[PHP-DEV] [RFC] [Vote] New ext-dom features in PHP 8.4

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1

Hi internals

I'm opening the vote of my RFC "New ext-dom features in PHP 8.4".
RFC link: PHP: rfc:dom_additions_84
Voting runs until 24th of June 21:00 GMT+2.

Kind regards
Niels

2

Question: why is Dom\Document::$head marked as readonly?

···

Matthew Weier O’Phinney
mweierophinney@gmail.com
https://mwop.net/
he/him

3

On 20/06/2024 16:28, Matthew Weier O'Phinney wrote:

On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 1:15 PM Niels Dossche <dossche.niels@gmail.com <mailto:dossche.niels@gmail.com>> wrote:

    Hi internals

    I'm opening the vote of my RFC "New ext-dom features in PHP 8.4".
    RFC link: PHP: rfc:dom_additions_84
    Voting runs until 24th of June 21:00 GMT+2.

    Kind regards
    Niels

Question: why is `Dom\Document::$head` marked as readonly?

The HTML spec defines the head property to be readonly: HTML Standard
That's why $head is marked readonly.

So I guess the question becomes "why does the HTML spec define it this way?"
I couldn't find a conclusive answer to this, it looks like this has been read-only since HTML's early days...
I thought about it but don't really see a technical reason why this is the case. If I had to take a guess I'd say it's for simplicity sake.

--
Matthew Weier O'Phinney
mweierophinney@gmail.com <mailto:mweierophinney@gmail.com>
https://mwop.net/
he/him

Kind regards
Niels

4

On Thu, Jun 20, 2024, 1:27 PM Niels Dossche <dossche.niels@gmail.com> wrote:

On 20/06/2024 16:28, Matthew Weier O’Phinney wrote:

On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 1:15 PM Niels Dossche <dossche.niels@gmail.com mailto:[dossche.niels@gmail.com](mailto:dossche.niels@gmail.com)> wrote:

Hi internals

I’m opening the vote of my RFC “New ext-dom features in PHP 8.4”.
RFC link: https://wiki.php.net/rfc/dom_additions_84 <https://wiki.php.net/rfc/dom_additions_84>
Voting runs until 24th of June 21:00 GMT+2.

Kind regards
Niels

Question: why is Dom\Document::$head marked as readonly?

The HTML spec defines the head property to be readonly: https://html.spec.whatwg.org/#document
That’s why $head is marked readonly.

So I guess the question becomes “why does the HTML spec define it this way?”
I couldn’t find a conclusive answer to this, it looks like this has been read-only since HTML’s early days…
I thought about it but don’t really see a technical reason why this is the case. If I had to take a guess I’d say it’s for simplicity sake.

he/him

I can understand that from a browser perspective, but from PHP, where we might be manipulating HTML to send back to the client, having it readonly would be a pretty big hindrance.

5

On 20/06/2024 23:55, Matthew Weier O'Phinney wrote:

On Thu, Jun 20, 2024, 1:27 PM Niels Dossche <dossche.niels@gmail.com <mailto:dossche.niels@gmail.com>> wrote:

    On 20/06/2024 16:28, Matthew Weier O'Phinney wrote:
    >
    >
    > On Mon, Jun 10, 2024 at 1:15 PM Niels Dossche <dossche.niels@gmail.com <mailto:dossche.niels@gmail.com> <mailto:dossche.niels@gmail.com>> wrote:
    >
    > Hi internals
    >
    > I'm opening the vote of my RFC "New ext-dom features in PHP 8.4".
    > RFC link: PHP: rfc:dom_additions_84 <PHP: rfc:dom_additions_84;
    > Voting runs until 24th of June 21:00 GMT+2.
    >
    > Kind regards
    > Niels
    >
    >
    > Question: why is `Dom\Document::$head` marked as readonly?

    The HTML spec defines the head property to be readonly: HTML Standard
    That's why $head is marked readonly.

    So I guess the question becomes "why does the HTML spec define it this way?"
    I couldn't find a conclusive answer to this, it looks like this has been read-only since HTML's early days...
    I thought about it but don't really see a technical reason why this is the case. If I had to take a guess I'd say it's for simplicity sake.
    > he/him

I can understand that from a browser perspective, but from PHP, where we might be manipulating HTML to send back to the client, having it readonly would be a pretty big hindrance.

Would it?
Note that only the binding is readonly, you can manipulate the head element as you wish.
e.g. `$doc->head->replaceWith($another_element);` is still possible and not much more difficult than `$doc->head = $another_element;`.

I could add a setter for the head element, but what if WHATWG defines a setter for the head element at a later point in time that's incompatible with what I added?
It may sound far-fetched, but that's not unreasonable given that setting the $body property is way more complicated than just find+replace `<body>` (e.g. handles framesets too).

Kind regards
Niels

6

On 10/06/2024 20:10, Niels Dossche wrote:

Hi internals

I'm opening the vote of my RFC "New ext-dom features in PHP 8.4".
RFC link: PHP: rfc:dom_additions_84
Voting runs until 24th of June 21:00 GMT+2.

Kind regards
Niels

Hi internals

The RFC was accepted with 25 yes votes and 0 no votes.
Thanks to everyone who participated.

Kind regards
Niels