Add pre-save, pre-publish hooks to CMS

[cpjolicoeur]

Per discussion in the Gitter channel, just making an issue for thoughts & discussion around adding some "hooks" to the CMS for pre-save and pre-publish events. These hooks could allow the CMS user to modify file content before persisting to the backend (and/or other content changes anyone might want to do in the given hook).

[delucis]

I recently needed a widget to automatically generate a modified time for entries, but had to make do with generating it when the editor was opened. Seems like a good example of a widget that would benefit from these hooks.

Could components declare preSave() and prePublish() similar to the isValid() method that is already available?

[erquhart]

I love the idea of events in general, big thumbs up for this. I'm not sure about the component methods approach - it introduces problems that are just unnecessary.

[tech4him1]

Agreed, for the case of providing an initial value like @delucis mentioned, we can work on something like #725. Global hooks sound awesome though (I just feel like I'm back in WordPress land 😆)

[erquhart]

Ha! Any ideas for alternatives?

[cedricdelpoux]

I think this feature could be very usefull for some cases.

I have my content in a git submodules. So each netlify-cms update commit to my submodule repo. But My main repo does not change anymore so netlify does not trigger a new deploy.

[visuallization]

Oh yes this feature would be really nice! I could then create dynamically pages with a script within in my nextjs app. So let's say: As an author I create a new page and publish it over netlify cms, "on save" -> the hook kicks in, executes the script which creates tsx files in pages/ based on the .md files in content/.

Are there any news about the progress here?

[davejm]

See #2344 for a quick mockup of how this might be implemented. Unsure if this is the right direction but it's a suggestion.

[erquhart]

Commented, thanks for using a PR to promote a path forward!

[stale]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has not had recent activity. It will be closed if no further activity occurs. Thank you for your contributions.

[delucis]

Has there been some movement on this or other ways of achieving this behaviour? I see that #2344 is still open.

[cpjolicoeur]

Well #2344 was also just closed for inactivity by the bot. :(

It seems this whole project is pretty hit-or-miss when it comes to activity. The stale bot was just added yesterday and seems to have wiped a bunch of stuff out.

[TidyIQ]

I also desperately need this. Is this a WIP or just stale?

[erquhart]

This issue is not going to be closed. Introducing stale bot was a step towards maintaining a meaningful backlog - it’s actually a good thing. You’ll see us following up on virtually every issue on this repo over the next two weeks. Thank you all so much for your patience!

_{Sent with GitHawk}

[erezrokah]

#1171 is somehow related in the way both mechanisms hook into specific CMS operations

[ehayman]

Just chiming in that this would be SUPER helpful for my project! Would love to see a path forward.

[erezrokah]

You can now add events handlers for prePublish and postPublish events: https://www.netlifycms.org/docs/beta-features/#registering-to-cms-events

Doesn't allow modifying the entry data before publish (at the moment and open to discussion) - can anyone share a use case for changing the data before publish that can't be achieved using a custom widget?

The reason for not allowing it yet is that it requires some thought on how to do it in a safe way. Meaning making sure any change conforms to the data validation enforced by the widgets.

[delucis]

@erezrokah My use case was for a last modified date field. This can be achieved with a custom widget, but my effort a while back (see my comment above) only allowed me to update that time when a post was opened for editing, not when it was saved, which I guess could be more idiomatically handled with prePublish.

[erezrokah]

Thanks @delucis, that does make sense. Will keep the issue open for further discussion and feedback.

[vai0]

@delucis have you been able to find a solution that allows for updating the time on publish rather than on opening the entry? i am also trying to create a "date modified" widget, but none of the solutions have been ideal.

[delucis]

@vai0 It’s a while since I worked on this, but no, I just made do with using the time the entry was opened, I think.

[s8gv]

Hi @vai0 and @delucis, I have the same use-case. I need to get the published/last updated date-time. I fyou have any workaround can you please let me know Thanks.