Syntax suggestions and extensions

[nilshoerrmann]

I really love this extension to fine-tune and tailor the create dialogs inside the panel. But when using custom add fields in our blueprints the syntax always looked a bit "hackish" to me:

addFields: # where?
  __dialog: # is this a field, too?
    skip: true
    forcedTemplate: remote
  title: # no, this is a field?
      type: text
      label: Title

First, addFields doesn't really explain where these fields will be added. Second, having a blueprint property prefixed like __dialog is nothing I've seen in other places within Kirby's blueprints. What about changing the syntax so something more aligned to the default section and field setup?

dialog: # this is what we want to adjust
  skip: true
  forcedTemplate: remote
  fields: # this is how sections or structure fields start field listings
    title:
      type: text
      label: Title

Referencing existing fields

A common situation we face in our blueprints is replicating fields in the dialog that are already defined in the blueprint itself. It would be helpful, if the plugin allowed for referenced field options. For example, this setup would add the title and date fields:

# General definitions
fields:
  title:
    label: Title
    type: text
  date:
    label: Date
    type: date
# Dialog settings
dialog:
  fields:
    - title
    - date

Setting field defaults

Another situation we often have to solve via models is generating page titles based on other field values because we obmit the title field from the dialog. It would be cool to automate this using Kirby's query language:

dialog:
  defaults:
    title: 'Entry on {{ page.date.toDate('Y-m-d') }}'
  fields:
    date:
      type: date
      label: Date

Depending on the given fields in the dialog, this could of course be using for other field values but the title.

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I'm really thankful for this extension ❤️ and I don't expect anything to be included short-term. But maybe, if you'll update this extension in the future, these suggestions might be interesting to consider.

[steirico]

Hi @nilshoerrmann ,

thanks a lot for these suggestions and inputs. I very appreciate!

During October, I will have some time to work on the plugin again. Plans are to make it compatible with Kirby 3.6. In that context, I will certainly consider these suggestions.

[nilshoerrmann]

@steirico, if you'd consider these syntax suggestions it could be interesting to make a clear cut with Kirby 3.6 because the inplementation will have to change fundamentally: you could phase out this plugin and keep it for compatibility reasons and create a new one, e. g. kirby-dialogs-extended, using the new methodology and naming scheme. This would sharpen the focus of the plugin even more.