Support for Drupal 7 is ending on 5 January 2025—it’s time to migrate to Drupal 10! Learn about the many benefits of Drupal 10 and find migration tools in our resource center.Have we considered the merits of using javascript to enhance the existing server-side validation of modules' dependencies?
Here's an initial take on how we could do this. We pass modules' dependency data to the browser as a setting. When a module is enabled, we also enable any modules it depends on (and any modules that that dependency depends on, etc.) and set the dependencies to disabled (so they can't be unchecked). When a module is disabled, we check its dependencies and, if they have no remaining dependent modules that are checked, reenable them so they can be unchecked if desired.
The main advantages are potentially saving some back and forth to the server and improving the visual display of dependencies.
Would we also need to change the existing messages about what dependencies are and are not enabled? I'm not sure. Maybe not, if we consider that this is about what is already saved, not what is currently being edited.
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| #22 | 107038-javascript-module-selection.patch | 3.86 KB | jcnventura |
| #19 | 107038-javascript-module-selection.patch | 3.31 KB | jcnventura |
| #18 | 107038-javascript-module-selection.patch | 1.99 KB | jcnventura |
| #3 | system-module-dependencies-js_1.patch | 4.83 KB | nedjo |
| #1 | system-module-dependencies-js_0.patch | 3.54 KB | nedjo |
Comments
Comment #1
nedjoMinor bugfix: replace underscores with dashes when selecting module checkboxes by id (needed because some modules have underscores in their names, which are replaced by dashes when they're fed through
form_clean_id()).To attempt a clearer summary:
Currently, checkboxes on the modules admin page are disabled selectively to reflect dependencies (a module's checkbox is disabled if any module dependent on it is already activated). This patch adds some client-side functionality:
1. When a module is clicked from unchecked to checked, look at its dependencies. If there are any, ensure they're checked and disable them (because they're now required).
Example:
Taxonomy module is checked, forum and comment are unchecked. User selects forum (dependent on comment and taxonomy). Comment becomes checked, and both comment and taxonomy become disabled.
2. When a module is clicked from checked to unchecked, look at its dependencies. If there are any, see if they have remaining dependent modules that are checked. If not, reenable the checkbox so the dependency can be unchecked by the user (if desired).
Example:
Forum, comment, taxonomy, and taxonomy_access are all checked (comment and taxonomy disabled). Taxonomy has two dependent modules (forum and taxonomy_access) and comment has one (forum). User unchecks forum. Comment will become enabled--it has no further dependencies checked. Taxonomy will remain disabled--it still has its taxonomy_access dependent module checked.
Comment #2
dmitrig01 CreditAttribution: dmitrig01 commented+1 from me
If you could re-roll (assuming it doesn't apply :P ), then I would test ;)
Comment #3
nedjoThanks!
Well, here's a quick refresh, compeltely untested I'm afraid. I've attempted to add one thing since the last iteration: if a module is missing, we need to know about that so as not to enable its checkbox.
If you're willing to test this as is, great! If not, let me know and I'll try to test and do any basic bugfixing (from the changes I made in this iteration) first.
Comment #4
chx CreditAttribution: chx commentedThe idea is pretty good but I am a bit afraid of Drupal enabling anything without warning the user. I am not thinking of alert() that's a terrible solution, let's find something better
Comment #5
dmitrig01 CreditAttribution: dmitrig01 commentedWe could flash something in $messages.
But that would probably be for a separate patch...
Comment #6
catchNo longer applies and bumping to D6.
Comment #7
starbow CreditAttribution: starbow commentedSubscribe
Comment #8
sunI'll probably add qamodules module's feature to Drupal Administration Menu in the meanwhile, see #270547: Add Quick Admin modules feature.
Comment #10
meba CreditAttribution: meba commentedI was looking for this feature and luckily found this issue.
I think it may be more simple - When you disable a module1 which depends on module2, enable the checkbox for module2 so it can be disabled in the same step...
Comment #11
babbage CreditAttribution: babbage commentedThe code to achieve this is now working for 6.x in Contrib Toggle module:
http://drupal.org/project/contrib_toggle
I am happy to port this code to 7.x and will look at this issue.
Comment #12
babbage CreditAttribution: babbage commentedImplementation of this will require another patch along the lines described in #114546: Confirmation alerts done with JS/AJAX (delete confirmation page and any others). I would propose the best approach is to prompt the user for confirmation when due to an activation or deactivation of a module, other modules now need to be activated or deactivated due to dependencies. To do this without submitting the form (as is done in Contrib Toggle) requires a javascript confirmation dialog, however, and an infrastructure for that in core would be required to do a good job of that.
Comment #13
seutje CreditAttribution: seutje commentedhow about modals, on by default with and option to turn into regular js alert/confirmation boxes?
Comment #14
chx CreditAttribution: chx commentedtagging
Comment #15
mlncn CreditAttribution: mlncn commentedCan this still go in? Came here by way of Starbow's module Quick Admin Modules, which seems to be the simplest base to be working in D6.
Comment #16
chx CreditAttribution: chx commentedI am fairly sure this can and needs to get in and also probably JS states now helps it a lot.
Comment #17
babbage CreditAttribution: babbage commentedJavaScript States system: #557272: FAPI: JavaScript States system
Also, while I may still work on this I'm more than happy for someone else to do this too, so unassigning it from myself.
Comment #18
jcnventura CreditAttribution: jcnventura commentedI've got it running fine using the Javascript states, with the only problem being that Drupal doesn't deactivate the modules which are required by others.
Comment #19
jcnventura CreditAttribution: jcnventura commentedImproved version which disables the module selection checkbox for a given module when:
1) one of the modules that it depends on is not checked, and
2) any of the modules that requires it is checked.
The problem is that $form_state['values']['modules'] is passed to system_modules_submit() with the wrong info for disabled modules. I think this may be a bug with form processing that is going to cause some problems with the #states processing stuff.
Comment #21
jcnventura CreditAttribution: jcnventura commentedThere's is a catch-22 in here... Imagine 2 modules where mod A requires mod B.
A) If mods A and B are enabled, Drupal will mark mod B disabled. In order to disable both of them in a single operation, that 'disabled' attribute must be reverted. So we need to change the local 'enabled' state.
B) If mods A and B are disabled, when trying to enable both at the same time, the states logic will mark mod B disabled, and by #335035: drupalPost() incorrectly submits input for disabled elements the input for mod B is not transmitted in the $_POST data. We would need to use the 'readonly' attribute for that, but we can't do that because of point A. Besides, readonly seems not to work properly in Firefox at least.
C) If mod A is disabled and mod B is enabled, enabling A or disabling B will be successful, but that worked fine without states anyway.
So, either Drupal submits data for disabled inputs in this case or I am afraid we'll never get this working with states.
João
Comment #22
jcnventura CreditAttribution: jcnventura commentedStill not much progress. I am calling it quits at this time.. I did document the code a bit better and added a check on distribution-required modules so that they can't be enabled back by the #states logic.
This can probably be done right once the 'readonly' attribute is properly supported for checkboxes in all browsers.
João
Comment #23
sunYes, this is D8 material at this point.
Comment #24
jcnventura CreditAttribution: jcnventura commentedThis is a MAJOR usability annoyance in Drupal, so I would hope that it could be applied before D8. I am thinking about enabling the modules via Javascript in order to circumvent the forms logic that is preventing this from working correctly.
João
Comment #25
lpalgarvio CreditAttribution: lpalgarvio commentedi agree with jcnventura, but since there is already a code-freeze imposed, let's get the module patched for D7 or merged with some other module for now
Comment #26
lpalgarvio CreditAttribution: lpalgarvio commentedbump!
Comment #27
lpalgarvio CreditAttribution: lpalgarvio commented#468208: Allow uninstalling modules with dependents by offering to recursively uninstall their dependents as well.
#937830: support tri-state checkboxes
Comment #28
nod_Alternate solution for this: #1473760: Use data-* to check modules dependencies before submit
Comment #29
nod_With dialogs in core, it should be fairly easy to support it. I'd rather go the data- attribute way than the #states API way, that doesn't really scale to the crazyness of the module page.