Jetpack Blocks: Migrate the Timeline block from ETK

[arthur791004]

Related to https://github.com/Automattic/dotcom-forge/issues/8032, https://github.com/Automattic/dotcom-forge/issues/8036

Proposed changes:

• Migrate the Timeline block to Jetpack Blocks

Editor	Frontend

Other information:

• Have you written new tests for your changes, if applicable?
• Have you checked the E2E test CI results, and verified that your changes do not break them?
• Have you tested your changes on WordPress.com, if applicable (if so, you'll see a generated comment below with a script to run)?

Jetpack product discussion

Does this pull request change what data or activity we track or use?

Testing instructions:

• Apply changes to your site
• Go to the editor
• Insert the Timeline block
• Add any timeline entry
• Configure the Alternative setting of the Timeline block
  
• Configure the left/right setting of the Timeline Entry block
  
• Configure the background color of the Timeline Entry block
  
• Make sure everything works as expected
• Preview your changes
• Make sure the Timeline block looks good on your frontend page

[github-actions]

Are you an Automattician? Please test your changes on all WordPress.com environments to help mitigate accidental explosions.

• To test on WoA, go to the Plugins menu on a WordPress.com Simple site. Click on the "Upload" button and follow the upgrade flow to be able to upload, install, and activate the Jetpack Beta plugin. Once the plugin is active, go to Jetpack > Jetpack Beta, select your plugin, and enable the feat/jetpack-timeline-block branch.

• To test on Simple, run the following command on your sandbox:

  bin/jetpack-downloader test jetpack feat/jetpack-timeline-block
  

Interested in more tips and information?

• In your local development environment, use the jetpack rsync command to sync your changes to a WoA dev blog.
• Read more about our development workflow here: PCYsg-eg0-p2
• Figure out when your changes will be shipped to customers here: PCYsg-eg5-p2

[github-actions]

Thank you for your PR!

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Jetpack plugin:

The Jetpack plugin has different release cadences depending on the platform:

• WordPress.com Simple releases happen daily.
• WoA releases happen weekly.
• Releases to self-hosted sites happen monthly. The next release is scheduled for August 6, 2024 (scheduled code freeze on August 5, 2024).

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[okmttdhr]

I may not be up to date 🙏, but could you explain why this uses the jetpack/extensions/blocks directory instead of jetpack-mu-wpcom? Will this block be available only to wpcom?

[okmttdhr]

The block worked as expected for me 👍

[arthur791004]

I may not be up to date 🙏, but could you explain why this uses the jetpack/extensions/blocks directory instead of jetpack-mu-wpcom? Will this block be available only to wpcom?

These blocks are designed for Jetpack but they were implemented in ETK plugin first. So, I think it makes sense to migrate them to Jetpack. See Automattic/wp-calypso#37889

[taipeicoder]

Works nicely 👍

[ChrisBegley]

Hello, the release notes for 13.7 say that the Event Countdown and Timeline blocks were added: https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/#developers

However, I don't see these blocks on my websites running Jetpack 13.7. I confirmed that I have "Jetpack Blocks" turned on under "Jetpack Settings > Writing > Composing"

This is a problem on multiple websites across multiple hosts, including locally with WordPress.com Studio.

[arthur791004]

Referring to https://github.com/Automattic/dotcom-forge/issues/8036#issuecomment-2222306034, we moved those blocks to jetpack-mu-wpcom so it's only available on atomic sites with the mu-wpcom plugin.

[ChrisBegley]

@arthur791004 I see, so what does a self-hosted Jetpack user need to do to use the new Timeline block?

[arthur791004]

The blocks in Jetpack will be shipped in a new Jetpack Extras plugin instead.

As discussion, we don't want to expose blocks in the Jetpack plugin. If the Timeline block is useful for Jetpack users, I think we can consider to include the Timeline block in the new Jetpack Extras plugin in the future cc @jeherve

[ChrisBegley]

@arthur791004 thanks for the clarification, I don't have access to this page: https://github.com/Automattic/dotcom-forge/issues/8036

I guess I'm confused by the WordPress.org changelog for Jetpack 13.7. It says: https://wordpress.org/plugins/jetpack/#developers

Changelog
13.7 – 2024-08-06
Enhancements
Blocks: Add the EventCoutdown block.
Blocks: Add the Timeline block.

But those blocks aren't actually available to be used? They'll be coming later to a new Jetpack Extras plugin?

[arthur791004]

But those blocks aren't actually available to be used? They'll be coming later to a new Jetpack Extras plugin?

It's a mistake we forgot to remove that changelog 🙈 Now it's only for WordPress.com users

[ChrisBegley]

Ohh ok. Thanks for clearing that up.