Documentation AEM as a Cloud Service User Guide

Getting Started with the Universal Editor in AEM getting-started

Last update: Mon Apr 08 2024 00:00:00 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Learn how to get access to the Universal Editor and how to start instrumenting your first AEM app to use it.

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If you would prefer to dive right into an example, you can review the Universal Editor Sample App on GitHub.

Onboarding Steps onboarding

Although the Universal Editor can edit content from any source, this document will use an AEM app as an example.

There are several steps to onboarding your AEM app and instrumenting it to use the Universal Editor.

Request access to the Universal Editor.
Include the Universal Editor core library.
Add the necessary OSGi configuration.
Instrument the page.

This document will guide you through these steps.

Request Access to the Universal Editor request-access

You first need to request access to the Universal Editor. Open `https://experience.adobe.com/#/aem/editor``, sign in, and validate if you have access to the Universal Editor.

In case you do not have access, it can be requested via a form linked on the same page.

Request access to the Universal Editor

Click Request access and fill out the form as directed to request access. An Adobe representative will review your request and reach out to discuss your use case.

Include the Universal Editor Core Library core-library

Before your app can be instrumented for use with the Universal Editor, it must include following dependency.

@adobe/universal-editor-cors

To activate the instrumentation, the following import must be added to your index.js.

import "@adobe/universal-editor-cors";

Alternative for Non-React Apps alternative

If you are not implementing a React app and/or require server-side rendering, an alternative method is to include the following to the document body.

<script src="https://universal-editor-service.experiencecloud.live/corslib/LATEST" async></script>

The latest version is always recommended, but previous versions of the service can be referenced in case of breaking changes.

https://universal-editor-service.experiencecloud.live/corslib/LATEST - The very latest UE CORS lib
https://universal-editor-service.experiencecloud.live/corslib/2/LATEST - The latest UE CORS lib under version 2.x
https://universal-editor-service.experiencecloud.live/corslib/2.1/LATEST - The latest UE CORS lib under version 2.1.x
https://universal-editor-service.experiencecloud.live/corslib/2.1.1- The exact UE CORS lib version 2.1.1

Add the Necessary OSGi Configurations osgi-configurations

To be able to edit AEM content with your app using the Universal Editor, CORS and cookie settings must be done within AEM.

The following OSGi configurations have to be set on the AEM authoring instance.

SameSite Cookies = None in com.day.crx.security.token.impl.impl.TokenAuthenticationHandler
Remove X-FRAME-OPTIONS: SAMEORIGIN Header in org.apache.sling.engine.impl.SlingMainServlet

com.day.crx.security.token.impl.impl.TokenAuthenticationHandler samesite-cookies

The login token cookie must be sent to AEM as a third-party domain. Therefore the same-site cookie must be set explicitly to None.

This property must be set in the com.day.crx.security.token.impl.impl.TokenAuthenticationHandler OSGi configuration.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jcr:root xmlns:sling="http://sling.apache.org/jcr/sling/1.0"
          xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0" jcr:primaryType="sling:OsgiConfig"
          token.samesite.cookie.attr="None" />

org.apache.sling.engine.impl.SlingMainServlet sameorigin

X-Frame-Options: SAMEORIGIN prevents rendering AEM pages within an iframe. Removing the header allows the pages to be loaded.

This property must be set in the org.apache.sling.engine.impl.SlingMainServlet OSGi configuration.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jcr:root xmlns:sling="http://sling.apache.org/jcr/sling/1.0"
          xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0"
          jcr:primaryType="sling:OsgiConfig"
          sling.additional.response.headers="[X-Content-Type-Options=nosniff]"/>

Instrument the Page instrument-page

The Universal Editor service requires a uniform resource name (URN) to identify and utilize the correct backend system for the content in the app being edited. Therefore, a URN schema is required to map content back to content resources.

Creating Connections connections

Connections which are used in the app are stored as <meta> tags in the page’s <head>.

<meta name="urn:adobe:aue:<category>:<referenceName>" content="<protocol>:<url>">

<category> - This is a classification of the connection with two options.
- system - For connection endpoints
- config - For defining optional configuration settings
<referenceName> - This is a short name which is reused in the document to identify the connection. E.g. aemconnection
<protocol> - This indicates which persistence plugin of the Universal Editor Persistence Service to use. E.g. aem
<url> - Ths is the URL to the system where the changes shall be persisted. E.g. http://localhost:4502

The identifier urn:adobe:aue:system represents the connection for the Adobe Universal Editor.

data-aue-resources will use the urn prefix to shorten the identifier.

data-aue-resource="urn:<referenceName>:<resource>"

<referenceName> - This is the named reference mentioned in the <meta> tag. E.g. aemconnection
<resource> - This is a pointer to the resource in the target system. E.g. an AEM content path such as /content/page/jcr:content

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See the document Attributes and Types for further details about the data attributes and types that the Universal Editor requires.

Example Connection example

<meta name="urn:adobe:aue:system:<referenceName>" content="<protocol>:<url>">

<html>
<head>
    <meta name="urn:adobe:aue:system:aemconnection" content="aem:https://localhost:4502">
    <meta name="urn:adobe:aue:system:fcsconnection" content="fcs:https://example.franklin.adobe.com/345fcdd">
</head>
<body>
        <aside>
          <ul data-aue-resource="urn:aemconnection:/content/example/list" data-aue-type="container">
            <li data-aue-resource="urn:aemconnection/content/example/listitem" data-aue-type="component">
              <p data-aue-prop="name" data-aue-type="text">Jane Doe</p>
              <p data-aue-prop="title" data-aue-type="text">Journalist</p>
              <img data-aue-prop="avatar" src="https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/icons/Adobe_Corporate_Horizontal_Red_HEX.svg" data-aue-type="image" alt="avatar"/>
            </li>

...

            <li data-aue-resource="urn:fcsconnection:/documents/mytext" data-aue-type="component">
              <p data-aue-prop="name" data-aue-type="text">John Smith</p>
              <p data-aue-resource="urn:aemconnection/content/example/another-source" data-aue-prop="title" data-aue-type="text">Photographer</p>
              <img data-aue-prop="avatar" src="https://www.adobe.com/content/dam/cc/icons/Adobe_Corporate_Horizontal_Red_HEX.svg" data-aue-type="image" alt="avatar"/>
            </li>
          </ul>
        </aside>
</body>
</html>

Configuration Settings configuration-settings

You can use the config prefix in your connection URN to set service and extension endpoints if necessary.

If you would like not to use the Universal Editor Service, which is hosted by Adobe, but your own hosted version, you can set this in a meta tag. To overwrite the default service endpoint that the Universal Editor provides, set your own service endpoint:

Meta name - urn:adobe:aue:config:service
Meta content - content="https://adobe.com" (example)

<meta name="urn:adobe:aue:config:service" content="<url>">

If you only want to have certain extensions enabled for a page, you can set this in a meta tag. To fetch extensions, set the extension endpoints:

Meta name: urn:adobe:aue:config:extensions
Meta content: content="https://adobe.com,https://anotherone.com,https://onemore.com" (example)

<meta name="urn:adobe:aue:config:extensions" content="<url>,<url>,<url>">

You’re Ready to Use the Universal Editor youre-ready

Your app is now instrumented to use the Universal Editor!

See Authoring Content with the Universal Editor to learn how easy and intuitive it is for content authors to create content using the Universal Editor.

Additional Resources additional-resources

To learn more about the Universal Editor, see these documents.

Universal Editor Introduction - Learn how the Universal Editor enables editing any aspect of any content in any implementation so you can deliver exceptional experiences, increase content velocity, and provide a state-of-the-art developer experience.
Authoring Content with the Universal Editor - Learn how easy and intuitive it is for content authors to create content using the Universal Editor.
Publishing Content with the Universal Editor - Learn how the Universal Editor publishes content and how your apps can handle the published content.
Universal Editor Architecture - Learn about the architecture of the Universal Editor and how data flows between its services and layers.
Attributes and Types - Learn about the data attributes and types that the Universal Editor requires.
Universal Editor Authentication - Learn how the Universal Editor authenticates.

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