Migrate WordPress block asset files from PHP to JSON format

[josephfusco]

Tasks

• I have signed a Contributor License Agreement (CLA) with WP Engine.
• If a code change, I have written testing instructions that the whole team & outside contributors can understand.
• I have written and included a comprehensive changeset to properly document the changes I've made.

Description

These changes aim to fix the failing unzipping action reported in #1633.

Traditional WordPress blocks generate *.asset.php files. However, many hosting environments restrict PHP files in the uploads directory. This change proposes converting these files to index.asset.json, aligning with hosting constraints and improving compatibility.

Supporting tests have been added to both the cli package and WordPress plugin.

Related Issue(s):

#1522, #1633

Testing

1. Checkout this branch: fix/blockset-issue-1633

2. Update the block support example project (examples/next/block-support/) to be a WordPress site hosted on WP Engine.

3. Add the updated faustwp.zip to your WordPress site.

4. Run npm run blockset -w @faustwp/block-support-example from the root of this cloned repo.

5. Observe "WordPress: Blockset sync complete" in your terminal.

   

6. Observe the blocks defined in your Next.js app have been compiled and are present in your connected WordPress site's uploads directory.

   

[changeset-bot]

🦋 Changeset detected

Latest commit: 42e0f85

The changes in this PR will be included in the next version bump.

This PR includes changesets to release 1 package

Name	Type
@faustwp/wordpress-plugin	Patch

Not sure what this means? Click here to learn what changesets are.

Click here if you're a maintainer who wants to add another changeset to this PR

[theodesp]

Hey @josephfusco thanks . Will review it today.

[theodesp]

Hey @josephfusco . I was trying to test your changes and although I can see the uploaded files now both Local and WP Engine instance are throwing 500 errors. I believe its located when you read the block.json contents:

wp_remote_get throws error

[theodesp]

LGTM! I would be nice to have one more review

[mindctrl]

After syncing a block to my WPE site, I get this notice on every page load:

function register_block_script_handle was called incorrectly. The asset file (/wp-content/uploads/faustwp/blocks/block-a/index.asset.php) for the "editorScript" defined in "create-block/block-a" block definition is missing. (This message was added in version 5.5.0.)

Edit: also appears the blocks are not showing up in my WPE site, but do in a Local dev site.

[theodesp]

After syncing a block to my WPE site, I get this notice on every page load:

function register_block_script_handle was called incorrectly. The asset file (/wp-content/uploads/faustwp/blocks/block-a/index.asset.php) for the "editorScript" defined in "create-block/block-a" block definition is missing. (This message was added in version 5.5.0.)

Edit: also appears the blocks are not showing up in my WPE site, but do in a Local dev site.

cc @josephfusco

Hey @mindctrl can you see the uploaded files in your WPE site?
I'm using WordPress 6.3.2 hosted in WPE site and I don't see any warnings.

Is there a specific config that you use?

[mindctrl]

Hey @mindctrl can you see the uploaded files in your WPE site?
I'm using WordPress 6.3.2 hosted in WPE site and I don't see any warnings.

Is there a specific config that you use?

@theodesp having issues connecting to my site via SSH to see the folders, but will let you know soon. I just used the example code in this PR, nothing different or special locally.

[josephfusco]

function register_block_script_handle was called incorrectly. The asset file (/wp-content/uploads/faustwp/blocks/block-a/index.asset.php) for the "editorScript" defined in "create-block/block-a" block definition is missing. (This message was added in version 5.5.0.)

I can confirm I'm seeing this warning too, although blocks are visible within the editor in both WP Engine & local environments.

[josephfusco]

I've observed that blocks are functioning correctly in both the block editor and the GraphQL response, both in Local and WP Engine environments. This observation brings into question the relevance of the _doing_it_wrong warning that we're currently encountering.

The warning is triggered by the following line in the WordPress core: Asset File Requirement in blocks.php. This line enforces a .php file requirement for asset files.

In our case, however, dependencies are managed through a JSON file, which makes the .php requirement seem unnecessary. A screenshot illustrating the current warning is provided for reference:

I propose introducing a filter at this point in the code. This filter would allow developers to inform WordPress that a .php file is not required in specific instances, such as ours where JSON is used for dependency management. This enhancement would provide greater flexibility in handling block dependencies, particularly for those of us leveraging modern development workflows.

[josephfusco]

Proposed filter WordPress/wordpress-develop#5799