Examples of using the new filter blockEditor.useSetting.before

[bph]

Discussed in #38

^{Originally posted by annezazu December 8, 2022}
Pulled from this PR: WordPress/gutenberg#45089 This would be a great filter to highlight, especially when thinking about additional curation options with the block editor.

This allows the injection of block settings into the block editor before everything is rendered, so we are able to customize the settings available for a block however we want.

This unlocks a ton of neat options but definitely needs to be explained in detail and documented in general.

[ndiego]

Thanks @bph I'll pick this up.

[cbirdsong]

Here are some examples of stuff that I haven't been able to figure out that seem like they should be possible with this?

• Defaulting the "Inner blocks use content width" toggle switch to off when a new group block is added
• Defaulting the "table has header row" toggle switch to on when a new table block is added
• Removing the custom content width/wide width fields within the layout panel
• Removing the layout panel entirely

(If these aren't possible then I guess that's another thing to clarify?)

[ndiego]

Thanks @cbirdsong, I am going to start diving into this next week.

[bph]

Notes from the Editorial meeting March 2.

Share examples of using the new filter blockEditor.useSetting.before (#38) (title of the discussion, not working title yet) -> agreement in principle for idea, further discussion to follow

• @bph: there will be a Dev Note about this new filter hook and this would be a follow-up post to give people more examples and use cases
• alternative titles to be added to the ticket. @marybaum to work with @ndiego and @greenshady on options

[ndiego]

The first draft of the article is ready for review: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ktyuo4BHOeN3YzIpgoR83tmFGFTZIviKpC-NG2oabpA/edit#

[marybaum]

On it!

[marybaum]

Done!

[ndiego]

Thanks for all your help @marybaum 🙏

[ndiego]

The draft has been updated based on @marybaum's edits. @ingeniumed @alecgeatches @ryanwelcher @mburridge if you have time, I would greatly appreciate a technical review. This will be the first real article on the new blockEditor.useSetting.before filter so I want to make sure I am showcasing it well. 🙏

The code is all available via a companion plugin. I would like to keep the functionality of the examples the same if possible so I don't have to update the graphics, but any suggestions for improvement would be most welcome. Thanks!

[mburridge]

Excellent article. I just added a couple of minor comments.

[bph]

After the 2nd review is done on the blog draft, here is the Pre-publish checklist @ndiego

• Post Title in Sentence case
• Are Category or Categories selected?
• Are Tags identifies?
• Is there an explicit Excerpt?
• Props added?
  🙌 Publish! 📗
• add Props for reviews to #props channel in WP Slack

[alecgeatches]

@ndiego @marybaum @mburridge Fantastic article! I left a couple of very minor suggestions. I also left a comment chain about possible performance issues with expensive operations in blockEditor.useSetting.before, but after some testing I was incorrect about the cost of the example code and it's fine.

Thank you for writing up this awesome guide.

[ndiego]

Thanks for the review @alecgeatches 🙏

[ingeniumed]

@ndiego @marybaum @mburridge Great article! I love the practical examples that have been provided along with screenshots of them in action. No suggestions from my end, as it looks great. 🚢

[ndiego]

This article has been published: https://developer.wordpress.org/news/2023/05/curating-the-editor-experience-with-client-side-filters/ 🎉