[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #56129: Author Dropdown menu missing in Quick Edit

[WordPress Trac]

#56129: Author Dropdown menu missing in Quick Edit
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 Reporter:  iheartdogs       |       Owner:  (none)
     Type:  defect (bug)     |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:
Component:  Quick/Bulk Edit  |     Version:  6.0
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:  worksforme
 Keywords:                   |     Focuses:  performance
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Changes (by johnjamesjacoby):

 * keywords:  reporter-feedback 2nd-opinion dev-feedback =>
 * status:  reopened => closed
 * focuses:  multisite, performance => performance
 * resolution:   => worksforme


Comment:

 This is a 2-part problem:

 1. Querying the database for users becomes an expensive operation as the
 number of registered users grows
 2. A single select with potentially 10k options is a bad user experience,
 and may even slow down the browser

 Keep in mind this code is not multisite-specific.

 `wp_is_large_user_count()` is the correct function to use because of the
 way that User Role & Capability data is stored in the database, the same
 database performance concern exists for both single & multi-site
 installations.

 > For instance, a network may have over 10,000 users, but a particular
 subsite may only have 2 or 3 users who have the ability to write posts.
 Therefore, relying on the function `wp_is_large_user_count()` to decide
 whether or not to hide the 'Change Author' option leads to incorrect
 outcomes.

 Not exactly, but I do understand what you mean.

 The way it works, is if there are more than 10k users in the `wp_users`
 database table, there will be more than 100k rows in `wp_usermeta` which
 is where roles & caps are stored. The database query to only get users
 with the `$post_type_object->cap->edit_posts` capability will require
 joining both of those tables together, and is highly likely to be slow
 enough to be noticeable, even if only 2 or 3 users can actually author
 posts.

 Re-closing this ticket as worksforme, because it is actually working as
 intended, and a working solution to bypass it exists in the comments.

 If we do want to improve this UX, I think a new ticket with an enhancement
 proposal might be the way to go? For example, making this a search &
 autocomplete (like Tags uses) might be a decent compromise; show an input
 instead of a select, etc...?

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/56129#comment:11>
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