Update blocks categories

[fullofcaffeine]

Changes proposed in this Pull Request:

• Update the category names for relevant blocks in block-experiments.
• Adds a helper function that is used to safely update category names while still supporting old environments

Related PRs

• Jetpack blocks: Update blocks categories jetpack#16363
• FSE blocks (wp-calypso): FSE: Update blocks categories wp-calypso#43670
• wpcom-blocks: https://github.com/Automattic/wpcom-blocks/pull/178

Testing instructions:

Atomated tests

• yarn test

To manually test the changes

1. Setup a local Wordpress instance (i.e by using wp-env)
2. Follow the instructions to build block-experiments in its README
3. Symlink or move it to the plugins folder of your WP instance
4. Activate the plugin
5. Profit

Categories

• Keep a8c/bauhaus-centenary in widgets

• Keep a8c/event in widgets
• Change jetpack/layout-grid from layout -> design
• Change jetpack/layout-grid-column from layout -> design
• Keep a8c/motion-background-container in widgets
• Keep a8c/starscape in widgets
• Keep a8c/waves in widgets

Note: If this PR gets approved and merged, then I'll remove the helper function and tests from here (including the installation/configuration of jest).

[sirreal]

Thanks @fullofcaffeine!

I left some notes suggesting ways that we can apparently align more with this project's setup. I say "apparently" because I'm not familiar with this project myself 🙂

[WunderBart]

Tested with pre- & post-category-update Gutenberg versions - Layout Grid blocks appear under correct categories. Thanks!

[sirreal]

I left one suggestion. With this already approved by @WunderBart's, let's get this shipped! 🚀

[sirreal]

We could probably do with a bit less indirection here 🙂

Effectively, we have _helpers proxied to _helpers/helpers.js by way of _helpers/index.js. I appreciate re-exporting small, related modules from an index file, but this seems like YAGNI.

I'd propose these alternatives we put the contents of blocks/_helpers/helpers.js directly in blocks/_helpers.js and remove directory (YAGNI, this is simplest).

[fullofcaffeine]

Yeah, good points 👍

[johngodley]

supporting old environments

I'm not sure of the context to this change, but what old environment is this referring to?

[sirreal]

I'm not sure of the context to this change, but what old environment is this referring to?

@johngodley Gutenberg 8.3 removes some block categories and introduces some new ones. There is some built-in handling that maps legacy categories to new ones (blocks using older categories won't break), there is no protection in the other direction (blocks using new categories either without Gutenberg installed or with an out-of-date version will break).

The purpose of this change is to define the category for each block in both contexts, whether new categories or old categories are present.

The "old environment" refers to:

• WordPress < 5.5 without Gutenberg installed.
• Any site running Gutenberg < 8.3.

[johngodley]

Thanks. If it makes things easier we can tie the release of this to minimum WP 5.5?

[sirreal]

I'm not familiar with this project, but I don't think it's necessary to wait. There's a relatively straightforward helper function added.

I think this can move ahead without restricting the version to WP 5.5 unless you disagree.

[johngodley]

The plugin gets bundled up for .org and for .com, and this change will require modifying that bundling process to also include the helper file (sadly it's in a different location).

This isn't a problem as such. However we don't really need a lot of backwards compatibility, and we generally set the minimum to the latest version of WP. We'll do this for some upcoming changes anyway.

Based on what you said about WP 5.5 we could simplify the change to a straight layout => design swap, drop the helpers, and bump the minimum. Once 5.5 is on .com and Atomic we can merge and use the new category.

Happy to go either way though.

[sirreal]

What's the timeline like for a WP 5.5–only release? I'd be happy to drop the legacy category handling and just update to the new categories. Would you take over merging this when appropriate for that release?

[johngodley]

WP 5.5 seems scheduled for 11th August. In terms of the layout grid we'll be releasing a minor fix in the next day or two (1.2.4), and a more substantial release in the next week or two (1.3). Both of these should make it out before WP 5.5.

There's a big release coming up (1.4), which will be ready after 5.5 is released, and will definitely require 5.5 as a minimum.

In the meantime, assuming that the existing category continues to work with 5.5, then I can include this PR as part of the bigger 1.4 release.

If something does happen in the meantime then we can just include this PR anyway.

[sirreal]

I'm happy to let you decide when the tradeoffs to land this sooner or later make the most sense for this project.

[fullofcaffeine]

Should we abandon this PR?

[johngodley]

Yeah, sorry, Layout Grid 1.3 hasn't been released yet so this was left untouched.

Based on the above conversation, and that 5.5 is now released, I don't think we need the back-compat helpers anymore and as such I'll close this PR.

I'll ensure that the category changes is applied to all the blocks in this repo, and they'll be included in the next releases. I'll also bump the minimum supported WP to 5.5.