Modular page with reordering and code reuse

[microcipcip]

Is there a way in ProcessWire of building single pages made of several draggable sections? For example, let's suppose that I am building the homepage and I want to have a banner section twice, a content area three times, and a testimonial section once, and a contact form at the end.

My understanding of ProcessWire is that everything is a page, so I guess that these "Sections" in the ProcessWire world would be just pages with a specific template that are not browsable by default. Is this correct, or is there any other way of building something like this?

Basically what I am looking for is a functionality like SilverStripe Blocks: https://github.com/sheadawson/silverstripe-blocks 

[louisstephens]

As everyone else has stated, The repeater Matrix has a much better UX than page tables.  You can rearrange sections and add multiple "blocks" of the same template to the table. I have just started testing it, and so far I am enjoying it. 

 

[LostKobrakai]

You can certainly do it using page tables or the profield matrix, but often people don't like the UX of those fields to much for this use case. But it's the best we've got for that kind of content – and seeing that silverstripe UI I think it's not so much a problem for you.

[Robin S]

15 minutes ago, louisstephens said:

https://processwire.com/api/modules/profields/table/

http://modules.processwire.com/modules/profields-table/

Those links are for Profields Table, which is a different thing than PageTable.

PageTable is an installable module in the core but there's no formal documentation for it. Repeater Matrix has a friendlier UI in that you can see all your content in Page Edit without having to open modals for each 'block'.

[louisstephens]

Just now, Robin S said:

Those links are for Profields Table, which is a different thing than PageTable.

PageTable is an installable module in the core but there's no formal documentation for it. Repeater Matrix has a friendlier UI in that you can see all your content in Page Edit without having to open modals for each 'block'.

@Robin S, you are correct about that. I was just editing my response as I copied the wrong links out of text file when I was posting my response. My apologies, I am going to go back and edit my response.

[microcipcip]

Thanks a lot everyone :). It seems that PageTable field type is what I was looking for. It amaze me so much that it is included in the core, just a click away
The Repeater Matrix looks amazing but I haven't got the budget yet to buy the proModules, although I can't wait to try them out, expecially the FormBuilder seems a huge timesaver!

I have few questions regarding the PageTable field type.

• Is it possible to hide from the user (in the page tree) the folder I use for containg the PageTable sections? It seems that if I restrict access to the containing template the user can't add new pages anymore.
• How do I prevent PageTable sections from being accessibile in the front end? Should I just unpublish the containing folder and I should still be able to fetch the data right?

[Robin S]

7 minutes ago, microcipcip said:

• Is it possible to hide from the user (in the page tree) the folder I use for containg the PageTable sections? It seems that if I restrict access to the containing template the user can't add new pages anymore.
• How do I prevent PageTable sections from being accessibile in the front end? Should I just unpublish the containing folder and I should still be able to fetch the data right?

The solution to both of these is to create a parent for your PageTable pages under the Admin branch of the tree.

Edit: actually, that doesn't deal with the second question, but this thread has some techniques for disallowing direct access to a page:

 

[microcipcip]

I created a "editor" role with this access (see attachement) but I get the error in the second attachment

[Robin S]

2 minutes ago, microcipcip said:

I created a "editor" role with this access (see attachement) but I get the error in the second attachment

The parent of the PageTable pages must use a template that the editor has "add children" permission for.

[microcipcip]

Now it works! Thanks a lot! ProcessWire is amazing