oliverdavies.uk/content/node.99c87aed-1bac-4f19-9ae2-15e2ccd9cd02.yml

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- value: '2025-05-11T09:00:03+00:00'
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title:
- value: 'Easy feature flags'
created:
- value: '2024-12-22T00:00:00+00:00'
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body:
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<p>I recently <a href="/daily/2024/12/18/self-hosting-podcast">switched to self hosting</a> the MP3 files for the episodes of the Beyond Blocks podcast.</p>
<p>The first step was to upload the files, followed by <a href="/daily/2024/12/19/working-iteratively">updating the player</a> on the episode pages to use the HTML audio element.</p>
<p>As I didn't want the player to switch immediately, I wrapped the new code in a feature flag (or feature toggle) to keep the original player active.</p>
<p>Later, I could swap the player by enabling the feature flag.</p>
<h2 id="how-i-did-it">How I did it</h2>
<p>Feature flagging is a straight forward concept.</p>
<p>You isolate the code you want to be togglable within a conditional - i.e. an <code>if</code> statement - that you can easily change in the future.</p>
<p>My website built with Sculpin, so I can add <code>self_host_podcast_episodes: false</code> to my sculpin_site.yml file.</p>
<p>This will be available as <code>site.self_host_podcast_episodes</code> and I can use this in my code to show the appropriate player.</p>
<p>Something like:</p>
<pre><code class="twig">{% if site.self_host_podcast_episodes %}
Show the new player.
{% else %}
Show the old player.
{% endif %}</code></pre>
<h2 id="here%27s-the-thing">Here's the thing</h2>
<p>I like feature flags as you can separate deploying a feature from releasing it.</p>
<p>The code can be deployed but not active until the feature is enabled.</p>
<p>It's easy to enable, and easy to revert if needed.</p>
<p>In Drupal applications, I use the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/feature_toggle">Feature Toggle module</a>, so I can toggle feature flags by logging in and updating a checkbox.</p>
<p>I also <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/feature_toggle_twig">wrote a module</a> with a Twig function so I can check if a feature toggle is enabled directly in a Twig template - the same as I'm doing in Sculpin.</p>
format: full_html
processed: |
<p>I recently <a href="/daily/2024/12/18/self-hosting-podcast">switched to self hosting</a> the MP3 files for the episodes of the Beyond Blocks podcast.</p>
<p>The first step was to upload the files, followed by <a href="/daily/2024/12/19/working-iteratively">updating the player</a> on the episode pages to use the HTML audio element.</p>
<p>As I didn't want the player to switch immediately, I wrapped the new code in a feature flag (or feature toggle) to keep the original player active.</p>
<p>Later, I could swap the player by enabling the feature flag.</p>
<h2 id="how-i-did-it">How I did it</h2>
<p>Feature flagging is a straight forward concept.</p>
<p>You isolate the code you want to be togglable within a conditional - i.e. an <code>if</code> statement - that you can easily change in the future.</p>
<p>My website built with Sculpin, so I can add <code>self_host_podcast_episodes: false</code> to my sculpin_site.yml file.</p>
<p>This will be available as <code>site.self_host_podcast_episodes</code> and I can use this in my code to show the appropriate player.</p>
<p>Something like:</p>
<pre><code class="twig">{% if site.self_host_podcast_episodes %}
Show the new player.
{% else %}
Show the old player.
{% endif %}</code></pre>
<h2 id="here%27s-the-thing">Here's the thing</h2>
<p>I like feature flags as you can separate deploying a feature from releasing it.</p>
<p>The code can be deployed but not active until the feature is enabled.</p>
<p>It's easy to enable, and easy to revert if needed.</p>
<p>In Drupal applications, I use the <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/feature_toggle">Feature Toggle module</a>, so I can toggle feature flags by logging in and updating a checkbox.</p>
<p>I also <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/feature_toggle_twig">wrote a module</a> with a Twig function so I can check if a feature toggle is enabled directly in a Twig template - the same as I'm doing in Sculpin.</p>
summary: null
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