Smart Sources

[brandonkelly]

Element indexes should have the ability to define Smart Sources, with much more control over criteria params than the main index view offers. Similar to things like this:

They should be defined within the CustomizeSourcesModal that opens when you click the gear icon at the bottom of element source lists.

[sjelfull]

Very nice. Just to clarify, would a Smart Source be in addition to the main index?

Ideally, I think this filtering should be available everywhere, but it would make sense to have Smart Sources, which is basically saved filtering?

[brandonkelly]

Yes, they would show up wherever the element type’s sources are listed:

• main element indexes
• relational fields’ Sources settings
• element selection modals

[brandonkelly]

This would also resolve #838 and #1024.

[sjelfull]

But can you do on the fly filtering in addition to the Smart Source? Ie. you don't have create a Smart Source just to filter, right?

If you create a first-party UI for setting up rules, it would be awesome if we can use that in plugins to create our own rule UIs.

[brandonkelly]

We could make the UI reusable for on-the-fly filtering as well, yeah. And yes, all element types will be able to define their own filter options, etc., and plugins would be able to tweak them with an event, like how they can tweak most other element type things.

[AugustMiller]

Is it possible to conceptualize all element indexes (i.e. Section tables) as Smart Sources?

For example, when creating a section, Craft might auto-generate a new Smart Source for it (with the current behavior), but it could be honed further, deleted, etc.

[brandonkelly]

@AugustMiller That's an interesting idea, for sure! The only semi-issue I can think of is, it would mean that element types must support Smart Sources if they want to show any sources at all. But that’s not necessarily a deal-breaker.

[elivz]

This would be amazing. One use case to add to the list is what I describe here: currently there is no way to differentiate between "10" and "-10" in the entries list search, even with a number-type field. While we're at it, it would be nice to have the ability to sort by number-type custom fields (or text fields for that matter) in those lists.

[gojira32]

@brandonkelly Is there any movement on this one?

[brandonkelly]

Yep. On the list for Craft 4 (in dev).