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Field Widget Actions

When to Use

Use this guide when adding action buttons to field widgets on entity edit forms. The field_widget_actions module is AI-agnostic — it provides the framework; other modules provide the actual AI plugins.

Decision

Situation Choose Why
Simple action button FieldWidgetActionBase Direct action on click
Multi-step interaction FieldWidgetFormActionBase Modal dialog with form
Fill a text input FillSimpleFieldCommand Standard AJAX command
Fill CKEditor FillEditorCommand CKEditor-specific AJAX command
Deploy via recipe setComponentThirdPartySetting config action Declarative recipe config

Pattern

use Drupal\field_widget_actions\Attribute\FieldWidgetAction;

#[FieldWidgetAction(
  id: 'my_action',
  label: new TranslatableMarkup('AI Suggest'),
  widget_types: ['text_textarea'],
  field_types: ['text_long'],
  category: new TranslatableMarkup('AI'),
  multiple: TRUE,  // Button per delta
)]
class MyAction extends FieldWidgetActionBase {

  public function isAvailable(): bool {
    return $this->providerManager->hasProvidersForOperationType('chat');
  }

  public function singleElementFormAlter(array &$form, FormStateInterface $form_state, array $context = []) {
    parent::singleElementFormAlter($form, $form_state, $context);
    // Parent adds the action button.
  }
}

// Extend FieldWidgetFormActionBase for multi-step interactions.
public function buildModalForm(array $form, FormStateInterface $form_state, ?ContentEntityInterface $entity): array {
  $form['selection'] = ['#type' => 'radios', '#options' => [...]];
  return $form;
}

protected function submitModalFormFillFields(array $form, FormStateInterface $form_state, AjaxResponse $response): AjaxResponse {
  $response->addCommand(new FillSimpleFieldCommand($selector, $value));
  return $response;
}

Deploy via Recipe

config:
  actions:
    core.entity_form_display.node.article.default:
      setComponentThirdPartySetting:
        component: body
        settings:
          bc6795f3-uuid:
            plugin_id: prompt_content_suggestion
            enabled: true
            settings:
              prompt: 'Suggest content'

FORM_ELEMENT_PROPERTY Constant

Override in your plugin for non-standard fields: - Default: 'value' - Entity reference: 'target_id' - Image alt: 'alt'

Common Mistakes

  • Wrong: Not implementing isAvailable() → Right: Button shows even when no provider is configured
  • Wrong: Using FillEditorCommand for a plain textarea → Right: Use FillSimpleFieldCommand for standard inputs; FillEditorCommand is CKEditor-specific

See Also