Hi Hristian,

Thanks for the response! I would like to create DrawerItems using strictly markup. While you can achieve a similar approach using Template or ItemTemplate, you cannot use strictly markup.

Explanation

Template and ItemTemplate are designed to act sort of like factories that build the markup based on the Data parameter. This requires you to define Data in code. Also, if you need a hierarchical Drawer, you have to add extra code to enable that functionality. This is not strictly markup. You could opt to not define Data at all and use Template (which I have), but you still have to add code to enable hierarchical functionality. Furthermore, you also have to define TItem even though there is no Data, which clutters the file as it takes up space, but adds nothing of value to me as the developer.

Request

Overall, I would like the Drawer component to not have a Data parameter at all. Instead of passing in Data, you would pass in strictly markup. I would also like the Drawer component to support hierarchical menus without the need to add extra code or use Template, but I have another feature request for that.

Reason

The reason I make this request is for a better developer experience. For me, it makes more sense to be able to use strictly markup because you can directly see the markup rather than seeing a list of data that's passed into something that builds markup. This leads to quicker development and maintenance.

As an example, lets assume we have to build a complex sidebar menu that is hierarchical, has some links that open new tabs, and requires authentication. I have to add support for all those features into my list of data and the Drawer Template that builds the markup. So, I have to add more properties to my list of data and add conditionals to the Drawer Template. With the extra properties and conditionals, it becomes even more difficult to visualize the sidebar menu when I'm developing and maintaining the sidebar menu. If I could just strictly use markup, I can add in the functionality only where its needed without adding extra properties to a list of data or using conditionals. As a result, I can very easily determine which items on the sidebar menu are authenticated or open in a new tab at a glance.

Furthermore, other popular Blazor component libraries follow the implementation I'm requesting. If you look at MudBlazor, SyncFusion, and DevExpress, all of there Drawer/Sidebar components do not have a Data (or comparable) parameter. Instead, they strictly use markup. This is what I would like to see:

• https://mudblazor.com/components/drawer#api
• https://blazor.syncfusion.com/demos/sidebar/default-functionalities
• https://docs.devexpress.com/Blazor/DevExpress.Blazor.DxDrawer