Plugin support for adding action links to users and comments

[kontrollanten]

Describe the problem to be solved

Spam protection plugins, like the akismet plugin, should have the possibility to mark existing users and comments as spam.

Describe the solution you would like

Possibility to add actions in the following places:

• user list
• comments list
• abuse list
• video comments
• account page

[kontrollanten]

I've started looking into this. It's pretty straight forward adding filters to be able to alter the dropdown action menus, but I got stuck onto two issues:

• When running the handler we'd like to show some kind of loading indicator.
• When the handler is done the view should be reloaded to see the result of the actions (when marking a comment as spam in the comments list, the comments list should be updated).

The first issue may not be a big deal, even though it will impair the UX. But the second issue must be handled in some way to solve this.

What about adding a trigger function to the plugin client API? The API could look like:

triggerAction('video-watch.comment-list.reload');
triggerAction('loading-indicator.load-start');
triggerAction('loading-indicator.load-end');

The triggerAction API may be useful in other cases as well. Any thoughts, @Chocobozzz ?

[kontrollanten]

Ping @Chocobozzz

[Chocobozzz]

Sorry for the late feedback! Seems like a good idea. Do you have an example of other plugin systems that use such a method to ask for the core client to perform actions?

[kontrollanten]

Unfortunately not

[kontrollanten]

Wordpress has something similar.

function example_callback( $arg1, $arg2 ) {
    // (maybe) do something with the args.
}
add_action( 'example_action', 'example_callback', 10, 2 );

/*
 * Trigger the actions by calling the 'example_callback()' function
 * that's hooked onto `example_action` above.
 *
 * - 'example_action' is the action hook.
 * - $arg1 and $arg2 are the additional arguments passed to the callback.
do_action( 'example_action', $arg1, $arg2 )

https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/do_action/

In our case it can be translated to:

video-comments.component.ts

  ngOnInit () {
    addAction('video-watch.comment-list.reload', this.resetVideo)
    ...
  }

  ngOnDestroy () {
    removeAction('video-watch.comment-list.reload')
    ...
  }

plugin.js

const onClickSpamButton = () => {
  deleteComment()
  doAction('video-watch.comment-list.reload')
}

[Chocobozzz]

Seems interesting, plugins would also be able to add actions. I agree with the design!