FEATURE: allow external links in custom sidebar sections (#20503)

Originally, only Discourse site links were available. After feedback, it was decided to extend this feature to external URLs.

/t/93491

spec/requests/sidebar_sections_controller_spec.rb

@@ -54,8 +54,13 @@ RSpec.describe SidebarSectionsController do
            params: {
              title: "custom section",
              links: [
-               { icon: "link", name: "categories", value: "/categories" },
+               {
+                 icon: "link",
+                 name: "categories",
+                 value: "http://#{Discourse.current_hostname}/categories",
+               },
                { icon: "address-book", name: "tags", value: "/tags" },
+               { icon: "external-link-alt", name: "Discourse", value: "https://discourse.org" },
              ],
            }
 
@@ -68,13 +73,19 @@ RSpec.describe SidebarSectionsController do
       expect(sidebar_section.user).to eq(user)
       expect(sidebar_section.public).to be false
       expect(UserHistory.count).to eq(0)
-      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.count).to eq(2)
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.count).to eq(3)
       expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.first.icon).to eq("link")
       expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.first.name).to eq("categories")
       expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.first.value).to eq("/categories")
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.first.external).to be false
       expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.second.icon).to eq("address-book")
       expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.second.name).to eq("tags")
       expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.second.value).to eq("/tags")
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.second.external).to be false
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.third.icon).to eq("external-link-alt")
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.third.name).to eq("Discourse")
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.third.value).to eq("https://discourse.org")
+      expect(sidebar_section.sidebar_urls.third.external).to be true
     end
 
     it "does not allow regular user to create public section" do

spec/system/custom_sidebar_sections_spec.rb

@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@ describe "Custom sidebar sections", type: :system, js: true do
 
     expect(section_modal).to be_visible
     expect(section_modal).to have_disabled_save
-    expect(find("#discourse-modal-title")).to have_content("Add custom section")
+    expect(sidebar.custom_section_modal_title).to have_content("Add custom section")
 
     section_modal.fill_name("My section")
 
@@ -31,7 +31,29 @@ describe "Custom sidebar sections", type: :system, js: true do
     section_modal.save
 
     expect(page).to have_button("My section")
-    expect(page).to have_link("Sidebar Tags")
+    expect(sidebar).to have_link("Sidebar Tags")
+  end
+
+  it "allows the user to create custom section with external link" do
+    visit("/latest")
+    sidebar.open_new_custom_section
+
+    expect(section_modal).to be_visible
+    expect(section_modal).to have_disabled_save
+    expect(sidebar.custom_section_modal_title).to have_content("Add custom section")
+
+    section_modal.fill_name("My section")
+
+    section_modal.fill_link("Discourse Homepage", "htt")
+    expect(section_modal).to have_disabled_save
+
+    section_modal.fill_link("Discourse Homepage", "https://discourse.org")
+    expect(section_modal).to have_enabled_save
+
+    section_modal.save
+
+    expect(page).to have_button("My section")
+    expect(sidebar).to have_link("Discourse Homepage", href: "https://discourse.org")
   end
 
   it "allows the user to edit custom section" do
@@ -53,7 +75,8 @@ describe "Custom sidebar sections", type: :system, js: true do
     section_modal.save
 
     expect(page).to have_button("Edited section")
-    expect(page).to have_link("Edited Tags")
+    expect(sidebar).to have_link("Edited Tag")
+
     expect(page).not_to have_link("Sidebar Categories")
   end
 
@@ -100,7 +123,7 @@ describe "Custom sidebar sections", type: :system, js: true do
     section_modal.save
 
     expect(page).to have_button("Public section")
-    expect(page).to have_link("Sidebar Tags")
+    expect(sidebar).to have_link("Sidebar Tags")
     expect(page).to have_css(".sidebar-section-public-section .d-icon-globe")
 
     sidebar.edit_custom_section("Public section")

spec/system/page_objects/components/sidebar.rb

@@ -23,6 +23,16 @@ module PageObjects
         find(".sidebar-section-#{name.parameterize}").hover
         find(".sidebar-section-#{name.parameterize} button.sidebar-section-header-button").click
       end
+
+      def has_link?(name, href: nil)
+        attributes = {}
+        attributes[:href] = href if href
+        page.has_link?(name, attributes)
+      end
+
+      def custom_section_modal_title
+        find("#discourse-modal-title")
+      end
     end
   end
 end