3.8.* does not merge form control attributes

[bugezzy]

This is a (multiple allowed):

• bug

• enhancement

• feature-discussion (RFC)

• CakePHP Version: 3.8.1

• Platform and Target: Ubuntu 18, Nginx 1.14, MariaDB 10.1

What you did

I have added custom form controls in src/Plugins/Name/config/form-controls.php
Which states:
'input' => '<input type="{{type}}" name="{{name}}" class="form-control" {{attrs}} />',

I have told cake to use this plugin by setting this in my AppView:
$this->loadHelper('Form', ['templates' => 'Name.form-controls']);

I have told the add.ctp to include a class attribute src/Template/Users/add.ctp
<?php echo $this->Form->text('first_name',['required', 'class' => 'large']); ?>

What happened

The resulting HTML is rendered as:
<input type="text" name="last_name" class="form-control" required="required">

What you expected to happen

The expected HTML should be:
<input type="text" name="last_name" class="form-control large" required="required">

Previous versions did merge the attributes. Since 3.8 it ignores and additional classes added in the template files.

[markstory]

Your class attribute in your template has no placeholders for class name. The string templates are simple and don't parse the template string to manipulate classnames.

In which previous version did your template generate the html you are expecting?

[bugezzy]

You are correct. The previous versions handles this the same way. Please disregard, maybe change this to a feature request.

[ADmad]

Closing as how string templates work is unlikely to change. We won't be resorting to string manipulations.