Synced Patterns: Apply Block Hooks

[ockham]

What?

Apply Block Hooks to synced patterns (i.e. core/block).

Follow-up to #67272 and WordPress/wordpress-develop#7898. See WordPress/wordpress-develop#7898 (comment) for more context.

Why?

For consistency with post content, to which Block Hooks are now also applied.

How?

By applying the same technique as to other post types, e.g. post or wp_navigation. See #67272 for a recent example.

Follow-up

In a follow-up PR, I'll add a filter for the post type/block type mappings, so that they can be customized and used for CPTs.

Testing Instructions

Start by installing the following plugin, but do not activate it yet:

Plugin code

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name:       Insert Separator blocks Before Headings.
 * Description:       Block Hooks demo plugin that inserts Separator blocks before Heading blocks.
 * Version:           0.1.0
 * Requires at least: 6.7
 */

defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || exit;

function insert_separators_before_headings( $hooked_blocks, $position, $anchor_block, $context ) {
	if ( ! $context instanceof WP_Post ) {
		return $hooked_blocks;
	}

	if (
		( $anchor_block === 'core/heading' && $position === 'before' ) ||
		( $anchor_block === 'core/block' && $position === 'last_child' )
	) {
		$hooked_blocks[] = 'core/separator';
	}

	return $hooked_blocks;
}
add_filter( 'hooked_block_types', 'insert_separators_before_headings', 10, 4 );

function set_separator_block_inner_html( $hooked_block, $hooked_block_type, $relative_position, $anchor_block ) {
	if (
		( $anchor_block['blockName'] === 'core/heading' && 'before' === $relative_position ) ||
		( $anchor_block['blockName'] === 'core/block' && 'last_child' === $relative_position )
	) {
        $hooked_block['innerContent'] = array( '<hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/>' );
	}

	return $hooked_block;
}
add_filter( 'hooked_block_core/separator', 'set_separator_block_inner_html', 10, 4 );

• Create a new post that contains one heading and one paragraph of text.
• Select those two blocks. From the block toolbar's three-horizontal-dots menu, select "Create Pattern".
• Give the pattern a name you'll easily remember. Keep the "Synced" toggle on.
• Save that post, and view it on the frontend. Keep it open in a tab.
• Activate the plugin.
• Go back to the tab with the post (on the frontend). Reload.
• Verify that before the heading, a separator (i.e. a horizontal line) has been inserted.
• Also verify that another separator has been inserted as the synced pattern's last child block (i.e. after the paragraph block).
• Open the post in the editor, and verify that the separators are also present there.
• Click on the synced pattern, and from its block toolbar, select "Edit original".
• Modify the separators -- e.g. move one around and remove the other. Save the synced pattern.
• Reload the post on the frontend again. Verify that the changes you made in the editor are respected.

Screenshots or screencast

[github-actions]

Flaky tests detected in 256ebad.
Some tests passed with failed attempts. The failures may not be related to this commit but are still reported for visibility. See the documentation for more information.

🔍 Workflow run URL: https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/actions/runs/12378234118
📝 Reported issues:

• [Flaky Test] submenu click on the arrow interactions #61884 in /test/e2e/specs/editor/blocks/navigation-frontend-interactivity.spec.js

[ockham]

Turns out that synced patterns don't have rendered content set, so I had to loosen the criterion here.

[github-actions]

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Co-authored-by: ockham <bernhard-reiter@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: gziolo <gziolo@git.wordpress.org>

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[gziolo]

It isn't that much code to support Synced Patterns. Code looks good and it's similar to what I saw for other similar blocks updated recently. I will give it a round of testing next.

[gziolo]

Makes perfect sense together with other changes 👍🏻

[gziolo]

It works like a charm! So great to see all these enhancements 💯

[gziolo]

I couldn't find a better place, so I will ask here. How feasible would it be to move the logic to apply_block_hooks_to_content in WordPress core? A very similar logic exists now in a few places. As the helper function gets the current post object as param, it should be able to handle everything as it happens inside the rest_pre_insert_{$post_type} filter.

[ockham]

Hah, I just had a similar thought yesterday!

I'll need to check if we can really absorb this logic into apply_block_hooks_to_content. Note that templates and template parts are still handled quite differently from posts, synced patterns, and navigation blocks:

1. They're instances of the WP_Block_Template class rather than WP_Post.
2. While first/last child insertion is implemented for template parts, it is not implemented for templates. (The reason is that there is a Template Part block, core/template-part, that can be used as an anchor block; but of course, there's no Template block, so it cannot be used as an anchor block for Block Hooks.)
3. I need to think a bit more about patterns.

Anyway, I'll file a ticket for this and will look into it in January 😊

[gziolo]

They're instances of the WP_Block_Template class rather than WP_Post.

I missed the nuance of the templates. Anyway, it could still be context-based, so the additional logic would only run if the WP_Post instance is provided.

[ockham]

Anyway, I'll file a ticket for this and will look into it in January 😊

https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62716

[ockham]

PR (WIP): #68926