List Table Factory Needs to be Pluggable

[miqrogroove]

Better design planning should have been considered for ​http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/wp-admin/includes/list-table.php

function _get_list_table() is identical to an object factory pattern, which would make more sense as a static member of WP_List_Table. In other words...

$wp_list_table = _get_list_table('WP_Terms_List_Table');

... which looks simple, is actually confusing because it would be more intuitive if written as ...

$wp_list_table = WP_List_Table::factory('Terms');

Further, the factory hasn't offered any extensibility. Locking edit-tags.php against WP_Terms_List_Table makes it unusable for custom taxonomies that need a custom UI. Despite all of the great API improvements for taxonomies, this case still necessitates duplicating the entire category editing UI within a plugin just to tweak a table column or a link path.

Please adjust the ticket Type and Component as necessary. It could be a taxonomy design flaw or an administration enhancement, depending how you look at it.

[nacin]

_get_list_table() used to be get_list_table(), and it had a filter to allow for switching out tables.

When we pulled out XHR bits and made the entire API private near the end of 3.1, we renamed it to the current, private version.

When someone finally takes ownership of and rewrites the list table API, I think this would indeed be a good approach.

[scribu]

Somewhere in Space this may all be happening right now.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Related: #16031, #18127

[SergeyBiryukov]

#24938 was marked as a duplicate.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Related: #16987

[Faison]

Adding a filter to _get_list_table() to allow developers to return an object of their own class in place of core classes

[Faison]

I recently ran into a situation where I needed to make some extensive customizations to the WP_Media_List_Table class and the filters it provided was not enough. So I'm hoping I can bring life back to this ticket with a patch that would help us all out.

It adds the filter 'pre_get_list_table' to _get_list_table(). It allows a developer to check what class was requested, and return an object of a different class if needed.

[wonderboymusic]

I've ripped apart List Tables the past 2-3 releases. I think they are downright usable now.

[wonderboymusic]

#16987 was marked as a duplicate.

[SergeyBiryukov]

The 'pre_get_list_table' filter should probably be 'wp_list_table_class', for consistency with 'wp_admin_bar_class'.

[wonderboymusic]

I have severe reservations about this endorsement now - I still consider WP_Screen , the random functions that interact with it, and WP_List_Table to be super weird

[peterwilsoncc]

In 18449.2.diff​:

• add the filter following @SergeyBiryukov's advice above
• removes @access private from all the list table classes (ref #24938, labeled dupe of this ticket)

After six years I think the opportunity for someone to take ownership of the list table API has passed and WordPress is stuck with what's in there already.

Changing the API & breaking backward compatibility in any substantive way will break too many plugins.

I think the future release has come so am putting on the milestone to encourage discussion.

[westonruter]

Discussion doesn't seem to be happening and 4.9-beta3 is in a few hours, so I'm punting.