Configurable Downloadlink Block

The next section (skipping the simple text) on plone.org is the Banner with Download Button for Plone. We will use this to learn how to create a Block that is configurable by an editor.

Initital Block setups

The initial setup for this Block is the same as for the highlight Block. Create a new folder in src/components/Blocks called download and in there View.jsx as well as Edit.jsx. For now give them the same initial content as we did with the highlight:

import React from 'react';

const View = (props) => {
  return <div>I'm the Highlight view component!</div>;
};

export default View;

And for Edit.jsx correspondingly. Export the blocks via the index.js and register the block in config.js and add it to the page. You can use the same SVG as for the highlight but you can also pick something of you choice from https://pastanaga.io/icons/. All the icons there are available in Volto by default.

Create the schema for your Block

First you have to identify what fields the Block needs an editor to be able to edit and of what type. In our case those will be the following:

• title: The field that contains "Get the latest Plone" in the original

• description/subtitle: The text underneath the title

• buttontext: text displayed on the red button

• buttonlink: where the button should link to

• other link text: The text underneath the button

• other link: where the other text (Older releases) will link to

To define these fields we will create a schema inside the new file schema.js within the download folder. Then paste the following into schema.js:

export const schemaDownload = (props) => {
  return {
    required: [],
    fieldsets: [
      {
        id: 'default',
        title: 'Default',
        fields: ['title', 'description'],
      },
      {
        id: 'link',
        title: 'Links',
        fields: ['buttonTitle', 'buttonLink', 'otherLinkText', 'otherLink'],
      },
    ],
    properties: {
      title: {
        title: 'Title',
        widget: 'text',
      },
      description: {
        title: 'Description',
        widget: 'text',
      },
      buttonTitle: {
        title: 'Button Title',
        widget: 'text',
      },
      buttonLink: {
        title: 'Button link',
        widget: 'object_browser',
        mode: 'link',
        allowExternals: true,
      },
      otherLinkText: {
        title: 'Other link text',
        widget: 'text',
      },
      otherLink: {
        title: 'Other link',
        widget: 'object_browser',
        mode: 'link',
        allowExternals: true,
      },
    },
  };
};

export default schemaDownload;

The properties key will contain all the fields, while the fieldsets key assignes the fields to different fieldsets. In the required array you can define certain fields as required. If you have already experience in working with classic Plone, you will notice, that this is very similar to how you would create content types there.

Implement schema in sidebar

To implement the schema in the sidebar of your block you will have to create another component called Data.jsx in which the schema will be transformed to proper react inputs. Paste the following into the Data.js block:

import React from 'react';
import { BlockDataForm } from '@plone/volto/components';
import Schema from './schema';

const DownloadData = (props) => {
  const { data, block, onChangeBlock } = props;
  const schema = Schema({ ...props });
  return (
    <BlockDataForm
      schema={schema}
      title={schema.title}
      onChangeField={(id, value) => {
        onChangeBlock(block, {
          ...data,
          [id]: value,
        });
      }}
      formData={data}
      block={block}
    />
  );
};

export default DownloadData;

The BlockDataForm component will transform the schema.js data into a usable sidebar. Last but not least you need to amend Edit.jsx to use that sidebar:

import React from 'react';
import { SidebarPortal } from '@plone/volto/components';
import { withBlockExtensions } from '@plone/volto/helpers';
import DownloadData from './Data';
import View from './View';

const downloadLinkEdit = (props) => {
  const { data, onChangeBlock, block, selected } = props;
  return (
    <>
      <View {...props} />
      <SidebarPortal selected={selected}>
        <DownloadData
          key={block}
          {...props}
          data={data}
          block={block}
          onChangeBlock={onChangeBlock}
        />
      </SidebarPortal>
    </>
  );
};

export default withBlockExtensions(downloadLinkEdit);

Create the View

You are now able to edit the content of your Block, but will still see your default "This is the View" text. To change that amend View.jsx as follows:

import React from 'react';
import { Grid, Container } from 'semantic-ui-react';
import { UniversalLink } from '@plone/volto/components';

const downloadLinkView = (props) => {
  const { data } = props;
  return (
    <div className="block download">
      <Container>
        <Grid columns={2}>
          <Grid.Column>
            <h2>{data.title}</h2>
            <p className="description">{data.description}</p>
          </Grid.Column>
          <Grid.Column>
            {data.buttonLink?.length > 0 && data.buttonTitle && (
              <UniversalLink
                href={data.buttonLink[0]['@id']}
                className="ui button"
              >
                {data.buttonTitle}
              </UniversalLink>
            )}
            <br />
            {data.otherLink?.length > 0 && data.otherLinkText && (
              <UniversalLink
                href={data.otherLink[0]['@id']}
                className="other-link"
              >
                {data.otherLinkText}
              </UniversalLink>
            )}
          </Grid.Column>
        </Grid>
      </Container>
    </div>
  );
};

export default downloadLinkView;

Note that all the fields defined in the schema and filled via the sidebar can now be accessed from the data key of the blocks props. You can use console.log(data) to see the details.

To make the block look somewhat like its example we only need to add the following CSS to our custom.overrides:

// Download block

.block.download {
  background: #e8eef2;
  .ui.container {
    padding: 40px 200px;
  }

  h2 {
    font-size: 30px;
    font-weight: bold;
  }
  .description {
    font-size: 21px;
  }

  a.ui.button {
    background: #cc2b00;
    font-size: 18px;
    color: @white;
    border-radius: 6px;
    padding: 14px 20px;
    font-weight: normal;
    margin-bottom: 10px;
  }
  a.other-link {
    color: #175758;
    font-weight: bold;
  }
}

When done the block should look very much like on plone.org.