operationsProposal.md

#273: @nkovalenko-sc creates a CRUD, where some instances are editable, and some are not. He wants to show View button instead of Edit based on instance fields. This is not possible with current editor.

Subject: buttons!

Search view:

• instance operations:
  • View, Edit, Delete
  • custom operations - a button to navigate to some view with some state
  • external operations - a button to invoke random function
• bulk operations:
  • Delete all
• toolbar:
  • Create

Show, Edit, Create views:

• instance operations at the bottom
• toolbar: go to previous, go to next buttons

History of use cases

• need custom operations - buttons which allow to navigate to a view with certain state.

  Examples: Duplicate (create view with predefined fields), Create Child (create with predefined parent contract).

  Solution: add feature customOperations - defined in model

• need external operations - buttons which allow to invoke random functions.

  Examples: external link to any URL.

  Solution: add feature externalOperations - defined in props

• need to disable Delete button based on instance object - provide a function like (instance) => ({ delete: { disabled: <boolean> } }) to disable Delete` button.

  Examples: some instances cannot be deleted.

  Solution: add feature standardOperations - defined in model. IMO application scope permissions, but we do it inside crud.

  model.ui.VIEW_NAME.standardOperations: {
    'delete': instance => ({
      disabled: true/false
    })
  }
  

  A note about standardOperations: here we try to create per-instance permissions (we decide if user can delete or not). This is not a UI concern; disabled here means forbidden, we don't hide a button entirely only because we don't want to make uneven layout.

  Not implemented use cases

  • provide possibility to disable and/or hide any button based on some condition (current instance, or current user permissions in application)
  • provide possibility to change order of buttons
  • provide possibility to call Confirmation dialog upon some condition in order to confirm an action

Back to issue #273: @nkovalenko-sc creates a CRUD, where some instances are editable, and some are not. He wants to show View button instead of Edit based on instance fields. This is not possible with current editor.

Currently we have permissions in model:

permissions: {
  crudOperations: {
    create: true,
    edit: true,
    delete: true,
    view: true
  }
}

If edit === true we show Edit button. Otherwise we show View button instead of Edit (opinionated restriction). It is impossible to show both View and Edit, or to show different button based on instance: permissions are editor-wide.

IMO it should be decided by application - what to show based on its permissions and business logic.

Proposal

We can remove permissions and combine customOperations, externalOperations, standardOperations into a single point of configuration, and provide a possibility for developers to extend editor the way they want to.

Say, in a model we define a function:

model.operations = ({
  view: { name, state }, // current view data
  instance, // if applicable
  onSave, // standard handler called when you try to update instance 
  ...other standard buttons handlers
  requestViewChange, // a function used to navigate to { view, state }, to support customOperations use cases
  showConfirmDialog, // a function which renders confirm dialog if needed
  Button, // standard button component for current view with proper styles and usable interface - so that developer doesn't need to implement a button from scratch
  defaultViewButtons: [component, component...] - standard buttons for this view. You can return it as is for no changes, or change order, or delete one of buttons, etc.
  store, // may be pass current Redux store entirely? 
  ...list of params can grow
}) => ({
  instanceOperations: [
    component, // array of buttons to render in place of instance operations
    component,
    component
  ],
  // if `bulkOperations` not returned -> render default ones
  // if you want to delete `bulkOperations` -> pass `null` to render empty thing
})

As a result developer can decide how Editor should behave based on his application's logic, permissions, business details etc.