Drupal 11 and CMS Compatibility: Replace Select2 and Select_or_Other with Tagify

Problem/Motivation

The module currently depends on drupal/select2 and drupal/select_or_other.

• Select2: The Select2 library relies heavily on older jQuery versions with compatibility issues with jQuery 4. With Drupal 11 and CMS eventually removing jQuery dependencies, select2 is becoming obsolete and problematic for forward compatibility.
• Select or Other: This module functionality can be efficiently handled by tagify without requiring a separate dependency.

Proposed resolution

Note: wait for issue #3564474: Drupal 11.3: Add void return type to UploadOrLink::submit() for PHP compatibility to be merged or apply its patch.

Replace both dependencies with the Tagify module.

Tagify module added to Drupal CMS and is now the default field widget for certain reference fields.

• Multi-select: Tagify handles selecting multiple items from a whitelist (replaces select2).
• Free tagging: Tagify allows creating new tags on the fly, which replicates the "Select or Other" functionality (selecting a value or typing a custom one) in a more unified UI.

Configuration Reference

This patch introduces standardized configuration mapping for the json_form_widget.

1. Default Behavior (Implicit Mapping)

If you provide no ui:options, the module determines the widget usage based on your standard JSON Schema types:

• "enum": [...] → Select List (Restricted).
• "format": "uri" → URL Input.
• "pattern": "^mailto:" → Email Input.
• "type": "boolean" → Checkbox. (Introduced by #3565343: Refactor Object and Array Nesting Logic and support boolean and number (float) specs)
• "type": "number" → Number Input. (Introduced by #3565343: Refactor Object and Array Nesting Logic and support boolean and number (float) specs)
• "type": "string" → Textfield.

2. Available ui:options (Global)

These options can be applied to almost any field in your ui:options object:

• "widget": (String) Force a specific widget type (see list below).
• "title": (String) Override the field label.
• "description": (String) Override the help text.
• "placeholder": (String) Grey placeholder text inside the input.
• "disabled": (Boolean) Make the field read-only (same as Schema readOnly: true).
• "weight": (Integer) Reorder fields (lower numbers float to top).
• "hideActions": (Boolean) For Arrays only—removes "Add/Remove" buttons (useful for 1:1 nested forms).

3. Specific Widget Options

When you set a specific "widget", these extra options become available:

4. Auto-Create with Taxonomy

You can also use a Taxonomy vocabulary as the source. When allowCreate is enabled with a taxonomy source, new entries are automatically created as terms in the specified vocabulary.

"brand": {
  "ui:options": {
    "widget": "tagify",
    "allowCreate": true,
    "source": {
      "plugin": "taxonomy",
      "config": {
        "vocabulary": "brands"
      }
    }
  }
}

User interface changes

• Select2 Fields: Will be rendered as Tagify input fields (visually similar, but more responsive).
• Select or Other Fields: Instead of a radio button/select box + textfield combo, users will see a single Tagify input to select an existing option or type a new value and press Enter to create it. Default Help Text: Fields with allowCreate: true will automatically display "Select or create a new [label]" as a description if none is provided, improving usability out of the box.

API changes

• Dependencies:
  • Removed: drupal/select2, drupal/select_or_other
  • Added: drupal/tagify
• WidgetRouter:
  • getSelectType() now returns select_tagify for select2, autocomplete, and select_other configuration types.
  • getDropdownElement() logic updated to use select_tagify or custom textfield for 'allowCreate'.
  • Removed legacy properties specific to select_or_other (e.g., #other_option).

Remaining tasks

• [ ] Fix failing tests (Note: Testing environment currently unavailable).
• [ ] Verify data integrity (ensure values saved by old widgets load correctly in Tagify).
• [ ] Remove left over references to select2 and select_or_other for compatibility (in new major version?).