Magento 2: What's the Difference Between the Two Grid Component Data Providers?
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30-09-2020 - |
Question
In Magento 2.1, there are 25 total UI Component listing/grid data providers configured and in use. Their data provider classes and ui_component
files are listed below
Magento\Bundle\Ui\DataProvider\Product\BundleDataProvider bundle_product_listing.xmlMagento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\Attributes\Listing product_attributes_grid.xml
Magento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\ProductCustomOptionsDataProvider product_custom_options_listing.xml
Magento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\ProductDataProvider configurable_associated_product_listing.xml
Magento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\ProductDataProvider product_listing.xml
Magento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\Related\CrossSellDataProvider crosssell_product_listing.xml
Magento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\Related\RelatedDataProvider related_product_listing.xml
Magento\Catalog\Ui\DataProvider\Product\Related\UpSellDataProvider upsell_product_listing.xml
Magento\Cms\Ui\Component\DataProvider cms_block_listing.xml
Magento\Cms\Ui\Component\DataProvider cms_page_listing.xml
Magento\ConfigurableProduct\Ui\DataProvider\Attributes product_attributes_listing.xml
Magento\Customer\Ui\Component\DataProvider customer_listing.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider customer_online_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_creditmemo_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_invoice_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_shipment_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_view_creditmemo_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_view_invoice_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider sales_order_view_shipment_grid.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider search_synonyms_grid.xml
BraintreeTransactionsDataProvider (virtual type) braintree_report.xml
Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider
Magento\GroupedProduct\Ui\DataProvider\Product\GroupedProductDataProvider grouped_product_listing.xml
Magento\Review\Ui\DataProvider\Product\ReviewDataProvider review_listing.xml
Magento\Theme\Ui\Component\Design\Config\DataProvider design_config_listing.xml
Based on this information, there appear to be two base classes end user programmers can use to base their grid components on
- Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider
- Magento\Ui\DataProvider\AbstractDataProvider
The Magento\Ui\DataProvider\AbstractDataProvider
class seems to simpler of the two, and (seems to?) only requires the configuration of a Magento resource model. The customer grid Magento\Customer\Ui\Component\DataProvider
module is based on this class, and appears to have all sorting, filtering, etc. functionality needed for a grid listing.
Is there a reason the Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider
exists -- or is it just older/newer code that take a different approach to creating a data provider? In other words, does using the Magento\Framework\View\Element\UiComponent\DataProvider\DataProvider
bring any extra features to the table, or enable other parts of the system to do things with the grid? Looking at the source code, the Magento\Framework\App\RequestInterface
seems intriguing -- as it implies you might be reporting functionality "for free" with these grids. However, without an extensive code safari, I'm not sure if that's true or not, and I'm hoping someone has a clear explanation of why you'd use one class over the other.
Solution
To me, that main difference is that the Magento/Framework/View/Element/UiComponent/DataProvider/DataProvider
uses the Search API.
The following classes are used in this class :
Magento\Framework\Api\FilterBuilder
Magento\Framework\Api\Search\ReportingInterface
Magento\Framework\Api\Search\SearchCriteria
Magento\Framework\Api\Search\SearchCriteriaBuilder
Magento\Framework\Api\Search\SearchResultInterface
Which are used for filtering / ordering / paging:
public function addFilter(\Magento\Framework\Api\Filter $filter)
{
$this->searchCriteriaBuilder->addFilter($filter);
}
public function addOrder($field, $direction)
{
$this->searchCriteriaBuilder->addSortOrder($field, $direction);
}
public function setLimit($offset, $size)
{
$this->searchCriteriaBuilder->setPageSize($size);
$this->searchCriteriaBuilder->setCurrentPage($offset);
}
And also obviously for the search:
public function getData()
{
return $this->searchResultToOutput($this->getSearchResult());
}
protected function searchResultToOutput(SearchResultInterface $searchResult)
{
$arrItems = [];
$arrItems['items'] = [];
foreach ($searchResult->getItems() as $item) {
$itemData = [];
foreach ($item->getCustomAttributes() as $attribute) {
$itemData[$attribute->getAttributeCode()] = $attribute->getValue();
}
$arrItems['items'][] = $itemData;
}
$arrItems['totalRecords'] = $searchResult->getTotalCount();
return $arrItems;
}
public function getSearchResult()
{
return $this->reporting->search($this->getSearchCriteria());
}
What's interesting if that the Magento/Ui/DataProvider/AbstractDataProvider
mentions the Search API but don't use it at all :
public function getSearchCriteria()
{
//TODO: Technical dept, should be implemented as part of SearchAPI support for Catalog Grids
return null;
}
public function getSearchResult()
{
//TODO: Technical dept, should be implemented as part of SearchAPI support for Catalog Grids
return $this->getCollection();
}
Now if you check the history of those files in GitHub here's what you get:
- https://github.com/magento/magento2/commits/develop/app/code/Magento/Ui/DataProvider/AbstractDataProvider.php
- https://github.com/magento/magento2/commits/develop/lib/internal/Magento/Framework/View/Element/UiComponent/DataProvider/DataProvider.php
As you can see most of the commits for those two files are linked to the following internal ticket: MAGETWO-39905: UI components compatibility with Search API
Even if it has been done for the Magento/Framework
file it has never been done for the Magento/Ui
file.
Apart from that I don't see any difference between those files. One is working directly on the collection, the other one is using the Search API to generate the results.