contentOnly locking and allowedBlocks is not respected in blocks without a layout attribute.

[ndiego]

Description

I just stumbled upon this. If you have a block with "templateLock":"contentOnly" set, the Editor will not respect this attribute if there is no layout attribute as well. This is very bizarre, and it is not clear why the two are tied together. Furthermore, it makes it impossible to create patterns that utilize contentOnly but have no layout constraint.

Edit: I discovered that this issue also occurs when using the allowedBlocks attribute. Unless the block also has a layout attribute, the allowedBlocks restriction will not be implemented.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

To replicate this issue, copy the following code into the Editor and see that content-only mode is enabled.

Works

<!-- wp:group {"templateLock":"contentOnly","style":{"border":{"radius":"8px","width":"1px"},"spacing":{"blockGap":"0","padding":{"top":"var:preset|spacing|20","bottom":"var:preset|spacing|20","left":"var:preset|spacing|20","right":"var:preset|spacing|20"}}},"backgroundColor":"white","borderColor":"contrast-3","layout":{"type":"constrained"}} -->
<div class="wp-block-group has-border-color has-contrast-3-border-color has-white-background-color has-background" style="border-width:1px;border-radius:8px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)"><!-- wp:heading {"style":{"typography":{"fontStyle":"normal","fontWeight":"500","fontSize":"1.5rem"}},"fontFamily":"body"} -->
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-body-font-family" style="font-size:1.5rem;font-style:normal;font-weight:500">Card heading</h2>
<!-- /wp:heading -->

<!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"small"} -->
<p class="has-small-font-size">Card description. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph --></div>
<!-- /wp:group -->

Now copy this code into the Editor and see that the mode no longer works and the "templateLock":"contentOnly" gets stripped out if you toggle on the Layout option "Inner blocks use content width".

Doesn't work

<!-- wp:group {"templateLock":"contentOnly","style":{"border":{"radius":"8px","width":"1px"},"spacing":{"blockGap":"0","padding":{"top":"var:preset|spacing|20","bottom":"var:preset|spacing|20","left":"var:preset|spacing|20","right":"var:preset|spacing|20"}}},"backgroundColor":"white","borderColor":"contrast-3"} -->
<div class="wp-block-group has-border-color has-contrast-3-border-color has-white-background-color has-background" style="border-width:1px;border-radius:8px;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)"><!-- wp:heading {"style":{"typography":{"fontStyle":"normal","fontWeight":"500","fontSize":"1.5rem"}},"fontFamily":"body"} -->
<h2 class="wp-block-heading has-body-font-family" style="font-size:1.5rem;font-style:normal;font-weight:500">Card heading</h2>
<!-- /wp:heading -->

<!-- wp:paragraph {"fontSize":"small"} -->
<p class="has-small-font-size">Card description. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.</p>
<!-- /wp:paragraph --></div>
<!-- /wp:group -->

cc @Mamaduka and @jorgefilipecosta as I know you both have worked on block locking and content only.

Screenshots, screen recording, code snippet

With layout set	Without layout set

Environment info

• WordPress 6.6
• Gutenberg trunk

Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.

• Yes

Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.

• Yes

[talldan]

There was a similar report of this a while back (I'll struggle to find it). I think it was due to the group block being invalid though, and a migration was stripping the allowedBlocks and templateLock attributes.

edit: found it - #57544

[Mamaduka]

This looks similar to #49159, and it's due to layout deprecation introduced in #42763.

The problem:

• When the default layout deprecation was introduced. The group block had no support for allowedBlocks and "templateLock" : "contentOnly" attribute values, so they weren't listed when defining deprecation.
• The deprecation isEligible is true to a missing layout, and these attributes are discarded.

[talldan]

So same thing, but in this case the group block is valid. 😬

I have an idea to fix it, but it feels a bit sketchy. I'll put together a PR.

[ndiego]

Thanks @talldan and @Mamaduka 🙏