ProcessWire Weekly #477

Latest core updates

As we get closer and closer to a new stable release, the focus of core development has again been mostly on resolving existing issues, rather than adding new features. A total of 8 issues were resolved in the GitHub dev branch, and a few more were resolved in the issues repository thanks to excellent maintenance work done by Matjaž Potočnik.

That being said, there were a few new additions this week as well. To be more specific, three new methods were added for the WireHttp class: delete(), patch(), and put(). These methods of course refer to matching HTTP methods. DELETE, PATCH, and PUT methods are primarily used when working with (RESTful) APIs.

Sending DELETE, PATCH, and PUT requests has always been possible, but it had to be done via the generic send() method. Aforementioned new methods are essentially a shortcut, but can also make code using them cleaner, and easier to read.

That's all for our core updates section this week. For more details, be sure to check out the weekly update from Ryan at the support forum, and feel free to also check out the weekly commit log for the dev branch at GitHub. Thanks!

New module: JSON Decode Textformatter

JSON Decode Textformatter is a brand-new third party module by NB Communication. What this clever little module does is that it passes a JSON value stored in a plain text or textarea field through PHP's json_decode(), making it available to code as an object.

Just to elaborate, here's the example provided in the module's directory entry for this module:

// The data in the page's api_data field
// {"fieldName": "value"}
echo $page->api_data->fieldName; // value

If you'd like to give this module a try, you can install it via the built-in modules installer, or clone or download it from the JSON Decode Textformatter GitHub repository. In case you have any questions or need additional help getting started, head down to the JSON Decode Textformatter support forum thread.

Big thanks to NB Communication for crafting this module and making it available for us to use and enjoy. Brilliant nice idea and clean implementation, nice work indeed!

Site of the week: the portfolio of scenographer Yoko Seyama

This week our pick for the site of the week is the portfolio website of Berlin-based Japanese scenographer and multimedia artist Yoko Seyama. Her ProcessWire powered website, built by Neue Rituale, is a showcase of her work — and quite an interesting experience in itself.

As Neue Rituale explain in the case story for this project at their own website, the site makes use of color and light to create an experience that is constantly changing and feels alive. Content of the site is largely focused on the works, showcased primarily through the use of images and video material. The site also has a news section with coverage of upcoming productions, and the biography of the artist.

As for behind the scenes details, the case story mentions that there are backend tools built into the site for managing text color, background color, as well as gradients on a page by page basis. The work pages also contain a customizable grid setup for laying out images in unique ways. The front-end of the site seems to be largely custom-built, without the use of any full-blown front-end framework.

Our congratulations to the team behind this project at Neue Ritual — and of course the client, Yoko Seyama. It was a real pleasure to get a glimpse into her works, and we'd recommend our readers to do the same. Great work altogether!

Stay tuned for our next issue

That's all for the 477th issue of ProcessWire Weekly. We'll be back with more news, updates, and content Saturday, 8th of July. As always, ProcessWire newsletter subscribers will get our updates a few days later.

Thanks for staying with us, once again. Hope you've had a great and productive week, and don't forget to check out the ProcessWire forums for more interesting topics. Until next week, happy hacking with ProcessWire!