Lax Block Binder

Description

Block Binder is a WordPress plugin that provides a user-friendly interface for binding post meta to supported core blocks using WordPress’s Block Bindings API (available in WordPress 6.5+).

Instead of manually editing block HTML or writing custom code, editors can now:
– Select a supported block in the editor
– Choose which block attribute to bind (text, URL, image, etc.)
– Select a post meta key from the available options
– Click “Bind” to connect the meta value to the block attribute

The block will automatically display the post meta value on the frontend without hardcoding content.

Features

• Visual Block Binding Interface — Sidebar panel for intuitive meta-to-block connections
• 16+ Supported Blocks — Paragraph, Heading, Image, Button, List, Quote, Audio, Video, Columns, Cover, File, Gallery, Table, and more
• Dynamic Meta Key Discovery — Automatically discovers available post meta keys from your site
• REST API Integration — Asynchronous meta key loading for optimal performance
• Block Bindings API Compliant — Uses WordPress’s official Block Bindings API (WP 6.5+)
• Secure — Respects WordPress security standards with capability checks and nonce verification

Usage

1. Edit a Post/Page — Open the WordPress block editor
2. Select a Block — Click on a supported block (Paragraph, Heading, Image, Button, etc.)
3. Open Block Binder Panel — Find the “Block Binder” panel in the document settings sidebar
4. Choose Attribute — Select which block attribute to bind (e.g., “content” for Paragraph, “url” for Image)
5. Select Meta Key — Choose a post meta key from the dropdown (dynamically populated from your site)
6. Bind — Click the “Bind” button to connect the meta value to the block attribute
7. Unbind — Click “Unbind” to remove an existing binding

On the frontend, the bound block attribute will automatically display the post meta value without requiring additional code.

Supported Blocks

• core/paragraph
• core/heading (including h1-h6 variants)
• core/image
• core/button
• core/list
• core/quote
• core/audio
• core/video
• core/columns
• core/column
• core/cover
• core/file
• core/gallery
• core/table
• core/preformatted
• core/verse

Block Attributes

Different blocks support different attributes:

• Paragraph, Heading — content
• Image — url, alt, title, caption
• Button — text, url, title
• List — values
• Quote — value, citation
• Audio, Video — src, caption
• Columns, Column — className
• Cover — backgroundImageUrl, title, subtitle
• File — href, fileName, textLinkTarget
• Gallery, Table — caption
• Preformatted, Verse — content

Technical Details

Custom Binding Source: lax-block-binder/post-meta
– Registered via register_block_bindings_source()
– Retrieves post meta values via get_post_meta()

REST Endpoint: GET /wp-json/lax-block-binder/v1/meta-keys
– Requires edit_posts capability
– Returns array of available meta keys
– Secured with WordPress nonce verification

JavaScript Framework: @wordpress/scripts
– Uses React hooks for state management
– Built with @wordpress/components for UI
– Integrates with @wordpress/block-editor for block manipulation

Support

For bug reports, feature requests, or questions, please visit:
https://github.com/laxmariappan/lax-block-binder

License

Lax Block Binder is licensed under the GPL v2 or later.

This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
(at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
GNU General Public License for more details.

Credits

Author: Lax Mariappan
Contributors: Oz (AI Assistant)

Built with ❤️ for the WordPress community.