Trying to follow along with this documentation topic here about creating a custom dashboard:
At step 2 you choose either to utilize the umbraco-package.json file or a manifests.ts. It seems as if the rest of the documentation assumes you go with the json file approach which has me confused.
You always need a manifest because that’s obviously where you register your extensions.
You can write your individual extensions directly in umbraco-package.json. However, you can also bundle all your manifests in a ‘bundle’ and register that bundle as the only extension in umbraco-package.json: Bundle | CMS | Umbraco Documentation
So you always need a umbraco-package.json, but the way how you register your extensions is up to you. If you know development well enough, I would always opt for the bundle approach. This way you can spot mistakes easier by compiling typescript into the bundle.
The example is a bit weird in my opinion because that example has the dashboard itself as an the entrypoint, but in reality you probably have multiple extensions working together. That’s why I like the bundle approach best.
I had the same confusion when I read that documentation as well, trying to make my first plugin. I would highly recommend checking out GitHub - LottePitcher/opinionated-package-starter: Get a head start when creating Umbraco Packages · GitHub I have used that to successfully make a few packages now and by studying it’s structure and built-in examples, I was able to figure out a lot of stuff.
Yes, but even the extension template of Umbraco itself is already quite good. Less explanation, but still enough plumbing to understand the bundle approach.
I still don’t understand manifests.ts that is mentioned in that documentation I linked.
When is that ever used? Is it used instead of umbraco-package.json? Or does it compile into that? Or is it used in tandem with it?