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Content Browser Laravel Package
netgen/content-browser
Netgen Content Browser is a Symfony bundle that provides a reusable content-picker interface for Ibexa/eZ Platform. Browse, search, and filter repository content by content type, then select items for layouts, blocks, and other integrations.
Netgen Content Browser is a Symfony bundle that provides an interface which selects items from any kind of backend and returns the IDs of selected items back to the calling code.
Frequently asked questions about Content Browser
- Can I use Netgen Content Browser in a Laravel application?
- Not as a drop-in Composer package. It is a Symfony bundle built around Symfony dependency injection, routing, and Twig, so there is no Laravel service provider or Blade integration. Laravel teams typically vendor the React frontend, map its REST endpoints onto Laravel controllers, and write a custom adapter that normalizes Eloquent or search results into the browser's item payload shape. Treat the PHP half as a port rather than an install.
- How do I install Netgen Content Browser with Composer?
- You install it as netgen/content-browser into a Symfony application, register it as a bundle, and wire it through Symfony configuration. There is no published Laravel config or service provider, so nothing auto-discovers in a Laravel app. Check the PHP and Symfony constraints in composer.json before attempting anything, because they track Symfony rather than Laravel releases.
- Which Laravel or PHP versions does Netgen Content Browser support?
- No Laravel version is officially supported, because the package is Symfony-oriented and not Laravel-aware. Its constraints follow Symfony and PHP versions, so you should read composer.json to confirm what your stack can satisfy. If you integrate with Laravel, you are effectively building and maintaining the compatibility layer yourself.
- What endpoints does the React content browser frontend call?
- The frontend talks to a slim REST API that handles search, filtering, pagination, and item retrieval, returning item payloads that include IDs. To reuse the UI in Laravel, you replicate those routes in your application and return the same response shape. Verify how much Symfony-specific behavior leaks into those endpoints, such as serialization format, CSRF handling, or session assumptions, before committing to the approach.
- How do I adapt the content browser to Eloquent models or Elasticsearch?
- You write adapters or item handlers that normalize your repository results into the browser's expected item shape. In Laravel, put each content source behind a narrow internal ContentPicker contract so implementations stay swappable. The bundle's own adapters target Ibexa and eZ Platform, so Eloquent and Elasticsearch mappings are custom work regardless.
- Is Netgen Content Browser actively maintained?
- The adoption signals are thin: a small star count, few or no dependents, single-vendor stewardship, and no community adapter ecosystem. Direction is driven by Netgen's commercial product line, particularly Netgen Layouts, rather than broad PHP demand, so divergence or abandonment is a live possibility. Check the last commit date, release cadence, and open-issue backlog before you price the integration.
- What are alternatives to Netgen Content Browser for a Laravel content picker?
- You can build an in-house picker, use the relation and browse UI of a Laravel-native admin panel, or run this bundle as a sidecar Symfony service. In practice, a competent custom picker often costs about the same spike effort as extracting and adapting the frontend. Compare the value of its React browsing UX against what your team can build and own directly.
- Can I run Netgen Content Browser as a separate Symfony service and embed it?
- Yes, running the bundle as a sidecar Symfony application and embedding it via iframe or modal is technically viable. The trade-off is a permanent operational dependency on a Symfony app for a single admin widget, plus a cross-origin and embedding surface to secure. This is only justifiable if the UI is genuinely non-trivial and you time-box the effort hard.
- How should I test a Netgen Content Browser integration?
- Test your adapter contract and your Laravel route responses independently, since the upstream bundle ships no Laravel test helpers. Cover search, filtering, pagination, and item retrieval with contract tests that assert the exact item payload shape the frontend expects. Add end-to-end tests only for widget interactions that are worth maintaining long term.
- What production risks should I check before adopting it?
- Verify PHP and Symfony version constraints, the age of the Node and build toolchain used to compile the JavaScript, and transitive dependencies for known CVEs. Confirm whether the React frontend is a separately consumable, documented artifact or is bundled into Symfony assets, since that determines your extraction path. Also assess Netgen's realistic support commitment to non-customers and budget for owning the entire integration seam.
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