Description
More details in my comment here - #41 (comment)
I'll copy-paste the gist of it:
Generated controllers use setFromDb() which is a nightmare - it works, but we can't push any updates to it without breaking people's apps. A better way to proceed would be to generate actual addField() and addColumn() code. We can modify and tweak that every day, and not break people's apps. In time, we would deprecate setFromDb() and I'll be able to sleep at night :-) Solves that problem.
I see this php artisan backpack:crud command becoming more interactive & customizable than the current one, here's how I see the command and interaction:
php artisan backpack:crud
#notice: no extra parameters; you don't have to remember if it's singular, plural, etc; just the command, which is simple to remember or can even be php artisan make:crud, but that would break the backpack convention
> ----------------------
> | Making a new CRUD |
> ----------------------
> Please answer a few questions:
>
> What is the TABLE NAME? (ex: products; db table where your entries are stored)
tags
> What is your entity name, in PLURAL? (ex: products; used for showing buttons like Edit Products)
tags #sensible default is provided, just have to hit Enter most of the times
> What is your entity name, in SINGULAR? (ex: product; used for showing buttons like Add Product)
tag #sensible default is provided, just have to hit Enter most of the times
> What you like to generate a ROUTE in routes/backpack/custom.php?
yes #defaults to yes, just have to hit Enter most of the times
> What you like to add a SIDEBAR ITEM in resources/views/vendor/backpack/base/inc/sidebar_content.blade.php?
yes #defaults to yes, just have to hit Enter most of the times
> What ICON would you like it to have?
fa fa-list #defaults to something, anything
> Would you like to open the files after generation? If so, please type your IDE handle (ex: subl, pstorm, vscode)
no #defaults to no
> --------------
> | Thank you! |
> --------------
> Generated App\Models\Tag.php
> Generated App\Http\Requests\TagRequest.php
> Generated App\Http\Controllers\Admin\TagCrudController.php
> Added route in config/backpack/custom.php
> Added sidebar item in resources/views/vendor/backpack/base/inc/sidebar_content.blade.php
> ------------------------
> Done! Please take a look at the generated files and modify as you like.
> ------------------------
Additionally we could have a long list of questions, for all kinds of customizations, but with a different flag, for example php artisan backpack:make:crud --verbose:
> [OPTIONAL] Where would you like the Model to be generated? (model namespace)
App\Models #sensible default is provided, just have to hit Enter most of the times
> [OPTIONAL] Where would you like the CrudController to be generated? (controller namespace)
App\Http\Controllers\Admin #sensible default is provided, just have to hit Enter most of the times
> [OPTIONAL] Where would you like your Request to be generated? (request namespace)
App\Http\Requests #sensible default is provided, just have to hit Enter most of the timesBut that's less important. What I do think is important is that we do this AT THE RIGHT TIME. And I think that's when we render setFromDb() obsolete. Which I've been dying to do for a long long time - since we can't push any updates to it, ever, or we'd break people's apps. A better way to do the same thing as setFromDb() would be to generate actual addField() and addColumn() code, based on the table.
To make it a non-breaking change, we could:
- stick to the current behaviour if the parameter is passed;
- use this new interactive behaviour if NO parameter is passed, or if the --i flag is used;