id,summary,reporter,owner,description,type,status,priority,milestone,component,version,severity,resolution,keywords,cc
14829,More hooks/actions required for Media Uploader,Alhadis,,"Okay, so the Media Uploader's API needs work.

This is not just a suggestion; it's a revelation that occurred to me after nine solid hours of picking around uncompromising source code and relying on JavaScript and guesswork to add custom functionality.

Many times I've found myself developing WordPress features that all attempted to manipulate or customise the Media Uploader thickbox in some way... many of which became completely unworkable due to the lack of hooks or filters provided by the source code. Furthermore, the way the uploader sends images back to the TinyMCE editor has made it incredibly difficult to ""intercept"" those commands and have them handled differently.

Say I have a metabox added to the Edit Post screen that displays thumbnails to a computer illiterate client... ones that can be dragged around and rearranged to control the order of a slideshow that's shown above a page when loaded. Now, we've already shown the client how to insert images into a post using WordPress' Thickbox, and they've grown comfortable with traversing the tabs. So it only makes sense that we'd use the same interface for picking or uploading an image.

What if we want to send those images somewhere else, like into a metabox? There's no apparent hook or callback provided by either PHP or JavaScript that allows plugin developers to implement this level of functionality. It's as though the Media Uploader was never intended to be touched or customised in any fashion. And so, my current solution relies solely on using jQuery for adding buttons and callbacks over the top of the existing interface. I'm up to the part that involves ""stealing"" the attachment's ID and trying to send it back to the Edit Post page in the background. Lot of work? Yes. Secure? No. At any given point in future, there's no guarantee that the core structure of the Media Items list will change, thereby breaking the plugin that relied on class-names and DOM traversal to apply buttons.

In short, these are ridiculous lengths that I've had to go to to try and implement an enhancement to the Media Uploader. I don't want to go through the trouble of scripting an entirely new uploader specifically for plugins and theme features... I think we'd all agree it's in WordPress's nature to allow a degree of control over how the Uploader Thickbox works as well.",enhancement,closed,normal,,Upload,3.0.1,normal,invalid,needs-patch reporter-feedback,marty@…