Using PW variables in descriptions and notes

[adrian]

Would anyone else like to see the ability to make use of PW variables to build up dynamic descriptions and notes for fields?

This is a very simplistic example and not that useful, but I do have some use cases where the ability to do something like this would be very handy:

$f->description = __('Please make sure you fill out this field based on the content of the {page.parent.title} summary field.');

As I said - a bad example, but I think this could be a powerful addition in some scenarios.

[bernhard]

sometimes i wished the descriptions support html for linking to something. if it supported html+php we could combine both:

eg ...based on the content of <a href="<?php echo $page->parent->url; ?>"><?php echo $page->parent->title; ?></a>'s summary field...

but i have absolutely no idea how much effort/overhead that would be

[LostKobrakai]

You can link by using markdown [my-link](http://processwire.com). But be aware, it's not a full-blown markdown parser, which does this job, so other syntax might or might not work. 

About the overhead. Ryan did mention somewhere, when someone asked about better markdown support, that that would be a performance hit, so I'm not sure if it's wise to back notes/descriptions with features. It's really one of those "called everywhere and often" things.

[bernhard]

thank you lostkobrakai, didn't know that possibility

[LostKobrakai]

Even the core does use links in notes, especially for the more documentation-needing features like for example the urlSegment whitelisting. So there needed to be a way to create those.

[bernhard]

this new module could maybe do the job in most cases: https://processwire.com/talk/topic/10804-module-runtimemarkup-fieldtype-inputfield/

[bernhard]

for reference: TagReplacer can do it https://processwire.com/talk/topic/11208-inputfieldtagreplacer/

[adrian]

for reference: TagReplacer can do it https://processwire.com/talk/topic/11208-inputfieldtagreplacer/

Thanks Bernhard - your module looks great. I also put together something for this task myself. I just added it to my gists:

https://gist.github.com/adrianbj/5dc1c00f1617b2639319

It allows you to do something like this in a field's description or notes text: 

[Click Here]({page.parent.url})

This will give you a "Click Here" link to the parent page. Of course you can also use "name", "title", and any other field from the current page, or it's parent, or parent above that.

I haven't needed it yet, but I was thinking it might be nice to be able to do {page[xxxx].parent.title} so you can specify the ID of the page you want to reference. Maybe at some point I'll add that, or if anyone out there would make use of it, let me know and I'll add it sooner.

While not as flexible as your module, it requires no setup so it really depends on what you need.

[adrian]

Just made some changes to the gist.

• It now uses square brackets [ ] and not curly braces {}
   
• It now limits replacements to just description and notes paragraphs
   
• You can now define str_replace $search and $replace like this. In this example I needed the dashes in $page->name replaced with underscores, but you can use however you want.

[page.name.(-|_)]

Not sure that my code/regexes are the cleanest - I needed this is a bit of a rush, but it seems to work well and I am really finding this very useful in many of my fields. I'd definitely be keen on hearing feedback from anyone else who tries it and if you think it warrants being included in the modules directory. I think I will likely use it on most new sites, but maybe it's just me

[Martijn Geerts]

Ryan should consider this to be included in the core I think.

[adrian]

Ryan should consider this to be included in the core I think.

I completely agree - I think it would be more targeted and efficient that way, although I am guessing he probably won't want to bother with the str_replace option I just introduced. My need for that is probably an edge case though

[Martijn Geerts]

I agree and we should not need a hook for that.

[Martijn Geerts]

I would also love to see the ability of using unordered and ordered lists.