Should we divide data model and layout definition?

[bbtgnn]

Good morning :)

First of all, let me say that I absolutely love Payload: we're currently moving our project to Payload because of the high level of flexibility it offers. Keep up the good work!

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Here's my idea: while working on creating collections, it felt a bit awkward to me to mix the data model fields with the layout fields – it felt like a significant violation of the separation of concerns principle.

In my opinion, it would be better to separate the two (like, a CollectionConfig and a CollectionUIConfig). This separation would allow one to focus on the data model and then also freely change the layout without worrying about breaking the data model.

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As a side note, I also had this idea on how to enforce type safety when moving information from the collection config to the UI config.

If we do something like this:

Copy code
import { Field } from "payload/types";

const fields = [
  {
    name: "name",
    type: "text"
  },
  {
    name: "age",
    type: "number",
  },
] as const satisfies ReadonlyArray<Field>;

type FieldsNames = (typeof fields)[number]["name"];

you can see that FieldsNames correctly has the type "name" | "age". And satisfies enforces type safety on the Fields type.
This approach ensures that this type can be easily used in the definition of the UI config.

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Let me know what you think!