RockPageBuilder is here! 🚀🔥

[bernhard]

I'm thrilled to announce the official release of RockPageBuilder, the game-changing tool that's set to transform your web development journey (at least ChatGPT says so ??)! With its brand new drag-and-drop interface RockPageBuilder is your secret weapon for creating outstanding ProcessWire-based websites.

Get a taste of the future of web development by visiting the demo page at https://pagebuilder.baumrock.com/ and exploring the RockPageBuilder documentation at https://www.baumrock.com/en/processwire/modules/rockpagebuilder/docs/

Don't miss out on this exciting opportunity to elevate your web development game. Get ready to rock with RockPageBuilder! ??️

Early Bird Sales until 30.11.
https://www.baumrock.com/processwire/module/rockpagebuilder/

Here is a quick demo video:

And here is how to install it from scratch in under 5 minutes:

Some showcase projects are already in the pipeline ? So be sure to subscribe to https://processwire.rocks/ or to https://www.baumrock.com/rock-monthly/

Have a great weekend!

[maddmac]

This is phenomenal bernhard. Took a quick peek at the demo which looks outstanding.  If I wanted to use with the Bootstrap framework will the front-end editing still work, a little unclear on how that is implemented.

[Gideon So]

This is really impressive. A very nicely done piece of art work. Great job, @bernhard.

Gideon

[Nicolas]

HI @bernhard, this is an awesome addition to the ProcessWire eco system ! Great job ?

I've noticed a little hiccup on this page : https://www.baumrock.com/en/processwire/modules/rockpagebuilder/ in the FAQ section. Clicking on the second question opens the response of the first one.

[teppo]

This looks very tempting!

A few technical questions, if you don't mind:

• Where does RockPageBuilder store the block pages?
• Somewhat related to the previous point, does RockPageBuilder work nicely with secureFiles?
• In your demo I noticed that when you added a block, related files were automatically added to the templates directory. Is this necessary, or is there a way around it?
  • In my case this would be a no-go, due to various reasons — one being security concerns, while another is related to the load balanced setup we use to host sites, where code on each individual machine is practically considered immutable.

Quote

No. RockFrontend must be installed so that RockPageBuilder can automatically load various assets for frontend editing. You can still develop your frontend however and with whatever you like! You can use markup regions. You can use the wireframe framework.

Was just about to ask... ?

[bernhard]

16 minutes ago, teppo said:

This looks very tempting!

Thx. I have not built a single site without it over the last 3 years ? 

16 minutes ago, teppo said:

A few technical questions, if you don't mind:

• Where does RockPageBuilder store the block pages?

Sure! It stores pages under a hidden page in the pagetree that you can show for superusers:

16 minutes ago, teppo said:

Somewhat related to the previous point, does RockPageBuilder work nicely with secureFiles?

I have not tried to be honest, but I don't see a reason why it should not? Could you give me some context to think about it? What would you want to do?

16 minutes ago, teppo said:

In your demo I noticed that when you added a block, related files were automatically added to the templates directory. Is this necessary, or is there a way around it?

• In my case this would be a no-go, due to various reasons — one being security concerns, while another is related to the load balanced setup we use to host sites, where code on each individual machine is practically considered immutable.

 

Well - it depends. Technically you can place those files wherever you want. The module has an API to load those blocks, eg $pagebuilder->loadBlocks('/path/to/dir'); The easiest way to use it is to stick with the defaults, because then everything happens automatically and you don't need to understand the module's inner workings.

The files itself are necessary for it to work, of course - BUT: That does not mean that those files have to be writable by the system on production. You could for example just create those blocks on your dev environment and then just push those files to git and deploy. That's what I'm doing all the time.

You could even disable all migrations if you want. But then you'd have to push your db changes to production manually or create the templates and fields manually, which would be tedious of course.

Technically all blocks are just custom page classes: Demoblock extends Block extends Page

Does that answer your questions?

1 hour ago, Nicolas said:

I've noticed a little hiccup on this page : https://www.baumrock.com/en/processwire/modules/rockpagebuilder/ in the FAQ section. Clicking on the second question opens the response of the first one.

Thx! That's fixed ? 

[bernhard]

18 hours ago, maddmac said:

This is phenomenal bernhard. Took a quick peek at the demo which looks outstanding.  If I wanted to use with the Bootstrap framework will the front-end editing still work, a little unclear on how that is implemented.

Sure! RockPageBuilder works with any framework or without any framework. All the parts that have to work everywhere are custom built, for example the UI on hover (which uses RockFrontend's ALFRED) and also the drag and drop sortable feature.

Check out this section in the installation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulImisUs7zQ&t=362s

[gornycreative]

Congratulations! I think this will definitely fill a niche for certain site builders.

I entirely agree with your reasoning for building it. I myself have rotated folks back to more of a Pagelines page creation philosophy. They made some pretty weird business choices that hopefully we all can avoid.

When I was still building more WP sites folks did appreciate Pagelines block a LOT - way less frustrating that having to twist a bunch of knobs and dials on every page and pray things looked the same across the site.

[teppo]

2 hours ago, bernhard said:

I have not tried to be honest, but I don't see a reason why it should not? Could you give me some context to think about it? What would you want to do?

Files are secured if they are on a page that is not viewable by general public, and — as far as I remember correctly — the core has some Repeater specific checks for file permissions, since Repeater pages live outside the normally viewable part of the site. If I use a RockPageBuilder field on a page that is publicly viewable, the files should be all available as well, but if I use it on a page that is not available for a public, those files should only be available for users with access to that specific page (via template access settings, hooks, etc.)

RockPageBuilder sounds like it could be a good solution for a project I'm starting soon, but this site will have a members only section for logged in users, and thus this is one thing that would need to work "as expected".

2 hours ago, bernhard said:

Technically you can place those files wherever you want. The module has an API to load those blocks, eg $pagebuilder->loadBlocks('/path/to/dir'); The easiest way to use it is to stick with the defaults, because then everything happens automatically and you don't need to understand the module's inner workings.

Makes sense. Loosening the permissions a bit in development doesn't sound too bad, and the API option sounds like a reasonable fallback ?

[bernhard]

2 minutes ago, teppo said:

Files are secured if they are on a page that is not viewable by general public, and — as far as I remember correctly — the core has some Repeater specific checks for file permissions, since Repeater pages live outside the normally viewable part of the site. If I use a RockPageBuilder field on a page that is publicly viewable, the files should be all available as well, but if I use it on a page that is not available for a public, those files should only be available for users with access to that specific page (via template, hooks, etc.)

RockPageBuilder sounds like it could be a good solution for a project I'm starting soon, but this site will have a members only section for logged in users, and thus this is one thing that would need to work "as expected".

As far as I understand pagefileSecure makes PW serve ALL pagefiles via PHP and not directly from apache, right? So I'm quite sure whatever you need should be doable with some hooks. I'm also quite sure that it will not work "as expected" by default, as this is a use case that I definitely did not into account. ? 

[Stefanowitsch]

As one of the earliest RockPageBuilder users (I think you can say so) I have to admit that this is my go-to module since day one.

If you liked the RepeaterMatrix module for building pages you will absolutely love this one. In my opinion it is far superior and the frontend editing possibilities seem to be the "missing link" that developers & designers were always looking for.

I made around 7 websites with this tool (small and medium in scale) and I definitely will showcase some of them as this module is finally released ?

 

[Jon]

I seem to have an issue adding blocks, which I believe relates to my site directory being in sub-folders. The site is hosted at domain.com/client/site when I try and add a block, the following URL is being used domain.com/rpb-create-block/?field=rockpagebuilder_blocks&name=demo

Any ideas?

 

[bernhard]

Hey @Jon sorry for the issue - didn't think of subfolder installations!

Can you try to change this in InputfieldRockPageBuilder.js:351

// from this
$.get("/rpb-create-block/?field=" + field + "&name=" + name)

// to that
$.get(RockFrontend.rootUrl + "rpb-create-block/?field=" + field + "&name=" + name)

 

[Jon]

7 minutes ago, bernhard said:

Hey @Jon sorry for the issue - didn't think of subfolder installations!

Can you try to change this in InputfieldRockPageBuilder.js:351

// from this
$.get("/rpb-create-block/?field=" + field + "&name=" + name)

// to that
$.get(RockFrontend.rootUrl + "rpb-create-block/?field=" + field + "&name=" + name)

 

Perfect thanks ?

[bernhard]

@Jon does it fix your issue? Then I'll push this fix to the main branch ? Let me know if you find any other issues with subfolders - but I hope there are none of course ? 

[Jon]

Fixed the issue perfectly thank you

The only other issue I have is Alfred not loading on the homepage of an existing site I've adding RockBuilder to, loads and works on all other pages just not the home page. Tested on a fresh install which worked as expected. So something within my site

[bernhard]

Thx @Jon just pushed release v4.7.1 with the fix ready for everybody to download ? 

2 minutes ago, Jon said:

The only other issue I have is Alfred not loading on the homepage of an existing site I've adding RockBuilder to, loads and works on all other pages just not the home page. Tested on a fresh install which worked as expected. So something within my site

Hm. Maybe a permission issue? Check if your user has the rockfrontend-alfred permission on the home template

[Jon]

Brilliant thanks Ill grab that now ? 

Permissions look ok. Just appears jQuery isn't loaded
 

[bernhard]

Could you please create a new topic if you need further help, thx ? 

[maddmac]

On 11/4/2023 at 6:28 AM, bernhard said:

Sure! RockPageBuilder works with any framework or without any framework. All the parts that have to work everywhere are custom built, for example the UI on hover (which uses RockFrontend's ALFRED) and also the drag and drop sortable feature.

Check out this section in the installation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulImisUs7zQ&t=362s

I took a look at this video, but I am still a little unclear regarding the replacing the framework, if I were to add Bootstrap for example could I use my own blocks and still have front end editing features? Also what if we have custom repeater elements, could those be used as custom blocks?

[bernhard]

Hey @maddmac thx for your question!

On 11/29/2023 at 6:05 AM, maddmac said:

but I am still a little unclear regarding the replacing the framework, if I were to add Bootstrap for example could I use my own blocks and still have front end editing features?

Sure! That's the idea and the main benefit of RockPageBuilder compared to RepeaterMatrix where you'd have to build all that on your own!

I built the frontend UI in a way that it works with any CSS framework or without any framework at all. The example blocks are UIkit, but you can convert that to any markup you want.

On 11/29/2023 at 6:05 AM, maddmac said:

Also what if we have custom repeater elements, could those be used as custom blocks?

I don't understand that part. What exactly do you mean?

[bernhard]

PS: Last chance to get RockPageBuilder with huge discounts of up to -30% until today 23:59:59 CET (Vienna) ? 

[bernhard]

This feedback is so great, I have to share it with you ?

On 1/31/2024 at 5:36 AM, FireWire said:

Alright- so I'm just starting the first project that I'm using RockPageBuilder on and I really like this! I haven't had a chance to dive in before now, so just getting to spend time with it. It's intuitive and easy to use.

I love the way you have blocks organized in the templates folder with a class that handles the settings and migrations with the separate view file. I use PW's custom page classes and it feels really natural to work with a data class separate from the view. The way it's so modular is something that I know will come in handy because I was approached by someone who doesn't do web development but has clients ask him for simple sites- the kind that you just can't spend any time on because they aren't worth it (really, no room to make any money). This may come in handy because he was just asking me for help.

I know I've gone on long posts about page builders before, but I've come to really recognize the difference between what people are forced to use with things like WP plugins and what RPB is. They say that their plugin is a "page builder", but they're really a page designer and that's their fatal mistake. I think your module makes a pure and important distinction between the two.

Thx so much @FireWire and thanks for brilliant fluency module!!

Just pushed v5.2 to the main branch!

[sebibu]

Good morning @bernhard,

thx for creating RockPageBuilder! Now I finally have the first real project to work and playing around with it.☺️

If you don't already have this features on your roadmap, I would love to see them added:

1. Cut/Copy and paste blocks between fields from type RockPageBuilder.
2. Persist content (i.e. blocks) when changing the template of a page
   and asking where to paste content if there are fields missing in the new template (for example changing from 3 column-template to 2 column-template.

I can imagine that this is not so easy to implement.
In my opinion, however, the functions would be of great added value, especially for large websites with a lot of content.

Cheers
Sebastian

[bernhard]

Hi @sebibu thx for your message!

1 minute ago, sebibu said:

Cut/Copy and paste blocks between fields from type RockPageBuilder.

That has been on my wishlist for a long time ? The API is already there, only the UI is not and I'm not sure what the best implementation would look like. I could think of either a copy&paste feature (similar to what we have in regular repeaters) or a move/copy icon in the top right where you can select another block. I think copy&paste would be easier overall?

3 minutes ago, sebibu said:

Persist content (i.e. blocks) when changing the template of a page
and asking where to paste content if there are fields missing in the new template (for example changing from 3 column-template to 2 column-template.

Could you please explain the exact use case? I've never had that need myself.