Ajaxify list-type screens in the admin

[scribu]

This is the master ticket for my ​GSoC project.

What the patch does:

• makes most columns sortable: #9259
• introduces a new pagination style: #12179
• ajaxifies sortable columns, pagination & search
• provides an API for adding custom list screens: #11517
• replaces WP_User_Search with get_users(): #14123
• removes _wp_get_comment_list() in favor of get_comments(): #14163
• makes bulk actions filterable: #12732
• fixes problems with long URIs: #10762, #11114

The images go in wp-admin/images/

Nice.

Great to see the results of all your summer work as a mega patch.

It might be better to land this as incremental patches which achieve the different goals along the way so that it is easier to see what is changing and why.

Would it be much work to split down into per feature patches?

It wouldn't matter if there was an order in which we had to apply them it would just make it easier to review and commit.

Would it be much work to split down into per feature patches?

Unfortunately, yes. Identifying the bugs that were fixed was a retroactive process.

It might be better to land this as incremental patches which achieve the different goals along the way so that it is easier to see what is changing and why.

You can take a look at my ​commit log to get a sense of what was changed and why.

(In [15491]) Ajaxify list-type screens in the admin. See #14579

Related: #14595.

Awesomesauce.

---

Small things I noticed on first read. Note I only really looked at modified files:

AJAX fetch-list looks like it needs a cap/referer check. Also, die('-1') on insufficient privs, die('0') on failure.

default-list-tables.php -- I'm not sure I like an includes file having a require at the top. Also, should we split these tables up into individual files? Some of these classes are quite large.

template.php, right line 1817, this should be show_ui, not public.

minor style issues: false instead of FALSE, single if statements should not be on one line, we like our semicolons, CSS declarations should not be on one line, etc.

looks like merging turned wp-admin/network/*.php back into ms-*.php a bit.

<br class="clear"> in plugins.php and a few other places.

_wp_search_sql() probably doesn't need to be in functions.php.

Script localization needs the convert entities bit at the end.

jquery.query.js should be minimized. Also, the crunching of admin-table.js looks like it didn't touch local variables, also. munging is fine.

---

General concerns about back compat:

We obviously changed quite a bit of markup, as well as some CSS. Should the old CSS selectors remain, in order not to hurt the styling of old-style tables by plugins?

Renaming the "p" query arg on edit-comments, does that break anything? Is that the URL included in emails? Now it's longer… p should be an alias at least.

Probably need to deprecate, not outright remove, WP_User_Search. I did not carefully read through a lot of the red, so there may be other things we can't get rid of without breaking a lot of plugins.

[15492]

Related: #14596

(In [15494]) Fix network files. See #14579

(In [15495]) Fix ajaxification in network area by using ajaxurl. See #14579

How will custom columns fit into this? Additional hooks for plugins to provide the data to the ajax call?

Replying to jdub:

How will custom columns fit into this? Additional hooks for plugins to provide the data to the ajax call?

You don't need to worry about AJAX at all. See this tutorial:

​Create your own sortable columns

Two small issues I noticed in the Plugins screen, and that I confirmed on two different setups:

• The rows in the Recently Active view do not show any info. See attached screenshot.
• It does not remember the view you were on. E.g., when I am on the Active view and click to deactivate a plugin, it then sends me to the All view.

Recently Active view of Plugins screen

(In [15496]) Introduce WP_List_Table::check_permissions() and WP_List_Table::prepare_items(). Fixes #14596; See #14579

(In [15497]) Fix Comments meta box in post editing screen. See #14579

Replying to demetris:

Two small issues I noticed in the Plugins screen, and that I confirmed on two different setups:

• The rows in the Recently Active view do not show any info. See attached screenshot.

Confirmed.

• It does not remember the view you were on. E.g., when I am on the Active view and click to deactivate a plugin, it then sends me to the All view.

I think this has been fixed in [15496].

Another bug I noticed is that clicking on 'Delete' gives you an 'Are you sure you want to do this?' screen.

Related: #14612

Replying to scribu:

Replying to demetris:

It does not remember the view you were on. E.g., when I am on the Active view and click to deactivate a plugin, it then sends me to the All view.

I think this has been fixed in [15496].

I am still seeing it in r15497. Confirmed on two different setups again. The query strings are like this:

http://example.com/wp-admin/plugins.php?deactivate=true&plugin_status=&paged=

(The plugin_status field has no value.)

network_admin_url(); / admin_url(); stuff

The attached patch fixes the action links for wp-admin/network/sites.php which all mustn't have been sync'ed before you made the commit scribu, anyway, admin_url(); now becomes network_admin_url(); in the above patch! :) All links to the ms-*.php files currently! :(

[15499]

(In [15500]) In WP_Posts_Table, merge _single_row_hierarchical() and _single_row(). Fixes #14089; see #14579

(In [15501]) Safer hierarchical display check. Fixes #14600; See #14579

(In [15504]) introduce WP_List_Table::comments_bubble(); revert to edit-comments.php?p=123. See #14579

Related: #14637

Removal of register_column_headers() breaks popular plugins such as WP E-Commerce and MiniMeta Widget with an E_FATAL

[15510]

i still have a problem on one blog running with trunk.

on dashboard, post screen (..) it says

Fatal Error: Call to undefined method stdClass::get_column_headers() in template.php (/wp-admin/includes)

on plugin screen it works (of course). its sure because of a plugin (i think) but maybe it helps you in trunk / dev a bit..

It would help if you could also figure out which plugin is causing it. Add this code to a file in your mu-plugins folder:

function scb_error_handler($errno, $errstr) {
	echo $errstr;
	
	ob_start();
	debug_print_backtrace();
	$out = explode( "\n#", ob_get_clean());
	$out = array_slice( $out, 1);
	echo '<pre>' . "\n#" . implode( "\n#", $out ) . '</pre>';
}
set_error_handler('scb_error_handler', E_WARNING|E_ERROR|E_RECOVERABLE_ERROR|E_USER_WARNING|E_USER_ERROR);

Then, please post back the displayed backtrace on ​http://wp.pastebin.ca/

Hi Scribu,

sorry i was stupid writing the post above. i figured out which plugin really makes this error (and thx for the function, its greadt!)

it is this plugin:

​http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/download-monitor/

Related: #14651

(In [15518]) use is_a() instead of is_object() in screen_meta(). See #14579

(In [15525]) Fix Recently Active plugins screen. See #14579

[15526]

Realted: #11517

Replying to scribu:

(In [15525]) Fix Recently Active plugins screen. See #14579

r15525 fixed the issue with the Recently View, but it seems that the problem remains for other views.

For example, if you are on the Inactive view and activate a plugin, you are then sent to the All view.

Correction:

s/Recently View/Recently Active/

(In [15527]) On the plugins page, set and at the right time. See #14579

(In [15528]) Introduce get_list_table(). See #14579

(In [15546]) Use return_empty_array instead of create_function. see #14579.

Replying to demetris:

Replying to scribu:

(In [15525]) Fix Recently Active plugins screen. See #14579

r15525 fixed the issue with the Recently Active, but it seems that the problem remains for other views.

For example, if you are on the Inactive view and activate a plugin, you are then sent to the All view.

It seems this is fixed in current trunk (r15550) and now all views are remembered.

A different problem that I’ve been seeing since the beginning is that you cannot navigate between pages in themes.php. (You need more than 15 installed themes to see this.)

(In [15569]) Introduce WP_List_Table::get_items_per_page(). See #14579

(In [15571]) Introduce WP_List_Table::row_actions(). See #14579

(In [15572]) Use get_users() in WP_MS_User_Table. See #14579

(In [15576]) Fix Change Role dropdown. See #14579

(In [15578]) introduce WP_List_Table::views(). See #14579

Replying to demetris:

A different problem that I’ve been seeing since the beginning is that you cannot navigate between pages in themes.php. (You need more than 15 installed themes to see this.)

Page navigation in themes.php works fine now (r15589).

(In [15597]) Fix delete plugin links. See #14579

Thanks for the quick fix.

Another issue that may be related to the ajaxification:

When I try to delete a plugin or theme, in the Connection Information screen the FTP password (saved and remembered by the browser) flashes once and then disappears. So, I have to re-enter it manually.

(This only happens for deleting. When I update themes/plugins everything works fine in the Connection Information screen.)

(In [15602]) Fix MS Sites nonce. See #14579

(In [15603]) Fix MS User search. See #14579

(In [15622]) Add default display_rows() and single_row() methods to WP_List_Table. See #14579

Also see #14776 for a usage example.

(In [15628]) Remove unused edit-*-rows.php files. See #14579

(In [15629]) Extra single_row_columns() out of single_row() for increased flexibility. See #14579

(In [15630]) WP_Comments_Table cleanup:

• use column_*() methods
• remove extra arguments from single_row()
• introduce derived class WP_Post_Comments_Table for handling the post metabox comments
• use $pending_count property instead of $_comment_pending_count global

See #14579

(In [15632]) WP_Terms_Table cleanup:

• use column_*() methods
• remove $taxonomy argument from single_row()
• don't calculate tag full name in admin-ajax.php

See #14579

(In [15633]) Map 'approved' comment view to 'approve' comment status. See #14579

The bottom group of bulk actions in plugins screens has not been working for some time now. I suppose it is something to do with the ajaxification.

I can look and narrow it down to a revision, if needed.

Replying to demetris:

The bottom group of bulk actions in plugins screens has not been working for some time now. I suppose it is something to do with the ajaxification.

I can look and narrow it down to a revision, if needed.

This is because $_REQUESTaction? is never empty as it will either be the bulk action selected (from the top dropdown) or "-1" by default, therefore $_REQUESTaction2? (set by the lower bulk actions dropdown) never gets a chance. See attached patch for fix, change the default value of the bulk actions to be value='0' or alternatively could just be left blank (I think this is the case pre-3.1: value="")

Related: #14927

14579-lower-bulk.diff breaks the bottom bulk actions for posts (and probably in other places).

Working on a patch to make this consistent.

[15642]

Not very detailed as I haven't had time to look into this, but bulk actions (including Empty Trash button) on post type (posts, pages, CPTs) admin pages are not working.

And [15653] introduced a call to the list table get_columns() function in list-table.php line 74 which is before $_screen is instantiated, this raises a notice in the Media library. Just moving that call down a few lines will fix this, don't think it will mess with anything else.

(In [15657]) Remove misplaced code introduced in [15653]. See #14579

(In [15667]) Partially revert [15642]. Fixes Bulk deletion of non-media items. As a bonus, exit on redirects & check the post status is valid before querying it. See #14579

I'm guessing this is related to this ticket.

The behaviour on the 'post type' screens (I'm counting all of the items in the 2nd block of the admin menu) is inconsistent about showing the "Filter" buttons/dropdowns when there are no posts, pages, media items, etc... to display.

For example, if you have no Posts you still see dates/categories filter options and button, but for Media, Pages and CPTs you see just a "Filter" button, for Links you see an empty dropdown and a button, and Comments shows nothing. 3.0.1 shows none of this for any of the pages except comments which shows the dropdowns and buttons.

(In [15748]) Revive WP_User_Search as deprecated. See #14579

Attached patch to remove @ error suppression and use array_key_exists instead.

Generally better to use isset() or empty() checking for keys (depending), unless there's the possibility that a key's value could be null. In this case, we still want to return something.. Though I guess it would be null regardless if it doesn't exist.

Learned something new today :) isset seems to be faster than array_key_exists.

Patch refreshed.

(In [15893]) Use isset() instead of '@'. Props Utkarsh. See #14579

(In [15912]) Make plugin search & order methods, instead of standalone functions. See #14579

(In [15924]) Use row_actions() in WP_Plugins_Table. See #14579

[15925] creates invalid ID values if a directory separator is present in the plugin path

(In [15927]) Revert [15925]. See #14579

Indeed. Besides slashes, there are a lot of other characters which would make the id invalid. Reverted.

MediaWiki has a sanitizer class with ​a method to use on strings before using them as IDs or class names. Maybe borrow from there? (MW is GPLv2, just like WordPress)

We have sanitize_html_class.

Pardon my incomplete research. I have a fondness for those MediaWiki functions because of their past usefulness to me... Next time I'll more thoroughly search WordPress's code before making a suggestion like that.

(In [15939]) Clean list-table.js: when declaring JS object a comma after the last property is invalid, remove unused vars.

(In [15944]) Add sanitized plugin name as id attribute to plugin rows. See #14579

(In [15954]) Shuffle list-table files. First pass. see #14579.

Reworks get_list_table() to conditionally include classes. Introduces require_list_table() to include core classes. Allows for plugins to prefix classes instead of by default forcing them into WP_*_Table.

14579-rework-get_list_table.3.diff:

Rename filter to 'get_list_table' and apply it before calling require_list_table().

(In [15955]) Introduce require_list_table(), rework get_list_table() calls, split default-list-tables into individual files. see #14579.

(In [15956]) Commit the rest of [15955]. see #14579.

(In [15958]) phpdoc for the various list table includes. see #14579.

About 1.86 MB of memory was saved on edit.php by only loading what we needed. As WP_Posts_Table is the largest class (nearly double the size of the next largest), the savings are surely greater on other pages.

(In [15969]) Classes must be defined before they are extended. props PeteMall, see #14579.

(In [15985]) Remove trailing newlines. see #14579.

While loading items, a horizontal scrollbar appears; on all screens.

(In [16108]) Move no_items logic to WP_Comments_Table. See #14579

(In [16109]) WP_List_Table::no_items() consistency fixes. See #14579

(In [16110]) <br/> tags are self-closing. see #14579.

I justed tested a plugin with the latest trunk which I started with WordPress 3.0. It uses a custom post type and the manage_edit-myposttpe_columns filter to modify the columns in the edit screen. This works for the first page, but when I navigate to the second page (ajaxified), the default columns are shown.

I tracked this down to a change in [15956]. $current_screen is used in the constructor of WP_Posts_Table, so it needs to be set before creating the instance of this class. The attached patch fixes this.

Sets $current_screen before creating the instance of WP_Posts_Table

(In [16118]) Set $current_screen before creating list table. Props rovo89. See #14579

(In [16121]) make not_found puctuation translatable. See #14579

I was editing some link categories (debug enabled) and came across the following when trying to "quick edit" a category:
(Rev 16123)

PHP Notice:  Undefined variable: type in \wp-admin\includes\list-table-terms.php on line 344
PHP Notice:  Undefined property: stdClass::$taxonomy in \wp-admin\includes\list-table-terms.php on line 344

These are passed to the quick_edit_custom_box action. I'm not sure what they were supposed to represent - can they be removed altogether?

(In [16125]) Make the class to filename mapping easier to read.
Ensure that we support PHP4 for now by passing references to objects in list tables code.
See #14579.

(In [16127]) Split out the list table functions into a seperate file from the base class.
See #14579.

(In [16128]) The big renaming of the list-table class files.
See #14579

(In [16129]) Group the Network admin List Tables class mapping seperately so they are easier to pick out. See #14435, #14579

solarissmoke - can you open a new ticket?

Replying to nacin: Sure, #15285

(In [16171]) List-table Class Names: Consistency's Revenge. See #14579

(In [16182]) Default to get_current_screen() in list table classes. See #14579

(In [16190]) Minor cleanups. See #14579

(In [16192]) Revert [16182] for comments table. See#14579

(In [16195]) Rename property _screen to screen. See #14579

(In [16212]) Make post column hooks consistent. See #14579

(In [16214]) Clean up WP_Terms_List_Table::column_default(). See #14579

(In [16218]) Uncheck mass select checkbox when updating rows via ajax. See #14579

(In [16226]) Use screen id instead of base, to be consistent with older filters. See #14579

(In [16227]) WP_Media_List_Table: Use class property instead of $detached global. See #14579

(In [16228]) WP_Media_List_Table: remove code for displaying old 'actions' column. See #14579

(In [16229]) WP_Media_List_Table: merge display_rows() and display_orphans(). See #14579

r16182 re-introduced an issue:

Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /f/www/dev.josephscott.org/public_html/wp/trunk/wp-admin/includes/class-wp-list-table.php on line 88

When replying to a comment in wp-admin.

(In [16244]) Fix admin comment reply. See #14579

I wrote some code for testing that all the hooks in WP 3.0 can still be found in WP 3.1-alpha, after the ajaxification:

http://core.trac.wordpress.org/attachment/ticket/14579/test-list-tables.php

There don't seem to be any incompatibilities left.

That said, problems still remain:

• the existing hooks are very inconsistent, from one screen to the next,
• sometimes even conflicting: #14562
• plugin columns are wack: #15318

I think we need to drop sorting for columns that don't have an index. For example, display_name for the users list and registered for the sites list.

Wouldn't it be better to add those indexes instead?

I don't know if they're worth their weight. Those are both global tables that can be huge.

We could make Registered use the ID for sorting.

(In [16289]) Make 'registered' column sort by site id. See #14579

Related: #15386

"In Response To" column not "Comment"

Restore "Submitted on" which was missing since 3.0. See the current Comments Help tab.

(In [16344]) Prevent horizontal scrollbar. See #14579

See also #15414

It would be nice to have hashes for all ajaxified actions so that views are bookmarkable.

@zeo: Thanks for the patches. Please keep in mind that no notifications are sent when you upload a patch is uploaded, so you should announce them in a comment.

(In [16355]) Fix 'response' column title. Props zeo. See #14579

(In [16356]) Add back 'Submitted on ' text. Props zeo. See #14579

(In [16363]) Fix empty query vars being passed as 'true' instead of . See #14579

Plugin for testing all the hooks related to list tables

(In [16429]) Differentiate between localized and raw total pages. See #14579

(In [16433]) Don't set total_pages unless there are pagination links. See #14579

It seems r16429 broke page navigation in themes.php.

Ah, that's because themes.php uses 'pagenum' instead of 'paged'. I'll patch it up soon.

(In [16465]) Always use 'paged' in list tables. See #14579

Related: #15481

hashes.14579.diff is an attempt to make ajaxified screens bookmarkable via URL hashes.

So far, the rows are updated based on the hash, but the other UI elements (sort arrow, search field, page field) are not.

Current screen not set for Comment Quick Edit

Patch fixes error notice for Comment Quick Edits.

Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in C:\wamp\www\wp31\wp-admin\includes\class-wp-list-table.php on line 8

(In [16483]) Set current screen for comment quick-edit. Props batmoo. See #14579

Sanitizes the page number before changing page

Patch sanitizes the entered page number before changing the page:

• Garbled, non-numeric text reverted to page 1 (currently returns NaN)
• Higher than total pages reverted to the last page
• Lower than page 1 reverted to first page

The sanitization should happen in change_page(), not outside of it.

(In [16523]) Update get_tax_sql() docblock. See #14579

(In [16525]) Don't display search subtitle on themes page. Props ocean90. See #14579

Just a note on the "Loading..." text:

• Opera - Ends up as a block div ~200px? high above the header bar
• IE - Doesnt show at all
• FF - Loads and dims the rows as expected

Related: #15580

14579.network.users.fix.patch will fix problems with hidden columns on network users screen.

(In [16601]) Fix problems with hidden columns on network users screen. Props ocean90. See #14579

(In [16616]) Add missing quote char when creating overlay. See #14579. See #15580

Related: #15607

I've noticed that when you sort by title in a list of hierarchical posts you loose the hierarchy indicators (which is what I would expect) but there seems to be no way to go back to the hierarchical listing without refreshing the entire page. Not having some way to revert could be confusing for people and while a page refresh will fix, that being the only way feels like it was just missed in the design process.

Had you considered this issue before and if so did I just miss how to get back to the hierarchical listing without refreshing the page?

I replied here: http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/15580#comment:36

I'm going to close this ticket now, as it's got pretty huge. Feel free to open new tickets for related issues.

Related: #16022

Related: #16162; #16163

Related: #16185

I've re-opened #12732, #10762, #11114.