Excerpt blocks don't respect the excerpt_length filter for user written excerpts

[tomjn]

Description

The post excerpt block does not respect the excerpt_length filter in local tests on WordPress v6.2.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

Attempt to shorten an excerpt using excerpt_length with a filter such as this:

E.g.:

function mytheme_custom_excerpt_length( $length ) {
    return 2;
}
add_filter( 'excerpt_length', 'mytheme_custom_excerpt_length', 999 );

The excerpts in block themes should now be 2 words long but instead they are unchanged for excerpts that are manually set. This was not the case when using the_excerpt() in classic themes.

Environment info

WordPress v6.2, the gutenberg plugin is inactive

Please confirm that you have searched existing issues in the repo.

Yes

Please confirm that you have tested with all plugins deactivated except Gutenberg.

Yes

[tomjn]

Noting that I had to work around this with a filter:

/**
 * Enforce excerpt length on all excerpts
 *
 * @param string $excerpt
 * @return string
 */
function get_the_excerpt( $excerpt ) : string {
	return wp_trim_words( $excerpt, 10 );
}

[skorasaurus]

Attempts to use excerptLength attributes e.g. <!-- wp:post-excerpt {"excerptLength":"10"}/--> result in no excerpts regardless of what number I use or wether it is wrapped in quotes

Could you explain a bit more? Are post excerpts not limited to 10 words on the frontend when you have <!-- wp:post-excerpt {"excerptLength":10}/--> within a query loop block?

Are you still experiencing it with Gutenberg 15.4?

maybe related to #48598 (comment)

[tomjn]

Could you explain a bit more? Are post excerpts not limited to 10 words on the frontend when you have within a query loop block?

Any value be it in quotes or not resulted in 0 words being displayed, no excerpts were visible. This is under WP 6.2 stock in a block theme

[skorasaurus]

hrm, wow, that is pretty plain and obvious. I'm kinda surprised it slipped through and hasn't been caught yet; I'm able to reproduce this on WP 6.2. I'm not able to reproduce this with Gutenberg activated. twentytwentythree theme.

To reproduce:

Create a page whose content includes a query loop that contains a post excerpt block inside of it; e.g.

<!-- wp:query {"queryId":5,"query":{"perPage":6,"pages":0,"offset":0,"postType":"post","order":"desc","orderBy":"date","author":"","search":"","exclude":[],"sticky":"","inherit":true},"displayLayout":{"type":"list"}} -->
<div class="wp-block-query"><!-- wp:post-template -->
<!-- wp:post-title {"isLink":true} /-->

<!-- wp:post-excerpt /-->

<!-- wp:separator {"opacity":"css"} -->
<hr class="wp-block-separator has-css-opacity"/>
<!-- /wp:separator -->

<!-- wp:post-date /-->
<!-- /wp:post-template --></div>
<!-- /wp:query -->

What happens:

No content of any kind is published on the frontend. The post excerpts do display as intended in the post editor.

[carolinan]

With Gutenberg active, the post excerpt block uses the length set in the option, which should not be overwritten by the filter. (Using the filtered numeric value as the default in the control is not implemented and would need a separate issue and PR)

The excerpt length option and code example linked above (with the comment) is not merged into WordPress 6.2.

[carolinan]

I am trying to reproduce this. The excerpt displays for me when inside a query loop in a home/index/frontpage template, like in Twenty Twenty Three.

Can you provide more details?

Create a page whose content includes a query loop that contains a post excerpt block inside of it; e.g.

When you say "page" do you mean a literal, post type "page"?

Update: I tried a query block in a page post type, and the excerpt in the loop displays correctly.

It is unclear to me if the first report is with Gutenberg active, because in core, the block does not have an excerpt length attribute.

[tomjn]

@carolinan are you trying to reproduce with 6.2 or with the latest Gutenberg plugin? The root of the problem is that the block calls get_the_excerpt then tries to trim it down using an attribute, providing no opportunities for the filter to run and breaking back compat.

It is unclear to me if the first report is with Gutenberg active, because in core, the block does not have an excerpt length attribute.

It is not, my tests are on a client project with stock vanilla WP 6.2.

I used `excerptLength from a reading of the code, and assumed since your commit was from February that it would be in v6.2, though this was my attempt to work around the problem, not the problem itself.

86d527c

This issue is specifically for the excerpt_length filter not being used on the excerpt block in WP 6.2, everything else is contextual.

[tomjn]

On WordPress 6.2, If I add a filter on the excerpt_length to set it to 2 words, the post excerpt block has more than 2 words which is incorrect. This is regardless of the location of the block.