angular / angular/components

feat(drag-drop): cdkConnectedTo finds all drop lists with the same ID, instead of only one

Open
#20,069 6 comments 1 reaction 0 assignees View on GitHub
area: cdk/drag-drop feature P4
Dominant language
TypeScript
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Forks
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Avg merge
1d 8h
Merged PRs (30d)
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Description

#### Feature Description

`CdkDropList` has `id` and `cdkConnectedTo` input properties to allow specifying an id or array of ids for which the drop lists should be connected.

The `id` input property "needs" to be unique, or better put is "assumed" to be unique - meaning when searching through drop lists to connect to by id, only the first match is returned.

Can the "need" for unique ids be removed and change the connected drop list logic to return **all** drop lists with a matching id?

From the user's perspective:

- If I want a drop list to inherently be standalone, provide a unique id.
- If I want a drop list to inherently be connected to others, provide a shared id.

#### Use Case

Connecting drop lists created dynamically, possibly defined in separate template files and with arbitrary DOM relation, **without** the overhead of having to maintain a separate list of all drop lists that should be connected, and making sure this list is properly updated and propagated to each drop list via change detection.

Instead a statically defined (or could be dynamic) id for the `id` and `cdkConnectedTo` inputs will automatically connect all the drop lists without any further coordination from the user.

Similar to what @sroettering mentioned [here](https://github.com/angular/components/pull/13754#issuecomment-436694651), but I don't think a new input property is necessary.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by locating the CdkDropList implementation and its tests, then trace how id and cdkConnectedTo resolve connected drop lists. Update the behavior so a shared id resolves all matching lists, and verify that unique ids remain standalone while shared ids connect every matching list.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
angular, typescript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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