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https://github.com/wintercms/wn-blocks-plugin

Block based content management plugin for Winter CMS.
https://github.com/wintercms/wn-blocks-plugin

blocks hacktoberfest laravel wintercms

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Block based content management plugin for Winter CMS.

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README 

        
# Blocks Plugin



![Blocks Plugin](https://github.com/wintercms/wn-blocks-plugin/blob/main/.github/banner.png?raw=true)



Provides a "block based" content management experience in Winter CMS



>**NOTE:** This plugin is still in development and is likely to undergo changes. Do not use in production environments without using a version constraint in your composer.json file and carefully monitoring for breaking changes.



>**NOTE:** This plugin requires Winter CMS v1.2.2 or above.



## Installation



This plugin is available for installation via [Composer](http://getcomposer.org/).



```bash

composer require winter/wn-blocks-plugin

```



In order to have the `actions` support function correctly, you need to load `/plugins/winter/blocks/assets/dist/js/blocks.js` after the Snowboard framework has been loaded.



## Core Concepts



### Blocks



This plugin manages the concept of "blocks" in Winter CMS. Blocks are self contained pieces of structured content that can be managed and rendered in a variety of ways.



Blocks can be provided by both plugins and themes and can be overridden by themes.



### Actions



This plugin also introduces the concepts of "actions"; a way to define and execute client side actions that can be triggered by various events. Currently, actions are only defined in the `$/winter/blocks/meta/actions.yaml` file and must exist as a function on the `window.actions` object in the frontend keyed by the action's identifier that receives the `data` object as the first argument and (optionally) the `event` object that triggered the action as the second argument.



>**NOTE:** This is very much a WIP API and is subject to change. Feedback very much welcome here for ideas around how to register, manage, extend, and provide actions to the frontend.



### Tags



Blocks may have one or more tags, which is a way of defining and grouping blocks. For example, you may have a Gallery block which allows only "image" tagged blocks to be used, or a container block which allows all "content" tagged blocks but does not allow another "container" tagged block within.



Tags are defined in the blocks, and can be used to filter the available blocks in the Blocks form widget.



## Registering Blocks



Themes can have their blocks automatically registered by placing `.block` files in the `/blocks` folder and subfolders.



Plugins can register blocks by providing a `registerBlocks()` method in their Plugin.php file. The method should return an array of block definitions in the following format:



```php

public function registerBlocks(): array

{

    return [

        'example' => '$/myauthor/myplugin/blocks/example.block',

    ];

}

```



## Block Definition



Blocks are defined as `.block` files that consist of 2 to 3 parts:



- A YAML configuration section that defines the block's name, description, and other metadata as well as the block's properties and the form used to edit those properties.

- A PHP code section that allows for basic code to be executed when the block is rendered, similar to a partial.

- A Twig template section that defines the HTML markup template of the block.



When there are two parts, they are the Settings (YAML) & Markup (Twig) sections.



The following property values (name, description, etc) can be defined in the Settings (YAML) section of the `.block` files:



```yaml

name: Example

description: Example Block Description

icon: icon-name

tags: [] # Defines the tags that this block is associated with

permissions: [] # List of permissions required to interact with the block

fields: # The form fields used to populate the block's content

config: # The block configuration options

```



Blocks can use components in them, although they may face lifecycle limitations with complex AJAX handlers similar to component support in partials.



### Fields and Configuration



Blocks may define both `fields` as well as a `config` property in the Settings. Both of these parameters accept a [form schema](https://wintercms.com/docs/backend/forms#form-fields), but serve different purposes. In general, `fields` should contain the fields that actually fill in the content of the block, whereas the `config` should contain the fields that define the appearance or structure of the block itself. Fields are displayed within the block in the `blocks` form widget and configuration is displayed in an Inspector which can be shown by clicking on the "cogwheel" icon of a block in the `blocks` form widget.



For example, let's say you have a **Title** block which can display a heading tag in your content. You may optionally want to align it to left, center or right, and define which heading tag to use. The best practice would be to have a `content` field in the `fields` definition, because it's the actual content being displayed. The `alignment` and `tag` would become part of the `config` configuration.



**Example:**



```

name: Title

description: Adds a title

icon: icon-heading

tags: ["content"]

fields:

    content:

        label: false

        span: full

        type: text

config:

    size:

        label: Size

        span: auto

        type: dropdown

        default: h2

        options:

            h1: H1

            h2: H2

            h3: H3

            h4: H4

            h5: H5

    alignment_x:

        label: Alignment

        span: auto

        type: dropdown

        default: center

        options:

            left: Left

            center: Centre

            right: Right

==

{% if config.alignment_x == 'left' %}

    {% set alignment = 'text-left' %}

{% elseif config.alignment_x == 'center' or not config.alignment_x %}

    {% set alignment = 'text-center' %}

{% elseif config.alignment_x == 'right' %}

    {% set alignment = 'text-right' %}

{% endif %}



<{{ config.size }} class="{{ alignment }}">

    {{ content }}

{{ config.size }}>

```



## Using the `blocks` FormWidget



In order to provide an interface for managing block-based content, this plugin provides the `blocks` FormWidget. This widget can be used in the backend as a form field to manage blocks.



The `blocks` FormWidget supports the following additional properties:



- `allow`: An array of block types that are allowed to be added to the widget. If specified, only those block types listed will be available to add to the current instance of the field. You can define either a straight array of individual blocks to allow, or define an object with `tags` and/or `blocks` to allow whole tags or individual blocks.

- `ignore`: A list of block types that are not allowed to be added to the widget. If not specified, all block types will be available to add to the current instance of the field. You can define either a straight array of individual blocks to ignore, or define an object with `tags` and/or `blocks` to ignore whole tags or individual blocks.

- `tags`: A list of block tags that are allowed to be added to the widget. If specified, only block types that have at least one of the listed tags will be available to add to the current instance of the field.



Those properties allow you to limit the block types that can be added to a specific instance of the widget, which can be very helpful when building "container" type blocks that need to avoid including themselves or only support a specific set of blocks as "children".



### Examples



The `button_group` block type only allows a `button` block to be added to it:



```yaml

buttons:

    label: Buttons

    span: full

    type: blocks

    allow:

        - button

```



The `container` block type allows any block called `title`, or has a tag of `content`, to be added to it:



```yaml

container:

    label: Container

    span: full

    type: blocks

    allow:

        blocks:

            - title

        tags:

            - content

```



The `columns_two` block type allows every block except for itself to be added to it:



```yaml

left:

    label: Left Column

    span: left

    type: blocks

    ignore:

        - columns_two

right:

    label: Right Column

    span: right

    type: blocks

    ignore:

        - columns_two

```



### Integration with the Winter.Pages plugin:



Include the following line in your layout file to include the blocks FormWidget on a Winter.Pages page:



```twig

{variable type="blocks" name="blocks" tags="pages" tab="winter.pages::lang.editor.content"}{/variable}

```



## Rendering Blocks



### Using Twig



Twig functions are provided by this plugin for rendering blocks.

You can then use the following Twig snippet to render the blocks data in your layout:



```twig

{{ renderBlocks(blocks) }}

```



You can use it anywhere an expression is accepted:



```twig

{{ ('
Some text
' ~ renderBlocks(blocks) ~ '
Some more text
') | raw }}



{% set myContent = renderBlocks(blocks) %}

```



If you need to render a single block, you can use the `renderBlock` function:



```twig

{{ renderBlock({

    '_group':'title',

    'content':'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.',

    'alignment_x':'left',

    'size':'h1',

}) }}



{{ renderBlock('title', {

    'content':'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.',

    'alignment_x':'left',

    'size':'h1',

}) }}

```



### Using a partial



If you need to customize the rendering of blocks according to their group, you can use a special `blocks.htm` partial in your theme:



```twig

{% for blockIndex, block in blocks %}

    {# Adding blocks to the following array allows them to implement their own containers #}

    {% if block._group in ["hero", "section"] %}

        {{ renderBlock(block) }}

    {% else %}

        

            


                {{ renderBlock(block) }}

            


        

    {% endif %}

{% endfor %}

```



You can then use the following Twig snippet to render the block data in your layout:



```twig

{% partial 'blocks' blocks=blocks %}

```



### Using PHP



```php

use Winter\Blocks\Classes\Block;



// Render a single block from stored data

Block::render($model->blocks[0]);



// Render an array of blocks from stored data

Block::renderAll($model->blocks);



// Render a single block manually

Block::render('title', [

    'content' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.',

    'alignment_x' => 'left',

    'size' => 'h1',

]);



// Render a single block manually using only array data

Block::render([

    '_group' => 'title',

    'content' => 'Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet.',

    'alignment_x' => 'left',

    'size' => 'h1',

]);

```



## Integrating with TailwindCSS / CSS Purging



If your theme uses CSS class purging (i.e. Tailwind), it can be useful to add the following paths to your build configuration to include the styles for any blocks defined by the theme or plugins.



```js

// tailwind.config.js

module.exports = {

    content: [

        // Winter.Pages static page content

        './content/**/*.htm',

        './layouts/**/*.htm',

        './pages/**/*.htm',

        './partials/**/*.htm',

        './blocks/**/*.block',



        // Blocks provided by plugins

        '../../plugins/*/*/blocks/*.block',

    ],

};

```



## Feedback



> The Winter.Blocks is perfect for my block-based themes. I've been looking for something like this for a long time