Plugin Insert Variables

[aRMY83]

I just noticed this the other day when trying to modify one of my small plugins and it seems that now the only place I can insert a variable is in the Javascript Component area.

It was not like this before as I inserted variables either in the Javascript, CSS or Headers/Footers > Saved Changes with no problems.

[Pebble]

You can still use variables in the headers & footers. ( I could last time I tried it )
If you need to use a variable for CSS, you can just add it to your header inside style tags.

[aRMY83]

Dec 26, 2014 8:37:38 GMT -8 Pebble said:

You can still use variables in the headers & footers. ( I could last time I tried it )
If you need to use a variable for CSS, you can just add it to your header inside style tags.

Hello Pebble

Just tried to insert a variable in the header/footer of a plugin and it just won't do it and as to the CSS in the headers, it won't insert there either.

[Chris]

Specifically what variable are you trying to insert? If it's a variable created by a setting you've added to your own plugin then it definitely should be available in both JS and any headers/footers component. You can easily tell by clicking on a component then looking to the right where it says "Plugin Assistant" to see all the insertable variables associated with that particular plugin.

SPOILER: Click to show

If you are referring to system variables (the kind you use in layout templates) then as Pebbles stated it has traditionally only been available in the headers/footers sections. Keep in mind that headers/footers are interpreted as HTML so if you want to add CSS or JavaScript then you would need to wrap them in their appropriate HTML tags
<style type="text/css">
CSS-RULES-GO-HERE (with backend variable parsing)
</style>

<script type="text/javascript">
JAVASCRIPT-CODING-GOES-HERE (with backend variable parsing)
</script>


Also keep in mind that system variables are for the most part context-sensitive, so a variable that holds the number of visitors in the last 24 hours may not be available on a page that has no need for that information, or more precisely has no requirement in its layout for that variable's information. There are only a few variables that can be accessed from anywhere (e.g. route, current_user) so that might be a factor in why it might not be working for you but without knowing specifically what variable is being used and on which page then it is all just a big guessing game.

[aRMY83]

Hello Chris

Thanks for the input, however some of that input is way over my head. Here is a simple Global Header HTML I created long ago, or should I say, to see if I could get the hang of creating my own plugin:

Global Header HTML:

SPOILER: Click to show

<div class="container">
<div class="title-bar"><div align="$[plugin.settings.align]"><h2>$[plugin.settings.title]</h2></div></div>
<div class="content pad-all">
<center><span id="d_t" style="font: $[plugin.settings.font_style]; color: #$[plugin.settings.font_color]; font-weight: $[plugin.settings.font_weight];"></span></center>
</div>
</div>

and this is the variables: (image)



I was in the process of creating a new plugin and came across the problem of inserting a variable to it with no results.

Just to note, in the early V5 Testing, I had no problems with creating some very small plugins, but now, nothing seems to work with inserting any type of variable with the exception of the javascript area.

[Pebble]

I just went and tested this out and indeed, you can't add the variables on the right to the header / footer section. ( adding them to the CSS part is not meant to work ).This bug was found maybe a month ago and was going to be sorted out but maybe they haven't got round to it yet, or it broke again.

I'll tag David Clark for you as he may know something about it... 

EDIT: Or maybe Tim Camara would know.... Or maybe both!

[aRMY83]

Well that explains it then and thanks much for tagging David and Tim.

[Chris]

Thanks aRMY83 and Pebble for noticing that. I generally code with an external editor using the list only as a reference so never noticed that insertion had stopped working.

@developers, I traced the problem to the fact that the .CodeMirror-textarea for the headers/footers are missing their content-html class, so an error occurs specifically in this line:

// ---------------------------------------------- //
// Assistant Insert Button
// ---------------------------------------------- //

var insertVariables = function (e) {
	// Make sure there is an active text area and selection.
	if (!lastSelected || !lastTextArea) {
		proboards.error('Select a variable from the plugin assistant and click somewhere in a code box to insert.');
		return;
	}

	// Assemble the parts for the template variable.
	var varType = lastSelected.parent('ul').attr('class');
	if (varType === 'variables')
		varType = 'settings';
	if ($.inArray(varType, ['images', 'settings', 'keys']) === -1)
		varType = 'images';

	var contentType = $(lastTextArea).attr('class').match(/content\-(\w+)/)[1];
	var identifier = $.trim(lastSelected.html());

	// Nothing can be inserted into CSS, and keys can only be inserted into javascript
	if (contentType === 'css')
		return;

	var variable;
	// Set the variable according to content type (js or html)
	if (contentType === 'html' && varType != 'keys') {
		variable = '$[plugin.' + varType + '.' + identifier + ']';
	} else if (contentType === 'js' || varType == 'keys') {
		var code_name = $('#plugin-editor input[name="code_name"]').val();
		variable = 'pb.plugin.' + (varType === 'keys' ? 'key(\'' + identifier + '\').get()' : 'get(\'' + code_name + '\').' + varType + '.' + identifier + '');
	}
	// Replace the selection with the template variable.
	lastTextArea.data('editor').replaceSelection(variable);

	// For the insert button, deselect the item
	if ($(this).is('button')) {
		lastSelected.removeClass('selected');
		lastSelected = null;
	}
	// For the items themselves, leave them hilighted
	else {
		e.preventDefault();
	}
};

Firefox 34.0.5

[Tim Camara]

Thanks for the assist Chris. Added to our bug list, and since it should be straightforward to fix, I'd expect it done sometime this week.

[aRMY83]

Hello David Clark or Tim Camara

Would you by chance have an idea when this bug will be resolved?

[David Clark]

No idea of an ETA just yet, aRMY83, but I'm happy to inquire with Tim on Monday about where we are on this one. I've made a note to do so

[aRMY83]

Thanks David Clark for the rapid response and will be looking forward to a fix for this.

[aRMY83]

Hello again David Clark

Just realized for the headers/footers, I can place these Variable ID's, as an example:

$[plugin.settings.align]

$[plugin.settings.title]

$[plugin.settings.font_style]

$[plugin.settings.font_color]

$[plugin.settings.font_weight]

in the appropriate area of the plugin I'm working on for now.

[Chris]

That is likely the reason it hasn't received any special priority like the theme storage capacity bug for instance aRMY83. The misbehaving feature simply does what you yourself could probably do by hand so would not (in my opinion) be triaged and place above more pressing matters. The confusion factor to newcomers on the plugin scene might lend it a bit of weight but like Pebble said it was first discovered over a month ago yet I knew nothing about it mainly because I rarely use that feature and I, in fact, thought you were discussing the rendering side of things instead of the insertion side when I first saw this thread (e.g "inserted but doesn't work as expected").

It used to be that only keys were insertable in the JS component through the UI but that silly restriction was later rectified as you can see from the posted code (although it still bears the now incorrect comment: "Nothing can be inserted into CSS, and keys can only be inserted into javascript"). One could always insert variables into the Javascript component manually in the form: pb.plugin.get('PLUGIN_ID').settings.VARIABLE_ID

[aRMY83]

As always Chris, thanks for the information.