[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #47056: Add 'wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields' hook in Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit::start_el()

[WordPress Trac]

#47056: Add 'wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields' hook in
Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit::start_el()
------------------------------------+------------------------------
 Reporter:  MikeSchinkel            |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  enhancement             |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                  |   Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Menus                   |     Version:  trunk
 Severity:  normal                  |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch dev-feedback  |     Focuses:
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Comment (by MikeSchinkel):

 Per @desrosj at the 2019 WCATL contributor day event I did some research
 to find out how many current WordPress plugins are:

 1. Extending `Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit`
 2. Replacing `Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit` by using a `'wp_edit_nav_menu_walker'`
 hook
 3. **Already implementing a `'wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields'` hook**

 Based on [https://github.com/newclarity/wp-plugin-downloader downloading]
 of all of the latest versions of plugins from the WordPress repo I have
 come up with the following metrics:

 1. `72` plugins extend  `Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit`
 2. `156` plugins use the `'wp_edit_nav_menu_walker'` hook
 3. `60` already implement the `'wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields'` hook

 I am attaching the files where I got these numbers.

 Here are links to gists of the raw data:

 1. [https://gist.github.com/mikeschinkel/6973230dc12899d3bd909ef2d3949974
 Extends  `Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit`]
 2. [https://gist.github.com/mikeschinkel/6e6e26a01e4f34554b43269f3ab10ad7
 Uses the `'wp_edit_nav_menu_walker'` hook]
 3. [https://gist.github.com/mikeschinkel/81e02a427c2faabb5556b0524b33a8f5
 Implements the `'wp_nav_menu_item_custom_fields'` hook]

 The problems replacing `Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit` causes is that it ensures no
 two plugins that do so can be used together — with some obvious caveats,
 but those do not change the fundamental problem.

 I think it is reasonable to assume that if someone is downloading plugins
 to enhance their menus chances are there are trying to use more than one
 such plugin. The fact that these plugins are mutually exclusive means that
 all those people will run into incompatibilities, and ones they are likely
 not even be able to understand what is going wrong. This seems destined to
 ensure a bad UX which is the opposite of the WordPress ethos.

 Since the primary concern that @desrosj mentioned to not add this hook is
 the potential for issues, it would seem that so much use in-the-wild
 proves that the hook can be used without ''(at least existing)'' issues.
 And adding the hook can eliminate the incompatibility between any of
 plugins that update to use the new hook instead of still replacing
 `Walker_Nav_Menu_Edit`.

 So I am hoping that makes [/attachment/ticket/47056/47056.patch this
 patch] a no-brainer?

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/47056#comment:2>
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