nextcloud / nextcloud/richdocuments

Migrate off the OCA.Viewer global before Nextcloud 36

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Dominant language
JavaScript
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Description

richdocuments is the heaviest user of the global, and the only one that both registers a handler
and drives the viewer:

  • src/viewer.js:16: OCA.Viewer.registerHandler({ ... })
  • src/file-actions.js:38: OCA.Viewer.openWith('richdocuments', { path })
  • src/public.js:27,29: openWith() / open() on public share pages
  • src/mixins/openLocal.js:67: window.OCA.Viewer.open({ path })

The handler is the part that needs real work: handlers are custom elements now, not Vue
components handed to the viewer. You define the element on window.customElements and register
its tagname, which is what lets a handler be written in any framework. The
registration walkthrough
covers it, and enabled(nodes) replaces the mimes array.

openWith(id, { … }) becomes getViewer().open(nodes, file, options, id), with the handler id
as the fourth argument.

[!WARNING]
Without this, office files stop opening in the viewer entirely, rather than degrading.


OCA.Viewer is gone in Viewer 7.0.0. The viewer ships as the
@nextcloud/viewer library rather than a
bundled app, and nextcloud/server#63954 removes the viewer app from Nextcloud 36 altogether.

Roughly what it looks like:

import { canView, getViewer } from '@nextcloud/viewer'

// OCA.Viewer.open({ path }) / ({ fileInfo, list })
getViewer().open(nodes, file)          // @nextcloud/files nodes
getViewer().openFolder(folder, file)   // when a path is all you have, let it fetch

// OCA.Viewer.mimetypes.includes(mime) / availableHandlers
canView(node)

The part that is not a rename is that the viewer takes @nextcloud/files nodes now, not
fileinfo objects or path strings. Importing the package is also all it takes to get the viewer
onto the page: no LoadViewer event to dispatch, and nothing to check about whether the app is
enabled.

[!IMPORTANT]
There is no compatibility shim, which was a deliberate call, so this is a real port rather
than a rename. Nothing breaks until the server PR lands; after that these calls throw on
Nextcloud 36.

[!TIP]
The developer manual covers the migration under
Critical changes
(being added in nextcloud/documentation#15597), and the
README
has the full before/after table. Happy to help with the port, just ping me.

👾 This issue was written with the help of Claude Code.

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start with src/viewer.js, src/file-actions.js, src/public.js, and src/mixins/openLocal.js, then read the linked @nextcloud/viewer migration walkthrough. Port the handler and viewer calls to the current custom-element and node-based APIs, replacing the old global and load checks. Done means office files still open through local and public-share paths on Viewer 7 and Nextcloud 36.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
javascript
Domain
frontend
Issue type
Refactor
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Active
Clarity
Clearly specified
Newbie friendliness
68/100

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