Visual Editor - v1.1.0

Status: v1.1.0 — Issue #504.

Block bindings let any block attribute pull its value from the surrounding post, page, or CPT record at render time. Authors keep editing the block once; the binding resolver substitutes the live value on every render and the editor shows the resolved preview inline.

The system covers three first-party sources out of the box and exposes a small contract so host applications and packages can plug in their own.

Built-in sources

post_core and custom_field resolve against whichever record the current render is scoped to — typically a Post, Page, or CPT instance bound through cms-framework. relation walks relation.field paths so a block can bind to, for example, the author's display name (author.name).

Binding shape

A binding is stored on the block under the standard metadata.bindings map. Each entry maps an attribute name to a source + args pair:

{
    "metadata": {
        "bindings": {
            "content": {
                "source": "post_core",
                "args": { "field": "title" }
            },
            "url": {
                "source": "relation",
                "args": { "path": "author.website" }
            }
        }
    }
}

The resolver replaces the bound attribute value on the server, and the editor inspector surfaces a picker so authors can pick a source + field per attribute without hand-editing JSON.

Empty-value policy

When a binding resolves to null or an empty string, the renderer honors the binding's onEmpty policy:

• keep — leave the authored attribute value in place (default).
• hide — drop the block from the rendered output.
• placeholder — render the authored placeholder text.

This is the same policy the editor uses to preview a binding when the record is missing the underlying field.

Registering a custom source

A binding source is any class that implements \ArtisanPackUI\VisualEditor\Services\Bindings\BlockBindingSource. Register it from a service provider's boot() against BlockBindingSourceRegistry:

use ArtisanPackUI\VisualEditor\Registries\BlockBindingSourceRegistry;
use App\Bindings\SiteSettingSource;

public function boot(): void
{
    $this->app->resolving(
        BlockBindingSourceRegistry::class,
        function ( BlockBindingSourceRegistry $registry ): void {
            $registry->register( new SiteSettingSource() );
        }
    );
}

The source's name() is the identifier that appears in the block's bindings map and in the editor's source picker. Names must match /^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$/ so they survive JSON round-trips and JS object keys. Re-registering a name overwrites the previous driver, which is the intentional escape hatch for replacing a built-in source.

Editor surface

The inspector adds a Bindings panel to every supported block. Authors pick an attribute, a source, and (depending on the source) a field or path. The picker calls GET /visual-editor/binding-sources for the available sources, and POST /visual-editor/binding-resolve to preview the resolved value against the currently-edited record.

Both endpoints are first-party controllers (BindingSourcesController and BindingResolveController) and respect the package's standard authorization gates.