Extend a Core Component

Learn how to extend an existing Core Component to be used with the AEM SPA Editor. Understanding how to extend an existing component is a powerful technique to customize and expand the capabilities of an AEM SPA Editor implementation.

Objective

  1. Extend an existing Core Component with additional properties and content.
  2. Understand the basic of Component Inheritance with the use of sling:resourceSuperType.
  3. Learn how to leverage the Delegation Pattern for Sling Models to re-use existing logic and functionality.

What you will build

This chapter illustrates the additional code needed to add an extra property to a standard Image component to fulfill the requirements for a new Banner component. The Banner component contains all of the same properties as the standard Image component but includes an additional property for users to populate the Banner Text.

Final authored banner component

Prerequisites

Review the required tooling and instructions for setting up a local development environment. It is assumed at this point in the tutorial users have a solid understanding of the AEM SPA Editor feature.

Inheritance with Sling Resource Super Type

To extend an existing component set a property named sling:resourceSuperType on your component’s definition. sling:resourceSuperTypeis a property that can be set on an AEM component’s definition that points to another component. This explicitly sets the component to inherit all functionality of the component identified as the sling:resourceSuperType.

If we want to extend the Image component at wknd-spa-react/components/image we need to update the code in the ui.apps module.

  1. Create a new folder beneath the ui.apps module for banner at ui.apps/src/main/content/jcr_root/apps/wknd-spa-react/components/banner.

  2. Beneath banner create a Component definition (.content.xml) like the following:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jcr:root xmlns:sling="http://sling.apache.org/jcr/sling/1.0" xmlns:cq="http://www.day.com/jcr/cq/1.0" xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0"
    jcr:primaryType="cq:Component"
    jcr:title="Banner"
    sling:resourceSuperType="wknd-spa-react/components/image"
    componentGroup="WKND SPA React - Content"/>

    This sets wknd-spa-react/components/banner to inherit all functionality of wknd-spa-react/components/image.

cq:editConfig

The _cq_editConfig.xml file dictates the drag and drop behavior in the AEM authoring UI. When extending the Image component it is important that the resource type matches the component itself.

  1. In the ui.apps module create another file beneath banner named _cq_editConfig.xml.

  2. Populate _cq_editConfig.xml with the following XML:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jcr:root xmlns:sling="http://sling.apache.org/jcr/sling/1.0" xmlns:cq="http://www.day.com/jcr/cq/1.0" xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0" xmlns:nt="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/nt/1.0"
    jcr:primaryType="cq:EditConfig">
    <cq:dropTargets jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
        <image
            jcr:primaryType="cq:DropTargetConfig"
            accept="[image/gif,image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/tiff,image/svg\\+xml]"
            groups="[media]"
            propertyName="./fileReference">
            <parameters
                jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                sling:resourceType="wknd-spa-react/components/banner"
                imageCrop=""
                imageMap=""
                imageRotate=""/>
        </image>
    </cq:dropTargets>
    <cq:inplaceEditing
        jcr:primaryType="cq:InplaceEditingConfig"
        active="{Boolean}true"
        editorType="image">
        <inplaceEditingConfig jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
            <plugins jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                <crop
                    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                    supportedMimeTypes="[image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/tiff]"
                    features="*">
                    <aspectRatios jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                        <wideLandscape
                            jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                            name="Wide Landscape"
                            ratio="0.6180"/>
                        <landscape
                            jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                            name="Landscape"
                            ratio="0.8284"/>
                        <square
                            jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                            name="Square"
                            ratio="1"/>
                        <portrait
                            jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                            name="Portrait"
                            ratio="1.6180"/>
                    </aspectRatios>
                </crop>
                <flip
                    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                    supportedMimeTypes="[image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/tiff]"
                    features="-"/>
                <map
                    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                    supportedMimeTypes="[image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/tiff,image/svg+xml]"
                    features="*"/>
                <rotate
                    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                    supportedMimeTypes="[image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/tiff]"
                    features="*"/>
                <zoom
                    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                    supportedMimeTypes="[image/jpeg,image/png,image/webp,image/tiff]"
                    features="*"/>
            </plugins>
            <ui jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                <inline
                    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                    toolbar="[crop#launch,rotate#right,history#undo,history#redo,fullscreen#fullscreen,control#close,control#finish]">
                    <replacementToolbars
                        jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                        crop="[crop#identifier,crop#unlaunch,crop#confirm]"/>
                </inline>
                <fullscreen jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                    <toolbar
                        jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                        left="[crop#launchwithratio,rotate#right,flip#horizontal,flip#vertical,zoom#reset100,zoom#popupslider]"
                        right="[history#undo,history#redo,fullscreen#fullscreenexit]"/>
                    <replacementToolbars jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                        <crop
                            jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                            left="[crop#identifier]"
                            right="[crop#unlaunch,crop#confirm]"/>
                        <map
                            jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                            left="[map#rectangle,map#circle,map#polygon]"
                            right="[map#unlaunch,map#confirm]"/>
                    </replacementToolbars>
                </fullscreen>
            </ui>
        </inplaceEditingConfig>
    </cq:inplaceEditing>
</jcr:root>

  3. The unique aspect of the file is the <parameters> node that sets the resourceType to wknd-spa-react/components/banner.

    <parameters
    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
    sling:resourceType="wknd-spa-react/components/banner"
    imageCrop=""
    imageMap=""
    imageRotate=""/>

    Most component’s do not require a _cq_editConfig. Image components and descendants are the exception.

Extend the Dialog

Our Banner component requires an extra text field in the dialog to capture the bannerText. Since we are using Sling inheritance, we can use features of the Sling Resource Merger to override or extend portions of the dialog. In this sample a new tab has been added to the dialog to capture additional data from an author to populate the Card Component.

  1. In the ui.apps module, beneath the banner folder, create a folder named _cq_dialog.

  2. Beneath _cq_dialog create a Dialog definition file .content.xml. Populate it with the following:

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<jcr:root xmlns:sling="http://sling.apache.org/jcr/sling/1.0" xmlns:granite="http://www.adobe.com/jcr/granite/1.0" xmlns:cq="http://www.day.com/jcr/cq/1.0" xmlns:jcr="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/1.0" xmlns:nt="http://www.jcp.org/jcr/nt/1.0"
    jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
    jcr:title="Banner"
    sling:resourceType="cq/gui/components/authoring/dialog">
    <content jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
        <items jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
            <tabs jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                <items jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                    <text
                        jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                        jcr:title="Text"
                        sling:orderBefore="asset"
                        sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/container"
                        margin="{Boolean}true">
                        <items jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                            <columns
                                jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                                sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/fixedcolumns"
                                margin="{Boolean}true">
                                <items jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                                    <column
                                        jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                                        sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/container">
                                        <items jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                                            <textGroup
                                                granite:hide="${cqDesign.titleHidden}"
                                                jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                                                sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/well">
                                                <items jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured">
                                                    <bannerText
                                                        jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
                                                        sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/textfield"
                                                        fieldDescription="Text to display on top of the banner."
                                                        fieldLabel="Banner Text"
                                                        name="./bannerText"/>
                                                </items>
                                            </textGroup>
                                        </items>
                                    </column>
                                </items>
                            </columns>
                        </items>
                    </text>
                </items>
            </tabs>
        </items>
    </content>
</jcr:root>

    The above XML definition will create a new tab named Text and order it before the existing Asset tab. It will contain a single field Banner Text.

  3. The dialog will look like the following:

    Banner final dialog

    Observe that we did not have to define the tabs for Asset or Metadata. These are inherited via the sling:resourceSuperType property.

    Before we can preview the dialog, we need to implement the SPA Component and the MapTo function.

Implement SPA Component

In order to use the Banner component with the SPA Editor, a new SPA component must be created that will map to wknd-spa-react/components/banner. This is done in the ui.frontend module.

  1. In the ui.frontend module create a new folder for Banner at ui.frontend/src/components/Banner.

  2. Create a new file named Banner.js beneath the Banner folder. Populate it with the following:

    import React, {Component} from 'react';
import {MapTo} from '@adobe/aem-react-editable-components';

export const BannerEditConfig = {
    emptyLabel: 'Banner',

    isEmpty: function(props) {
        return !props || !props.src || props.src.trim().length < 1;
    }
};

export default class Banner extends Component {

    get content() {
        return <img
                className="Image-src"
                src={this.props.src}
                alt={this.props.alt}
                title={this.props.title ? this.props.title : this.props.alt} />;
    }

    // display our custom bannerText property!
    get bannerText() {
        if(this.props.bannerText) {
            return <h4>{this.props.bannerText}</h4>;
        }

        return null;
    }

    render() {
        if (BannerEditConfig.isEmpty(this.props)) {
            return null;
        }

        return (
            <div className="Banner">
                {this.bannerText}
                <div className="BannerImage">{this.content}</div>
            </div>
        );
    }
}

MapTo('wknd-spa-react/components/banner')(Banner, BannerEditConfig);

    This SPA component maps to the AEM component wknd-spa-react/components/banner created earlier.

  3. Update import-components.js at ui.frontend/src/components/import-components.js to include the new Banner SPA component:

      import './ExperienceFragment/ExperienceFragment';
  import './OpenWeather/OpenWeather';
+ import './Banner/Banner';

  4. At this point the project can be deployed to AEM and the dialog can be tested. Deploy the project using your Maven skills:

    $ cd aem-guides-wknd-spa.react
$ mvn clean install -PautoInstallSinglePackage

  5. Update the SPA Template’s policy to add the Banner component as an allowed component.

  6. Navigate to a SPA page and add the Banner component to one of the SPA pages:

    Add Banner component

    NOTE

    The dialog will allow you to save a value for Banner Text but this value is not reflected in the SPA component. To enable, we need to extend the Sling Model for the component.

Add Java Interface

To ultimately expose the values from the component dialog to the React component we need to update the Sling Model that populates the JSON for the Banner component. This is done in the core module that contains all of the Java code for our SPA project.

First we will create a new Java interface for Banner that extends the Image Java interface.

  1. In the core module create a new file named BannerModel.java at core/src/main/java/com/adobe/aem/guides/wkndspa/react/core/models.

  2. Populate BannerModel.java with the following:

    package com.adobe.aem.guides.wkndspa.react.core.models;

import com.adobe.cq.wcm.core.components.models.Image;
import org.osgi.annotation.versioning.ProviderType;

@ProviderType
public interface BannerModel extends Image {

    public String getBannerText();

}

    This will inherit all of the methods from the Core Component Image interface and add one new method getBannerText().

Implement Sling Model

Next, implement the Sling Model for the BannerModel interface.

  1. In the core module create a new file named BannerModelImpl.java at core/src/main/java/com/adobe/aem/guides/wkndspa/react/core/models/impl.

  2. Populate BannerModelImpl.java with the following:

    package com.adobe.aem.guides.wkndspa.react.core.models.impl;

import com.adobe.aem.guides.wkndspa.react.core.models.BannerModel;
import com.adobe.cq.export.json.ComponentExporter;
import com.adobe.cq.export.json.ExporterConstants;
import com.adobe.cq.wcm.core.components.models.Image;
import org.apache.sling.models.annotations.*;
import org.apache.sling.api.SlingHttpServletRequest;
import org.apache.sling.models.annotations.Model;
import org.apache.sling.models.annotations.injectorspecific.Self;
import org.apache.sling.models.annotations.injectorspecific.ValueMapValue;
import org.apache.sling.models.annotations.via.ResourceSuperType;

@Model(
    adaptables = SlingHttpServletRequest.class,
    adapters = { BannerModel.class,ComponentExporter.class},
    resourceType = BannerModelImpl.RESOURCE_TYPE,
    defaultInjectionStrategy = DefaultInjectionStrategy.OPTIONAL
)
@Exporter(name = ExporterConstants.SLING_MODEL_EXPORTER_NAME, extensions = ExporterConstants.SLING_MODEL_EXTENSION)
public class BannerModelImpl implements BannerModel {

    // points to the the component resource path in ui.apps
    static final String RESOURCE_TYPE = "wknd-spa-react/components/banner";

    @Self
    private SlingHttpServletRequest request;

    // With sling inheritance (sling:resourceSuperType) we can adapt the current resource to the Image class
    // this allows us to re-use all of the functionality of the Image class, without having to implement it ourself
    // see https://github.com/adobe/aem-core-wcm-components/wiki/Delegation-Pattern-for-Sling-Models
    @Self
    @Via(type = ResourceSuperType.class)
    private Image image;

    // map the property saved by the dialog to a variable named `bannerText`
    @ValueMapValue
    private String bannerText;

    // public getter to expose the value of `bannerText` via the Sling Model and JSON output
    @Override
    public String getBannerText() {
        return bannerText;
    }

    // Re-use the Image class for all other methods:

    @Override
    public String getSrc() {
        return null != image ? image.getSrc() : null;
    }

    @Override
    public String getAlt() {
        return null != image ? image.getAlt() : null;
    }

    @Override
    public String getTitle() {
        return null != image ? image.getTitle() : null;
    }

    // method required by `ComponentExporter` interface
    // exposes a JSON property named `:type` with a value of `wknd-spa-react/components/banner`
    // required to map the JSON export to the SPA component props via the `MapTo`
    @Override
    public String getExportedType() {
        return BannerModelImpl.RESOURCE_TYPE;
    }
}

    Notice the use of the @Model and @Exporter annotations to ensure the Sling Model is able to be serialized as JSON via the Sling Model Exporter.

    BannerModelImpl.java uses the Delegation pattern for Sling Models to avoid rewriting all of the logic from the Image core component.

  3. Review the following lines:

    @Self
@Via(type = ResourceSuperType.class)
private Image image;

    The above annotation will instantiate an Image object named image based on the sling:resourceSuperType inheritance of the Banner component.

    @Override
public String getSrc() {
    return null != image ? image.getSrc() : null;
}

    It is then possible to simply use the image object to implement methods defined by the Image interface, without having to write the logic ourselves. This technique is used for getSrc(), getAlt() and getTitle().

  4. Open a terminal window and deploy just the updates to the core module using the Maven autoInstallBundle profile from the core directory.

    $ cd core/
$ mvn clean install -PautoInstallBundle

Putting it all together

  1. Return to AEM and open the SPA page that has the Banner component.

  2. Update the Banner component to include Banner Text:

    Banner Text

  3. Populate the component with an image:

    Add image to banner dialog

    Save the dialog updates.

  4. You should now see the rendered value of Banner Text:

Banner Text displayed

  1. View the JSON model response at: http://localhost:4502/content/wknd-spa-react/us/en.model.json and search for the wknd-spa-react/components/card:

    "banner": {
    "bannerText": "My Banner Text",
    "src": "/content/wknd-spa-react/us/en/home/_jcr_content/root/responsivegrid/banner.coreimg.jpeg/1622167884688/sport-climbing.jpeg",
    "alt": "alt banner rock climber",
    ":type": "wknd-spa-react/components/banner"
 },

    Notice the JSON model is updated with additional key/value pairs after implementing the Sling Model in BannerModelImpl.java.

Congratulations!

Congratulations, you learned how to extend an AEM component using the and how Sling Models and dialogs work with the JSON model.

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