This section describes how to develop the Bulk Editor tool and how to extend the Product List component, which is based on the Bulk Editor.
When working with the Bulk Editor, there are several query parameters that you can add to the URL to call the Bulk Editor with a specific configuration. If you want the Bulk Editor to always be used with a certain configuration, for example, as in the Product List component, then you must edit bulkeditor.jsp
(in /libs/wcm/core/components/bulkeditor) or create a component with the specific configuration. Changes made using query parameters are not permanent.
For example, if you type the following in your browser’s URL:
https://<servername><port_number>/etc/importers/bulkeditor.html?rootPath=/content/geometrixx/en&queryParams=geometrixx&initialSearch=true&hrp=true
The Bulk Editor displays without the Root Path field as hrp=true hides the field. With the parameter hrp=false, the field is displayed (the default value).
The following is a list of the Bulk Editor query parameters:
Each parameter can have a long and a short name. For example the long name for the search root path is rootPath
, the short one is rp
. If the long name is not defined, the short one is read from the request.
Parameter (long name / short name) |
Type |
Description |
rootPath / rp |
String | search root path |
queryParams / qp |
String | search query |
contentMode / cm |
Boolean | when true, the content mode is enabled |
colsValue / cv |
String[] | searched properties (checked values from colsSelection displayed as checkboxes) |
extraCols / ec |
String[] | extra searched properties (displayed in a comma-separated text field) |
initialSearch / is |
Boolean | when true, the query is performed on page load |
colsSelection / cs |
String[] | searched properties selection (displayed as checkboxes) |
showGridOnly / sgo |
Boolean | when true, shows only the grid and not the search panel |
searchPanelCollapsed / spc | Boolean | when true, search panel is collapsed on load |
hideRootPath / hrp | Boolean | when true, hides the root path field |
hideQueryParams / hqp | Boolean | when true, hides the query field |
hideContentMode / hcm | Boolean | when true, hides the content mode field |
hideColsSelection / hcs | Boolean | when true, hides the columns selection field |
hideExtraCols / hec | Boolean | when true, hides the extra columns field |
hideSearchButton | Boolean | when true, hides the search button |
hideSaveButton / hsavep | Boolean | when true, hides the save button |
hideExportButton / hexpb | Boolean | when true, hides the export button |
hideImportButton / hib | Boolean | when true, hides the import button |
hideResultNumber / hrn | Boolean | when true, hides the grid search result number text |
hideInsertButton / hinsertb | Boolean | when true, hides the grid insert button |
hideDeleteButton / hdelb | Boolean | when true, hides the grid delete button |
hidePathCol / hpc | Boolean | when true, hides the grid "path" column |
This section provides an overview of how to use the Bulk Editor and gives a description of the existing Geometrixx component based on the Bulk Editor: the Product List component.
The Product List component lets users display and edit a table of data. For example, you can use the Product List component to represent products in a catalog. The information is presented in a standard HTML table and any editing is performed in the Edit dialog box, which contains a BulkEditor widget. (This Bulk Editor is the same as the one accessible at /etc/importers/bulkeditor.html or through the Tools menu). The Product List component has been configured for specific, limited Bulk Editor functionality. Every part of the Bulk Editor (or components derived from the Bulk Editor) can be configured.
With the Bulk Editor, you can add, modify, delete, filter, and export the rows, save modifications, and import a set of rows. Every row is stored as a node under the Product List component instance itself. Every cell is a property of each node. This is a design choice and it can easily be changed, for example, you could store nodes somewhere else in the repository. The query servlet’s role is to return the list of the nodes to display; the search path is defined as a Product List instance.
The source code of the Product List component is available in the repository at /apps/geometrixx/components/productlist and is composed of several parts like all Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) components:
Here is an XML representation of the dialog sub nodes:
<editor
jcr:primaryType="cq:Widget"
colsSelection="[ProductId,ProductName,Color,CatalogCode,SellingSku]"
colsValue="[ProductId,ProductName,Color,CatalogCode,SellingSku]"
contentMode="false"
exportURL="/etc/importers/bulkeditor/export.tsv"
extraCols="Selection"
hideColsSelection="false"
hideContentMode="true"
hideDeleteButton="false"
hideExportButton="false"
hideExtraCols="true"
hideImportButton="false"
hideInsertButton="false"
hideMoveButtons="false"
hidePathCol="true"
hideRootPath="true"
hideSaveButton="false"
hideSearchButton="false"
importURL="/etc/importers/bulkeditor/import"
initialSearch="true"
insertedResourceType="geometrixx/components/productlist/sku"
queryParams=""
queryURL="/etc/importers/bulkeditor/query.json"
saveURL="/etc/importers/bulkeditor/save"
xtype="bulkeditor">
<saveButton
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
text="Save modifications"/>
<searchButton
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
text="Apply filter"/>
<queryParamsInput
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
fieldDescription="Enter here your filters"
fieldLabel="Filters"/>
<searchPanel
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
height="200">
<defaults
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
labelWidth="150"/>
</searchPanel>
<grid
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
height="275"/>
<store jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
<sortInfo
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
direction="ASC"
field="CatalogCode"/>
</store>
<colModel
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
width="150"/>
<colsMetadata jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
<Selection
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
checkbox="true"
forcedPosition="0"
headerText=""/>
<ProductId
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
cellCls="productlist-cell-productid"
headerText="Product Id"/>
<ProductName
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
cellStyle="background-color: #FFCC99;"
headerText="Product Name"/>
<CatalogCode
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
cellStyle="background-color: #EDEDED;"
headerText="Catalog Code"/>
<Color jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
<editor
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
store="[Blue,Red,Yellow]"
triggerAction="all"
typeAhead="true"
xtype="combo"/>
</Color>
<SellingSku
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
headerText="Sku Id"/>
</colsMetadata>
</editor>
Every part of the Bulk Editor can be configured. The following table lists all the configuration properties for the Bulk Editor.
Property name | Definition |
rootPath | Search root path |
queryParams | Search query |
contentMode | True to enable content mode: properties are read on jcr:content node and not on search result node |
colsValue | Searched properties (checked values from colsSelection displayed as checkboxes) |
extraCols | Extra searched properties (displayed in a textfield comma-separated) |
initialSearch | True to perform query on page load |
colsSelection | Searched properties selection (displayed as checkboxes) |
showGridOnly | True to show only the grid and not the search panel (do not forget to set the initialSearch to true) |
searchPanelCollapsed | True to collapse search panel by default |
hideRootPath | Hide root path field |
hideQueryParams | Hide query field |
hideContentMode | Hide content mode field |
hideColsSelection | Hide cols selection field |
hideExtraCols | Hide extra cols field |
hideSearchButton | Hide search button |
hideSaveButton | Hide save button |
hideExportButton | Hide export button |
hideImportButton | Hide import button |
hideResultNumber | Hide grid search result number text |
hideInsertButton | Hide grid insert button |
hideDeleteButton | Hide grid delete button |
hidePathCol | Hide grid "path" column |
queryURL | Path to query servlet |
exportURL | Path to export servlet |
importURL | Path to import servlet |
insertedResourceType | Resource type added to node when a row is inserted |
saveButton | Save button widget config |
searchButton | Search button widget config |
exportButton | Export button widget config |
importButton | Import button widget config |
searchPanel | Search panel widget config |
grid | Grid widget config |
store | Store config |
colModel | Grid column model config |
rootPathInput | rootPath widget config |
queryParamsInput | queryParams widget config |
contentModeInput | contentMode widget config |
colsSelectionInput | colsSelection widget config |
extraColsInput | extraCols widget config |
colsMetadata | Column metadata config. Possible properties are (applied to all cells of the column):
|
You can configure for each column:
display properties: html style, CSS class and read-only
a checkbox
a forced position
CSS and read-only columns
The Bulk Editor has three column configurations:
The configuration must be defined as the following one:
"colsMetadata": {
"Column name": {
"cellStyle": "html style",
"cellCls": "CSS class",
"readOnly": true/false
}
}
The following example can be found in the productlist component (/apps/geometrixx/components/productlist/dialog/items/editor/colsMetadata?lang=en):
<colsMetadata jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
<Selection
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
checkbox="true"
forcedPosition="0"
headerText=""/>
<ProductId
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
cellCls="productlist-cell-productid"
headerText="Product Id"/>
<ProductName
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
cellStyle="background-color: #FFCC99;"
headerText="Product Name"/>
<CatalogCode
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
cellStyle="background-color: #EDEDED;"
headerText="Catalog Code"/>
<Color jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
<editor
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
store="[Blue,Red,Yellow]"
triggerAction="all"
typeAhead="true"
xtype="combo"/>
</Color>
<SellingSku
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
headerText="Sku Id"/>
</colsMetadata>
Checkbox
If the checkbox configuration property is set to true, all the cells of the column are rendered as checkboxes. A checked box sends true to the server Save servlet, false otherwise. In the header menu, you can also select all or select none. These options are enabled if the selected header is the header of a checkbox column.
In the former example, the selection column contains only checkboxes as checkbox=“true”.
Forced position
The forced position metadata forcedPosition lets you specify where the column is placed within the grid: 0 is the first place and <number of columns>-1 is the last position. Any other value is ignored.
In the former example, the selection column is the first column as forcedPosition=“0”.
By default, the Query servlet can be found at /libs/wcm/core/components/bulkeditor/json.java
. You can configure another path to retrieve the data.
The Query servlet works as follows: it receives a GQL query and the columns to return, computes the results, and sends the results back to the Bulk Editor as a JSON stream.
In the Product List component case, the two parameters sent to the Query servlet are as follows:
And the JSON stream is returned as follows:
{
"hits": [{
"jcr:path": "/content/geometrixx/en/products/jcr:content/par/productlist/1258674828905",
"ProductId": "21",
"ProductName": "Cube",
"Color": "Blue",
"CatalogCode": "43244",
"SellingSku": "32131"
}
],
"results": 1
}
Each hit corresponds to one node and its properties, and is displayed as a row in the grid.
You can extend the Query servlet to return a complex inheritance model or return nodes stored at a specific logic place. The Query servlet can be used to do any kind of complex computation. The grid can then display rows that are an aggregate of several nodes in the repository. The modification and the saving of these rows must in that case be managed by the Save Servlet.
In the default configuration of the Bulk Editor each row is a node and the path of this node is stored in the row record. The Bulk Editor keeps the link between the row and the node through the jcr path. When a user edits the grid, a list of all of the modifications is built. When a user clicks Save, a POST query is sent to each path with the updated properties values. This is the basis of the Sling concept and it works well if each cell is a property of the node. But if the Query servlet is implemented to do inheritance computation, this model cannot work as a property returned by the Query servlet can be inherited from another node.
The Save servlet concept is that the modifications are not directly posted to each node but that they are posted to one servlet that does the saving job. This gives this servlet the possibility to analyze the modifications and save the properties on the right node.
Each updated property is sent to the servlet in the following format:
Parameter name: <jcr path>/<property name>
Example: /content/geometrixx/en/products/jcr:content/par/productlist/1258674859000/SellingSku
Value: <value>
Example: 12123
The servlet needs to know where the catalogCode property is stored.
A default Save servlet implementation is available at /libs/wcm/bulkeditor/save/POST.jsp and is used in the Product List component. It takes all the parameters from the request (with a <jcr path>/<property name> format) and writes properties on nodes using the JCR API. It also creates node if they do not exist (grid inserted rows).
The default code should not be used as is because it reimplements what the server natively does (a POST on <jcr path>/<property name>) and is therefore only a good starting point for building a Save servlet that can manage a property inheritance model.