Allow calling formatContent() on a CommentPost without passing a request

[matteocontrini]

When the Formatter was made dependent on the current HTTP request in 0ab9fac, the $request parameter on the render method on the formatter was made optional, but it wasn't on the formatContent($request) method in the CommentPost class.

As discussed here, there might be the need to generate the HTML content in contexts where the request is not available.

The proposal is to change, in the CommentPost class, this signature from:

public function formatContent(ServerRequestInterface $request)

to:

public function formatContent(ServerRequestInterface $request = null)

[clarkwinkelmann]

Cross-linking the PR: #1721

Not sure if it's worth an additional issue, but IMO it would be more logical to pass the actor as parameter, assuming guest if no actor was given. That way the same method can also be useful in the context of sending emails for example, where there is no request, but definitely is an actor.

[franzliedke]

Definitely 👍 for the proposal - please feel free to send a PR!

@clarkwinkelmann That was also my reaction, but Toby's response isn't completely without merit. Can you share example code where you are using the formatter in a non-request context, please?

[franzliedke]

We could also consider passing in something like a FormattingContext or FormattingOptions that would be determined / retrieved by the calling site based on context.

[clarkwinkelmann]

I have no example of my own but it could maybe be used here for example https://github.com/flarum/subscriptions/blob/v0.1.0-beta.9/views/emails/newPost.blade.php#L10

[matteocontrini]

Is it still possible to have the PR merged for beta10, as a temporary solution? Thanks