November 2019 Summaries

Sanity has introduced asset sources, a new feature designed to enhance the flexibility of its image selector by allowing users to customize and extend it according to their specific needs. This feature enables the replacement of the default image selector with custom or multiple selectors, offers options to save image files in various formats, and supports the installation of asset selectors as plugins. Key plugins include the Unsplash asset source, which integrates directly with Unsplash's extensive photo library, and the Cloudinary asset source plugin, which facilitates access to Cloudinary media within Sanity Studio. Users are encouraged to build their own asset source selectors, with guidance available through documentation and existing plugin code for inspiration. Additionally, Sanity announced a competition to celebrate this feature, inviting developers to create and share their asset source plugins for a chance to win premium swag.

GROQ is a versatile query language designed for querying, joining, and transforming JSON documents without the need for schemas or resolvers, enabling users to efficiently manipulate JSON data. It allows users to find objects based on nested field values, rewrite keys, and reorder objects within arrays according to property values, while offering functions for counting, selecting, and default value fallback. Originally available only within Sanity's query engine, GROQ was open-sourced at the JAMstack conference in London and is now accessible as a JavaScript library for use in applications and via the command line. Promoted as potentially more user-friendly than other tools, GROQ aims to simplify the process of working with JSON data, with resources such as a GROQ article on CSS-tricks offering further guidance.