Remove limit on deep populate on components

[petersg83]

What does it do?

Removes the hard limit on deep populate for an entity.
(It was not possible before but since we populate relations only once, it is possible to remove the limit)

Why is it needed?

In order to populate the admin edit view when there are more than 2 levels of nested components.

How to test it?

1. Create compo1 with a field "name"
2. Create compo2 with a field "compo1" and a field "name"
3. Create compo3 with a field "compo2" and a field "name"
4. Create a content-type "dog" with a field "compo3"
5. Create an entry for the content-type "dog" with all the components filled
6. Save and see that the data is correctly displayed

NB: component creation is possible only by editing the files directly, not through the content-type builder.

Related issue(s)/PR(s)

• Nested components more than 2 levels deep fix in newer versions of Strapi #11319
• https://feedback.strapi.io/customization/p/allow-nesting-of-components-more-than-2-levels-deep

[petersg83]

Does it have to be considered as a new feature since it's on canny?
I would say no as it only displays the data for people that bypass the 2 levels logic. Currently the Content-Type Builder doesn't allow to create nested components.

[codecov]

Codecov Report

Merging #13331 (2982fa7) into master (b2980ab) will decrease coverage by 0.00%.
The diff coverage is 66.66%.

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master   #13331      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   47.92%   47.91%   -0.01%     
==========================================
  Files         239      239              
  Lines        8814     8813       -1     
  Branches     1984     1982       -2     
==========================================
- Hits         4224     4223       -1     
  Misses       3783     3783              
  Partials      807      807              

Flag	Coverage Δ
front	?
unit	47.91% <66.66%> (-0.01%)	⬇️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

Impacted Files	Coverage Δ
.../content-manager/server/services/entity-manager.js	31.19% <66.66%> (-0.34%)	⬇️
.../server/services/helpers/build-component-schema.js	90.62% <0.00%> (-0.29%)	⬇️
packages/core/database/lib/migrations/index.js	30.00% <0.00%> (+1.42%)	⬆️

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[alexandrebodin]

LGTM

Missed sth

[derrickmehaffy]

Does it have to be considered as a new feature since it's on canny? I would say no as it only displays the data for people that bypass the 2 levels logic. Currently the Content-Type Builder doesn't allow to create nested components.

I don't think so, we can consider this whatever we want but the canny card should be updated once this is merged (I'm gonna change it to in progress right now)

[derrickmehaffy]

Canny Card: https://feedback.strapi.io/customization/p/allow-nesting-of-components-more-than-2-levels-deep

[alexandrebodin]

LGTM

[strapi-bot]

This pull request has been mentioned on Strapi Community Forum. There might be relevant details there:

https://forum.strapi.io/t/multiple-nested-repeatable-components/665/31

[Warxcell]

[EVSHK]

Hello, i tried the How to test it exemple and it works on Strapi Admin side by editing the files directly.
But when i try to fetchAPI this page the response is not complete. Got only 1 sub-level.

try fetch 1 : const res = await fetchAPI("/testPage", {populate: "*"});
try fetch 2 : const res = await fetchAPI("/testPage", {populate: {content: {populate: "*"}}});

Can you help ? Maybe i missed something on te populate part or ?

[paddotk]

Hi,
We're on Strapi v4.4.3 and it doesn't look like multi-level component nesting works yet. I've manually edited the json files to make this work, however whenever I try to add a field (a plain one like 'text' for example), or try changing a collection/instance's name in a nested component in the Strapi interface, it won't save. The error I see in my devtools' network tab is row already is a nested component. You cannot have more than one level of nesting inside your components..

[derrickmehaffy]

Once you edit the schema manually to go more than two levels you have continue to edit all of those schemas manually as the content-type builder will no longer work for those content-types or components.

This was intended for us to discourage users from nesting components too deeply.

[axufurisamu]

@derrickmehaffy How about instead of discouraging users from using a very common method in CMS for nested components, and something you all had in the previous version, you actually fix the issue and allow us to nest components!

[derrickmehaffy]

@derrickmehaffy How about instead of discouraging users from using a very common method in CMS for nested components, and something you all had in the previous version, you actually fix the issue and allow us to nest components!

By doing so it means we have to support it's usage both from a higher level UX but also from the data level and quite simply put, we don't want to because the complex database schema and performance impacts of such are two things that we are not confident in nor is it a methodology we want to support. We unlocked the ability (intentional block) of nested components, by choosing to use them that way you do so at your own risk without us saying if they break we will fix them. There is nothing basic about this feature, they are complex polymorphic relations.

Our plan is to have the ability to create new relational entities in the same parent view in the future, components are not the end-all be-all of a CMS and we are a heavily relational CMS, not an object storage one.

I'm locking this issue as there is nothing constructive being added to this. We have taken a decision on the topic for now, that decision was made by our product team @Aurelsicoko and @yanniskadiri . If you want to create a feature request for this on https://feedback.strapi.io and collect votes it can be re-evaluated later but I would please ask that you watch your tone to ensure it meets our community code of conduct.