Explore how to inject the Mini Cart block into headers

[albarin]

Instead of creating our own WooCommerce Blocks header patterns, we would like to explore the possibility of injecting the Mini Cart block into existing Core and WP header patterns (more context here: p1682448941652889-slack-C02FL3X7KR6)

There are some explorations already around this, check:

• Auto-inserting Blocks WordPress/gutenberg#39439
• Block Library: Add filter for inner blocks in the Navigation block WordPress/gutenberg#37998
• Auto-inserting blocks: Add block inspector panel WordPress/gutenberg#52969

[nefeline]

We are waiting on WordPress/gutenberg#50103 to get started with this experiment and rely on auto-inserting blocks for injecting the Mini Cart block into headers. I have already reached out to Bernie on that PR to let us know when we are good to go.

[nefeline]

I'll be AFK for the next two weeks, so I'm unassigning myself from this issue in case anyone else wants to work on it while I'm away.

[Marc-pi]

the issue's title is more generic than the description, the latest is more focus on core patterns.
Here i extend the need to other parts of WP Core

currently, the mini-cart block cannot be added within the WP Navigation.
cannot be found when making a search to add it

WP6.2.2 / Gutenberg 16.1.0 / Woo 7.8.1 / Woo Blocks 10.5.0

We can only add it outside the navigation component.
poke @nefeline / @albarin

[nefeline]

Hi there, @Marc-pi , thanks for reaching out to us! That's true; currently, inserting the mini-cart block within the navigation block is not possible. In this issue, we are exploring all possible venues for auto-inserting this block in the header (both inside and outside the navigation block): after verifying what's possible, new issues/PRs will be created to implement the enhancements.

[nefeline]

Auto-inserting blocks exploration

• With the experiment for auto-inserting blocks now ready for review, I ran a series of tests with WooCommerce blocks and shared my findings over here: Experiment: Auto-inserting blocks on the frontend and in the editor (via REST API) WordPress/gutenberg#51449
• In summary, there are a few limitations as currently, it is not possible to target the navigation block as an anchor for auto-inserting blocks. The discussion will continue on that PR: I will port over any important decisions/highlights to this issue as soon as they come up.

[nefeline]

PS: while working on this issue I noticed the mini-cart block wasn't still being registered via a metadata file so I went ahead and made the change: woocommerce/woocommerce-blocks#10168 . @Aljullu I hope you don't mind I tagged you for reviewing this one since you have a lot of experience with this block =)

[nerrad]

Just noting a new tracking issue created for the Auto-Inserting Blocks API and what's being targeted for WordPress 6.4.

At WCUS 2023 Contributor Day, I also did a rough POC for the API so it respected the supports.multiple configuration in the auto-inserted block metadata. Something along this line would be needed to ensure the mini-cart block is only inserted in one location. There are still downsides to the current POC which has generated some discussion around what still needs addressed.