Great updates for v6.2.3 beta2, including the new Brics API options.
Since you are working on the API, do you think you might be able to add in the coming betas a mechanism in the developers API to merge a brics PHP code to the functions.php or extra-functions.php when exported to a WP theme created with Blocs, and not to have to drop the code directly in the code editor? The PHP file would most likely be a template and with some blocs variable set in the UI.
I’m ready to test it and troubleshoot it with the code that I have already developed.
I’d like to add support for this but it’s a bit more complicated then just pushing the code into the functions file, duplicates and typos etc also need to be considered/handled.
Placing code from a Bric into the theme function file is one thing, handling multiple variants of a Bric all doing the same is another and supporting templates on top of that is when it gets complicated and error prone.
The recent API improvements have been very light and easy to implement and test.
This feature request falls into the more complex bracket and there are a few other items in the complex API improvement list that would be more useful all round. So it’s on the list, but it’s not first inline.
Thanks for the update — I understand your concerns and see where you’re coming from. I’ve been giving this some thought, especially in terms of how it could be implemented for a WordPress theme.
Here are a few ideas, assuming these are treated strictly as WordPress theme extensions:
Global, single-use only
The bric should be global and limited to a single use per project.
In the first iteration, the bric would simply merge its code into the extra-functions.php file, just like adding code via the code editor.
No variables or templates would be included at this stage.
Optional template defaults (second step)
Later, the bric (still global) could set default values into a template.
The code would still only be merged into extra-functions.php once per Blocs project.
This approach keeps the implementation significantly simpler — both within the Blocs API and in the exported WordPress theme. More advanced functionality (e.g., multiple instances, broader customization) should instead be handled as proper WordPress extensions such as plugins or widgets.
Example:
I have a theme widget extension where:
The widget’s code is placed in extra-functions.php.
I add the widget bric onto the page(s) where it’s needed.
Once exported, the widget can be placed in the designated widget areas in WordPress.
The default parameters are fixed, but within WordPress, each widget instance can be customized independently.
Having a bric handle this process would prevent errors caused by users manually pasting code into the editor, since the bric would ensure the code is correctly exported to extra-functions.php.
Finally, to avoid issues, the system should either warn users or prevent them from adding more than one of these “global” brics to a single project.
I’d be happy to discuss this in more detail and explain the immediate use case. Let me know how I can help further.
