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Implement widgets in the developer portal

  • Članak
  • 6 min. za čitanje

In this tutorial, you implement a widget that consumes data from an external API and displays it on the API Management developer portal.

The widget will retrieve session descriptions from the sample Conference API. The session identifier will be set through a designated widget editor.

To help you in the development process, refer to the completed widget located in the examples folder of the API Management developer portal GitHub repository: /examples/widgets/conference-session.

Screenshot of published widget

Prerequisites

Copy the scaffold

Use a widget scaffold from the /scaffolds folder as a starting point to build the new widget.

  1. Copy the folder /scaffolds/widget to /community/widgets.
  2. Rename the folder to conference-session.

Rename exported module classes

Rename the exported module classes by replacing the Widget prefix with ConferenceSession and change the binding name to avoid name collision, in these files:

  • widget.design.module.ts

  • widget.publish.module.ts

  • widget.runtime.module.ts

For example, in the widget.design.module.ts file, change WidgetDesignModule to ConferenceSessionDesignModule:

export class WidgetDesignModule implements IInjectorModule {
    public register(injector: IInjector): void {
        injector.bind("widget", WidgetViewModel);
        injector.bind("widgetEditor", WidgetEditorViewModel);

to

export class ConferenceSessionDesignModule implements IInjectorModule {
    public register(injector: IInjector): void {
        injector.bind("conferenceSession", WidgetViewModel);
        injector.bind("conferenceSessionEditor", WidgetEditorViewModel);

Register the widget

Register the widget's modules in the portal's root modules by adding the following lines in the respective files:

  1. src/apim.design.module.ts - a module that registers design-time dependencies.

    import { ConferenceSessionDesignModule } from "../community/widgets/conference-session/widget.design.module";

...
injector.bindModule(new ConferenceSessionDesignModule());

  2. src/apim.publish.module.ts - a module that registers publish-time dependencies.

    import { ConferenceSessionPublishModule } from "../community/widgets/conference-session/widget.publish.module";

 ...

 injector.bindModule(new ConferenceSessionPublishModule());

  3. src/apim.runtime.module.ts - runtime dependencies.

    import { ConferenceSessionRuntimeModule } from "../community/widgets/conference-session/widget.runtime.module";

...

injector.bindModule(new ConferenceSessionRuntimeModule());

Place the widget in the portal

Now you're ready to plug in the duplicated scaffold and use it in developer portal.

  1. Run the npm start command.

  2. When the application loads, place the new widget on a page. You can find it under the name Your widget in the Community category in the widget selector.

    Screenshot of widget selector

  3. Save the page by pressing Ctrl+S (or ⌘+S on macOS).

    Note

    In design-time, you can still interact with the website by holding the Ctrl (or ⌘) key.

Add custom properties

For the widget to fetch session descriptions, it needs to be aware of the session identifier. Add the Session ID property to the respective interfaces and classes:

In order for the widget to fetch the session description, it needs to be aware of the session identifier. Add the session ID property to the respective interfaces and classes:

  1. widgetContract.ts - data contract (data layer) defining how the widget configuration is persisted.

    export interface WidgetContract extends Contract {
    sessionNumber: string;
}

  2. widgetModel.ts - model (business layer) - a primary representation of the widget in the system. It's updated by editors and rendered by the presentation layer.

    export class WidgetModel {
    public sessionNumber: string;
}

  3. ko/widgetViewModel.ts - viewmodel (presentation layer) - a UI framework-specific object that developer portal renders with the HTML template.

    Note

    You don't need to change anything in this file.

Configure binders

Enable the flow of the sessionNumber from the data source to the widget presentation. Edit the ModelBinder and ViewModelBinder entities:

  1. widgetModelBinder.ts helps to prepare the model using data described in the contract.

    export class WidgetModelBinder implements IModelBinder<WidgetModel> {
    public async contractToModel(contract: WidgetContract): Promise<WidgetModel> {
        model.sessionNumber = contract.sessionNumber || "107"; // 107 is the default session id
        ...
    }

    public modelToContract(model: WidgetModel): Contract {
        const contract: WidgetContract = {
            sessionNumber: model.sessionNumber
            ...
        };
        ...
    }
}

  2. ko/widgetViewModelBinder.ts knows how developer portal needs to present the model (as a viewmodel) in a specific UI framework.

    ...
public async updateViewModel(model: WidgetModel, viewModel: WidgetViewModel): Promise<void> {
        viewModel.runtimeConfig(JSON.stringify({
            sessionNumber: model.sessionNumber
        }));
    }
}
...

Adjust design-time widget template

The components of each scope run independently. They have separate dependency injection containers, their own configuration, lifecycle, etc. They may even be powered by different UI frameworks (in this example it is Knockout JS).

From the design-time perspective, any runtime component is just an HTML tag with certain attributes and/or content. Configuration if necessary is passed with plain markup. In simple cases, like in this example, the parameter is passed in the attribute. If the configuration is more complex, you could use an identifier of the required setting(s) fetched by a designated configuration provider (for example, ISettingsProvider).

  1. Update the ko/widgetView.html file:

    <widget-runtime data-bind="attr: { params: runtimeConfig }"></widget-runtime>

    When developer portal runs the attr binding in design-time or publish-time, the resulting HTML is:

    <widget-runtime params="{ sessionNumber: 107 }"></widget-runtime>

    Then, in runtime, widget-runtime component will read sessionNumber and use it in the initialization code (see below).

  2. Update the widgetHandlers.ts file to assign the session ID on creation:

    ...
createModel: async () => {
    var model = new WidgetModel();
    model.sessionNumber = "107";
        return model;
    }
...

Revise runtime view model

Runtime components are the code running in the website itself. For example, in the API Management developer portal, they are all the scripts behind dynamic components (for example, API details, API console), handling operations such as code sample generation, sending requests, etc.

Your runtime component's view model needs to have the following methods and properties:

  • The sessionNumber property (marked with Param decorator) used as a component input parameter passed from outside (the markup generated in design-time; see the previous step).

  • The sessionDescription property bound to the widget template (see widget-runtime.html later in this article).

  • The initialize method (with OnMounted decorator) invoked after the widget is created and all its parameters are assigned. It's a good place to read the sessionNumber and invoke the API using the HttpClient. The HttpClient is a dependency injected by the IoC (Inversion of Control) container.

  • First, developer portal creates the widget and assigns all its parameters. Then it invokes the initialize method.

    ...
import * as ko from "knockout";
import { Component, RuntimeComponent, OnMounted, OnDestroyed, Param } from "@paperbits/common/ko/decorators";
import { HttpClient, HttpRequest } from "@paperbits/common/http";
...

export class WidgetRuntime {
    public readonly sessionDescription: ko.Observable<string>;

    constructor(private readonly httpClient: HttpClient) {
        ...
        this.sessionNumber = ko.observable();
        this.sessionDescription = ko.observable();
        ...
    }

    @Param()
    public readonly sessionNumber: ko.Observable<string>;

    @OnMounted()
    public async initialize(): Promise<void> {
        ...
        const sessionNumber = this.sessionNumber();

        const request: HttpRequest = {
            url: `https://conferenceapi.azurewebsites.net/session/${sessionNumber}`,
            method: "GET"
        };

        const response = await this.httpClient.send<string>(request);
        const sessionDescription = response.toText();

        this.sessionDescription(sessionDescription);
        ...
    }
    ...
}

Tweak the widget template

Update your widget to display the session description.

Use a paragraph tag and a markdown (or text) binding in the ko/runtime/widget-runtime.html file to render the description:

<p data-bind="markdown: sessionDescription"></p>

Add the widget editor

The widget is now configured to fetch the description of the session 107. You specified 107 in the code as the default session. To check that you did everything right, run npm start and confirm that developer portal shows the description on the page.

Now, carry out these steps to allow the user to set up the session ID through a widget editor:

  1. Update the ko/widgetEditorViewModel.ts file:

    export class WidgetEditor implements WidgetEditor<WidgetModel> {
    public readonly sessionNumber: ko.Observable<string>;

    constructor() {
        this.sessionNumber = ko.observable();
    }

    @Param()
    public model: WidgetModel;

    @Event()
    public onChange: (model: WidgetModel) => void;

    @OnMounted()
    public async initialize(): Promise<void> {
        this.sessionNumber(this.model.sessionNumber);
        this.sessionNumber.subscribe(this.applyChanges);
    }

    private applyChanges(): void {
        this.model.sessionNumber = this.sessionNumber();
        this.onChange(this.model);
    }
}

    The editor view model uses the same approach that you've seen previously, but there is a new property onChange, decorated with @Event(). It wires the callback to notify the listeners (in this case - a content editor) of changes to the model.

  2. Update the ko/widgetEditorView.html file:

    <input type="text" class="form-control" data-bind="textInput: sessionNumber" />

  3. Run npm start again. You should be able to change sessionNumber in the widget editor. Change the ID to 108, save the changes, and refresh the browser's tab. If you're experiencing problems, you may need to add the widget onto the page again.

    Screenshot of widget editor

Rename the widget

Change the widget name in the constants.ts file:

...
export const widgetName = "conference-session";
export const widgetDisplayName = "Conference session";
...

Note

If you're contributing the widget to the repository, the widgetName needs to be the same as its folder name and needs to be derived from the display name (lowercase and spaces replaced with dashes). The category should remain Community.

Next steps

Learn more about the developer portal: