Scripts: Enhance the way entry points are detected in projects consisting of blocks and editor plugins

[mrleemon]

Description

I regularly use @wordpress/scripts for building both blocks and non-block components. Recently, I started working in a new plugin that registers both some blocks and non-block components that add additional panels using the registerPlugin() function. This is the structure of my /src directory:

/src
    /blocks
        /my-first-block
            block.json
            ...
        /my-second-block
            block.json
            ...
        /my-third-block 
            block.json
            ...
    /components
        /my-first-panel
            index.js
        /my-second-panel
            index.js
    index.js
    index.css
    style.css

This is the content of the root index.js file:

import { __ } from '@wordpress/i18n';
import { registerPlugin } from '@wordpress/plugins';
import { calendar } from '@wordpress/icons';

import FirstPanelOptionsPanelComponent from './components/my-first-panel';
import SecondPanelOptionsPanelComponent from './components/my-second-panel';
import './index.scss';
import './style.scss';

registerPlugin('first-panel-options-panel', {
    icon: calendar,
    render: FirstPanelOptionsPanelComponent,
});

registerPlugin('second-panel-options-panel', {
    icon: calendar,
    render: SecondPanelOptionsPanelComponent,
});
  

Until now, I can't remember having any problems with the build script in @wordpress/scripts: It built both the blocks and the components found in the /src directory. But now, for some reason, it just builds the blocks, ignoring the components completely. The thing is that if I remove the /blocks directory then the components are built with no issues.

Has anything changed in @wordpress/scripts recently?

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

Create a /src directory with blocks and non-block components
Run npm build
The script ignores the non-block components

Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet

No response

Environment info

WP 6.3
No Gutenberg plugin
Windows 10
NPM 10.2.0

Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.

Yes

Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.

Yes

[mrleemon]

If I run npm build src/index.js the components are built, but not the blocks. Is there a way to build everything that is found inside the /src directory?

[gziolo]

Until now, I can't remember having any problems with the build script in @wordpress/scripts: It built both the blocks and the components found in the /src directory. But now, for some reason, it just builds the blocks, ignoring the components completely. The thing is that if I remove the /blocks directory then the components are built with no issues.

Has anything changed in @wordpress/scripts recently?

Yes, this is the order of how entry points are created for JavaScript files using webpack:

gutenberg/packages/scripts/utils/config.js

Lines 181 to 191 in e0c80ab

	/**
	* Detects the list of entry points to use with webpack. There are three ways to do this:
	* 1. Use the legacy webpack 4 format passed as CLI arguments.
	* 2. Scan `block.json` files for scripts.
	* 3. Fallback to `src/index.*` file.
	*
	* @see https://webpack.js.org/concepts/entry-points/
	*
	* @return {Object<string,string>} The list of entry points.
	*/
	function getWebpackEntryPoints() {

When npm run build finds block.json files, it reads all script-related entries and uses them to create entry points. index.js is only used as an entry point when there are no block.json files found.

That's said. We are open for iteration based on the feedback received as we plan to expand the application of the build tools outside of blocks, but also to make them helpful when building JS plugins and block themes.

[mrleemon]

@gziolo Thanks for the explanation. I hope you can add a way to build both blocks and plugins found in the same directory. It would be very useful for those of us coding for clients.

[github-actions]

Hi,
This issue has gone 30 days without any activity. This means it is time for a check-in to make sure it is still relevant. If you are still experiencing this issue with the latest versions, you can help the project by responding to confirm the problem and by providing any updated reproduction steps.
Thanks for helping out.

[mrleemon]

The issue is still not resolved.
Thanks.

[gziolo]

Until now, I can't remember having any problems with the build script in @wordpress/scripts: It built both the blocks and the components found in the /src directory. But now, for some reason, it just builds the blocks, ignoring the components completely. The thing is that if I remove the /blocks directory then the components are built with no issues.

I was thinking about it again. We added, at some point, automatic detection of the block.json files that allows discovering entry points defined with script, editorScript and viewScript. It looks like there is a check that could be avoided:

gutenberg/packages/scripts/utils/config.js

Lines 300 to 302 in 05b78e0

	if ( Object.keys( entryPoints ).length > 0 ) {
	return entryPoints;
	}

If we remove that condition, we could combine the entry points detected for blocks with index.js to satisfy more advanced configurations in the projects that also ship JavaScript code not directly related to blocks.

[gziolo]

@bacoords and @aurooba, I remember you discussing in the viewSource podcast the need to improve wp-scripts build to work not only with blocks. What else could we improve the developer experience?

[bacoords]

@gziolo Thanks for the tag! So from what I recall, our issues mostly have to do with multiple entry points.

Basically every entry point is treated as a block, meaning if you had a theme and wanted to also use wp-scripts for your theme stylesheet, or maybe a global frontend JavaScript file (in addition to using it for your custom blocks), it would always generate the asset.php file and rename everything to index or style-index or what have you. Basically, could you define an entry point that doesn't rename the file, doesn't generate an asset file, etc.

I believe that was the main issue, but will let @aurooba add or correct me where I'm wrong.

[bacoords]

I wanted to add another issue (or need for documentation) that seems to be related to entry points.

When building a block and pulling in external CSS dependencies or scss partials into block stylesheets:

• If you @import some local .scss partials into src/style.scss, they'll will be loaded (properly, I believe) into the build/style-index.css file (the frontend and editor CSS file).
• If you @import a CSS file from a dependency into src/style.scss, the result will be imported into build/index.css (the editor-only CSS file).
• If you @import a local .scss partial that then @imports a CSS file from a dependency into src/style.scss, your code goes to build/style-index.css and the module code goes to build/index.css.

Meaning the only way to import CSS from a dependency into a frontend stylesheet for a block is to import it in your src/view.js file, which will then result in a new build/view.css file you can add to your block.json file.

[jdamner]

You can have multiple entry points using webpack.config.js at the root of your project with something like:

const defaultConfig = require( '@wordpress/scripts/config/webpack.config' );

module.exports = {
	...defaultConfig,
	entry: {
		...defaultConfig.entry(),
		index: './src/index.js',
	},
};

This would build all the usual build tools for blocks (ie anything in /src/blocks/) and would also compile the index.js file out to build/index.js. I do think it would be a sensible default for the standard webpack config used in WP-Scripts to look for index.js|ts as well also everything inside /src/blocks instead of having it as a fallback, but not sure on backwards compatibility for making that sort of change.

[mrleemon]

I added your webpack.config.js file to my project and now the build script builds both blocks and non-blocks.
I hope it's added to the standard webpack config used in WP-Scripts in a near future.
Thanks, @jdamner!

[xsonic]

@jdamner, this works great, thank you. Do you know if this is compatible with HMR using --hot? I get an error from the additional JS file:

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined (reading 'injectIntoGlobalHook')

[jdamner]

@xsonic I'm not sure, I don't use --hot. But it's only providing webpack with additional entry-points, so it's not likely to cause any issues. I'm assuming you have hot-reloading sets as per the docs here: https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/packages/packages-scripts/#start

--hot – enables “Fast Refresh”. The page will automatically reload if you make changes to the code. For now, it requires that WordPress has the SCRIPT_DEBUG flag enabled and the Gutenberg plugin installed.