Limit Event description field to 200 characters (#1099)

[rustynwac]

Description

Long event descriptions overflow the event preview UI (see #1099). This caps the Events description field at 200 characters and updates the field's admin helper text so editors know the limit up front.

Related Issues

Fixes #1099

Key Changes

• src/collections/Events/index.ts — add maxLength: 200 to the description textarea and change its admin description from "Short description/summary for event previews" to "Short description/summary for event previews. Limit 200 characters.". Payload enforces maxLength both in the admin UI and on save (Local/REST API).
• src/payload-types.ts — regenerated; the field's admin description flows through as the JSDoc comment on Event.description.

How to test

1. pnpm seed, open localhost:3000/admin, create/edit an Event.
2. The Description field shows the "Limit 200 characters." helper text; entering more than 200 characters fails validation on save.

Automated / verification:

• pnpm tsc, pnpm lint, pnpm test (525 passing), pnpm fallow:audit — all clean.
• pnpm payload migrate:create reports no schema changes (maxLength is validation-only; the SQLite column is unchanged), so no migration is included.
• Ran a throwaway Local API script against a seeded DB: a 200-char description is accepted and a 201-char description is rejected (The following field is invalid: Description).

Screenshots

Over the limit, dark theme — the counter turns red:

Over the limit, light theme — same state, theme-aware color:

Within the limit, dark theme:

Within the limit, light theme:

Migration Explanation

None required — maxLength adds validation only and does not alter the database schema.

Future enhancements / Questions

• The Courses collection has a description field with the same original helper text but was left unchanged, since this issue is specifically about Events. Happy to apply the same cap there if wanted.
• ⚠️ Drift note: docs/events-and-courses.md is drift-bound to Events/index.ts, so the drift check will flag it as stale from this change. The doc prose is still accurate (it lists description as a field but doesn't document length constraints), so it just needs a re-link: drift link docs/events-and-courses.md src/collections/Events/index.ts --doc-is-still-accurate. I couldn't run this in my environment because the drift binary isn't installed there and couldn't be fetched.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

https://claude.ai/code/session_016s7MJjeP8Mr3KRiRA22WwJ

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[github-actions]

Preview deployment: https://claudexevent-description-limit-1099.preview.avy-fx.org

[rustynwac]

Passed the Rusty test

[busbyk]

@rustynwac Heads up before this merges: 32 published events currently in production already have descriptions longer than 200 characters. Nothing breaks retroactively — those events keep displaying fine and draft saves still work — but the next time someone edits and publishes one of them, it'll fail validation until the description is trimmed under 200. See those here.

If that's acceptable then cool - just want an explicit 👍 knowing the impact.

One more wrinkle: Payload doesn't render a live character counter on this field, so editors only find out via the helper text or the validation error at publish time. Should we add a character counter?

[rustynwac]

Fine on historical events. I figured that would be the case.

If the validation error is explicit then that's good enough for now I think!

[busbyk]

Added a live character counter under the Description field so the 200-character cap is visible while typing instead of only surfacing as a validation error on publish.

• New DescriptionWithCharCount field-description component (src/components/DescriptionWithCharCount/index.tsx) renders the field's existing helper text plus 137/200 characters, turning red once the value goes over the limit (theme-aware, uses the admin .text-error class).
• It reads both the helper text and the limit off the field config, so it drops onto any textarea with a maxLength — relevant if the Courses description field gets the same cap.
• Verified in the local admin UI: the count updates per keystroke and flags over-limit values.
• The field's admin.description dropped its now-redundant "Limit 200 characters." sentence, which is the only reason payload-types.ts changed.

@rustynwac — worth re-checking on the preview deployment once it rebuilds.

Note this does not change the production-content picture: maxLength is still validation-only and drafts skip validation, so the ~30 of 49 production events already over 200 characters will still fail on their next publish. That's still the open question on this PR.