Components - InnerBlocks

Last modified: September 25 2023.

Inner blocks allow you to insert additional blocks to your blocks. Under the hood, Blockstudio is using the InnerBlocks component. Please note that it is only possible to use one InnerBlocks component per block, this is a WordPress limitation.

Basic usage

To use InnerBlocks, you need to add the InnerBlocks component to your block.

index.php


                <InnerBlocks /> or <InnerBlocks/>Copy

The composition is up to you. You can nest the InnerBlocks component as deep as you want or just use it by itself.

Properties

tag

By default, the InnerBlocks component is rendered as a div element. You can change this by using the tag prop.

index.php


                <InnerBlocks tag="section" />Copy

allowedBlocks

The allowedBlocks prop allows you to define which blocks can be inserted into the InnerBlocks component.

index.php


                <InnerBlocks allowedBlocks="<?php echo esc_attr(wp_json_encode(['core/heading', 'core/paragraph'])); ?>" />Copy

index.twig


                <InnerBlocks allowedBlocks="{{ ['core/heading', 'core/paragraph']|json_encode|escape('html_attr') }}" />Copy

template

The template prop allows you to define a template for the InnerBlocks component.

index.php


                <InnerBlocks template="<?php echo esc_attr( wp_json_encode([['core/heading', ['placeholder' => 'Book Title']], ['core/paragraph', ['placeholder' => 'Summary']]])); ?>" />Copy

index.twig


                <InnerBlocks template="{{ [['core/heading', { placeholder: 'Book Title' }], ['core/paragraph', { placeholder: 'Summary' }]]|json_encode|escape('html_attr') }}" />Copy

templateLock

The templateLock prop allows you to define if the template can be modified or not.

contentOnly: prevents all operations. Additionally, the block types that don't have content are hidden from the list view and can't gain focus within the block list. Unlike the other lock types, this is not overrideable by children.
all: prevents all operations. It is not possible to insert new blocks. Move existing blocks or delete them.
insert: prevents inserting or removing blocks, but allows moving existing ones.
false: prevents locking from being applied to an InnerBlocks area even if a parent block contains locking.

renderAppender

The renderAppender prop allows you to define the block appender type.

default: display the default block appender, typically the paragraph style appender when the paragraph block is allowed.
button: display a + icon button as the appender..

useBlockProps

useBlockProps will remove the outer wrapper of the InnerBlocks component inside the editor. See useBlockProps for more information.

Context

Registering

Blockstudio supports context for the InnerBlocks component. This allows you to pass data from the parent block to the child blocks. While it uses the WordPress core context mechanism under the hood, Blockstudio provides a more convenient API.

Instead of having to define all attributes that should be passed in the context separately, you can simply subscribe to all attributes of a parent block.

Let's say you have a container block setup like so:

block.json


                {
      "$schema": "https://app.blockstudio.dev/schema",
      "name": "blockstudio/container",
      "title": "Container",
      "category": "design",
      "icon": "star-filled",
      "description": "Container block.",
      "blockstudio": {
        "attributes": [
          {
            "id": "full-width",
            "type": "toggle",
            "label": "Makes section full width"
          }
        ]
      }
    }

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Inside your child block, simply use the usesContext property with the parent block name to gain access to all parent attributes in your block template.

block.json


                {
      "$schema": "https://app.blockstudio.dev/schema",
      "name": "blockstudio/element",
      "title": "Element",
      "category": "design",
      "icon": "star-filled",
      "description": "Element block.",
      "usesContext": ["blockstudio/container"],
      "parent": ["blockstudio/container"],
      "blockstudio": true
    }

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Templates

The $context and $c variables are available inside your block templates to access all parent attributes. Child blocks will automatically reload in the editor if parent data changes.

index.php


                <?php $container = $context['blockstudio/container']; ?>

    <h1>
      <?php echo $container['full-width']
          ? 'is full width'
          : 'no full width'; ?>
    </h1>Copy

index.twig


                {% set container = context['blockstudio/container'] %}
    <h1>
    {{ container['full-width']
        ? 'is full width'
        : 'no full width' }}
    </h1>Copy

Frontend wrapper

InnerBlocks has to render a wrapper element around its children inside the editor, however, it can be removed from the frontend by using blockstudio/blocks/components/innerblocks/frontend/wrap filter.

functions.php


                add_filter(
      "blockstudio/blocks/components/innerblocks/frontend/wrap",
      function ($render, $block) {
        if ($block->name === "blockstudio/my-block") {
          $render = false;
        }

        return $render;
        },
      10,
      2
    );

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Dynamic templates

The Select and Radio field types support dynamically generating the InnerBlocks template depending on the field value. This is useful if you want to allow the user to select a different template for the InnerBlocks component.

To do so, simply add a innerBlocks key to the options array with the template.

block.json


                {
      "$schema": "https://app.blockstudio.dev/schema",
      "name": "blockstudio/type-select-innerblocks",
      "title": "Native Select InnerBlocks",
      "category": "blockstudio-test-native",
      "icon": "star-filled",
      "description": "Native Blockstudio Select InnerBlocks block.",
      "blockstudio": {
        "attributes": [
          {
            "id": "layout",
            "type": "select",
            "label": "Layout",
            "options": [
              {
                "value": "1",
                "label": "One",
                "innerBlocks": [
                  {
                    "name": "core/columns",
                    "innerBlocks": [
                      {
                        "name": "core/column",
                        "innerBlocks": [
                          {
                            "name": "core/heading",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the left Heading.",
                              "level": 1
                            }
                          },
                          {
                            "name": "core/paragraph",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the left Paragraph."
                            }
                          }
                        ]
                      },
                      {
                        "name": "core/column",
                        "innerBlocks": [
                          {
                            "name": "core/heading",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the right Heading.",
                              "level": 1
                            }
                          },
                          {
                            "name": "core/paragraph",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the right Paragraph."
                            }
                          }
                        ]
                      }
                    ]
                  }
                ]
              },
              {
                "value": "2",
                "label": "Two",
                "innerBlocks": [
                  {
                    "name": "core/columns",
                    "innerBlocks": [
                      {
                        "name": "core/column",
                        "innerBlocks": [
                          {
                            "name": "core/heading",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the left Heading.",
                              "level": 2
                            }
                          },
                          {
                            "name": "core/paragraph",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the left Paragraph."
                            }
                          }
                        ]
                      },
                      {
                        "name": "core/column",
                        "innerBlocks": [
                          {
                            "name": "core/heading",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the right Heading.",
                              "level": 2
                            }
                          },
                          {
                            "name": "core/paragraph",
                            "attributes": {
                              "content": "This is the right Paragraph."
                            }
                          }
                        ]
                      }
                    ]
                  }
                ]
              }
            ],
            "allowNull": "Select an option"
          }
        ]
      }
    }

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