ContextQMD
Back to Plate

V2 text surfaces should bind runtime ids from paths and use zero-length projections for mark placeholders

docs/solutions/logic-errors/2026-04-04-v2-text-surfaces-should-bind-runtime-ids-from-paths-and-use-zero-length-projections-for-mark-placeholders.md

53.0.62.1 KB
Original Source

V2 text surfaces should bind runtime ids from paths and use zero-length projections for mark placeholders

What happened

After the first decorated-text proof went green, two remaining bits of renderer truth were still too manual:

  • every proof surface still had to derive text and runtimeId from a path
  • mark placeholders still looked like a special case instead of “collapsed projected text”

That was more boilerplate than signal.

What fixed it

EditableText now supports:

  • path={[...]} so it can derive both text and runtimeId from the committed snapshot
  • zero-length projection slices rendered as data-slate-mark-placeholder zero-width leaves

That let the browser proof render a mark placeholder from a collapsed projected range and then compose text through it without any route-local runtime-id glue.

Why this works

A collapsed projected range already contains the right semantic fact:

  • same text node
  • exact insertion point
  • no visible range length

That is exactly what a mark placeholder is.

So the renderer does not need a second model for it. It just needs to treat zero-length slices as a renderable leaf at the correct boundary.

Likewise, if a text surface already knows the Slate path it is rendering, it should be able to find its own runtime id and text content. Making every caller do that work is just leaking internals.

Reusable rule

For slate-react-v2 text surfaces:

  • path-based binding should be the default ergonomic lane
  • zero-length projected ranges should be the default mark-placeholder lane

If callers have to pass both path and runtime id for the same text node, or if collapsed ranges need a separate rendering model, the package surface is still too low-level.