyAccess(EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS[$documentType]);
    }

    /**
     * getTheme returns the theme object to use for the editor
     */
    protected function getTheme()
    {
        if ($this->cachedEditTheme !== false) {
            return $this->cachedEditTheme;
        }

        // Locate edit theme
        try {
            if ($editTheme = Theme::getEditTheme()) {
                return $this->cachedEditTheme = $editTheme;

View on GitHub (pinned to b608633a7e)

Solutions

Use the `EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_*` constants instead of raw strings when calling hasAccessToDocType.
If you need a custom document type, extend/patch DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS in your plugin so the type maps to permission codes.
Validate the value against `array_keys(EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS)` before calling the API.

Example fix

// before
EditorExtension::hasAccessToDocType($user, 'cms-pagee'); // typo'd literal

// after
use Cms\Classes\EditorExtension;

$type = EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PAGE;
if (array_key_exists($type, EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS)) {
    EditorExtension::hasAccessToDocType($user, $type);
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: type-guard

Validate before calling

use Cms\Classes\EditorExtension;

$valid = array_key_exists($documentType, EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS);
if (!$valid) {
    abort(400, 'Unsupported document type');
}

Type guard

/** @param mixed $type */
function isValidDocumentType($type): bool
{
    return is_string($type)
        && array_key_exists($type, \Cms\Classes\EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_PERMISSIONS);
}

Try / catch

try {
    $allowed = EditorExtension::hasAccessToDocType($user, $documentType);
} catch (System\Exception $e) {
    // unknown type is a caller bug: log with the offending value and 400 out
    Log::warning('Bad editor document type', ['type' => $documentType]);
    return response()->json(['error' => 'Invalid document type'], 400);
}

Prevention

Always reference the EditorExtension::DOCUMENT_TYPE_* constants instead of string literals.
Never pass a raw request parameter into permission APIs without an allow-list check.
Declare the parameter type (string) and validate against the permissions map at your API boundary.
Add unit tests covering every document type your plugin uses.

When it happens

Trigger: Calling `EditorExtension::hasAccessToDocType($user, 'cms-pagee')` (typo), a custom plugin passing its own document type string ('myplugin-doc') into the CMS editor extension, or forwarding an unvalidated `documentType` request parameter from an AJAX handler into this API.

Common situations: Plugin developers extending the CMS editor with new document types without registering them in the permissions map; refactors that rename a constant but leave stale string literals; unvalidated user input reaching an editor permission check.

Understand the failure class

Background: Invalid enum value errors: "Unknown type", "Invalid scope", "must be one of" — when a string is not on the library's allowed list — this error's family across 23 libraries.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of octobercms/october@b608633a7e (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/ce9b1f468dc0df02. Report an issue: GitHub.