Introduction
This topic explains what Widgets in general are and specifically how Sidebar Widgets can be built in XperienCentral. A very general definition of a widget is "an element
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It is also possible to write custom code using this technique. The most common way to use widgets in custom code in XperienCentral is in Sidebar Widgets, but it can also be used for creating highly by adding new Sidebar widgets. It is also possible to create new interactive maintenance panels. A Sidebar Widget widget is a visible component which can be docked to in the left or right-hand side of Sidebar in the XperienCentral edit environment. To confuse the terminology Sidebar Widgets are often simply called Widgets, especially by non-developers.There is a separate page on Sidebar Widgets in this topic which goes into the practical details on how to start developing widgets based on an archetype specially provided for this purposeWorkspace.
This section contains a topic on creating Sidebar widgets by beginning with an archetype which is provided as a starting point for development. The code generated by the archetype is explained in detail. The generated code is explained, including the Dojo toolkit basics, which will help you getting get started with your own development.
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In This Topic
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XperienCentral
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Client-side
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Architecture
The client-side architecture introduced in XperienCentral makes it possible to add functionality to the edit environment Workspace using Dojo Widgetswidgets. The power advantave of this architecture is that you can add functionality to the edit side which reacts on to changes in the Workspace and Editor, such as when starting editing or viewing other content. Below a high-level description The figure below shows a depiction of the XperienCentral client-side architecture.
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External references: Dojo / Data Stores in DOJO
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The Dojo Toolkit toolkit is an open source modular JavaScript library, or, more specifically a JavaScript toolkit, designed to ease JavaScript toolkit which is designed for the rapid development of cross-platform, JavaScript/AJAX-based applications and web sites. A few websites. The following are examples of standard Dojo widgets you can usedevelop:
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Documentation
There is a lot of documentation available on Dojo. Here are a few starting points. If you’re not familiar with the Dojo toolkit, have a look at the tutorials. Another approach is to dive right into it by creating a sidebar widget based on the archetype and analyze the code using using the information available in the Developing Sidebar Widgets page topic.
References:
- Website of the Dojo foundation: http://dojotoolkit.org
- On this website you can find dojo Dojo documentation: http://dojotoolkit.org/documentation
- The Dojo API is documented here: http://dojotoolkit.org/api/
The XperienCentral client-side API
Next to the standard Dojo toolkit XperienCentral has it’s own set of Dojo classes that can be used in custom widgets. They consist of widgets, business login objects and data stores:
This XperienCentral client side API is documented in JSDoc. JSDoc basically works like Javadoc, but for JavaScript in place of Java code.
A practical example of how to use this documentation can be found on the Sidebar Widgets page.
XperienCentral JSDoc: https://api.gxsoftware.com/jsdoc/
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Widget Plugins in XperienCentral
There are two types of widget plugins in XperienCentral: Sidebar Widgets and Panel Widgets.Sidebar widgets are widgets that are placed Sidebar widgets and panel widgets. Sidebar widgets are widgets that can be docked in either the left or right sidebarSidebar in the XperienCentral Workspace:
Sidebar widgets are described in detail on the in the Developing Sidebar Widgets page topic, including how to create one using an archetype. Panel widgets are widgets are widgets that can be opened via a menu item in the configuration Configuration menu, such as the standard Layout panel:
There is at the moment of writing 
At this time there is no archetype or specific documentation for creating custom panel widgets. Therefore it requires more knowledge to write one than to write a sidebar widget.
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Contact your GX Software consultant for help in creating a new panel widget.
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Dojo Widget Composition
Keep the following thins in mind when determining planning the composition of Dojo widgets:
- Make sure that each widget is self-contained.
- The widget should expose public properties, methods and events. This ensures that your widget can be used reused in other widgets.
- Divide responsibility ("granularity"). In general it is better to create a few smaller widgets with a specific function than one large widget with lots of user interface elements.
- Implement the "deepest" widgets (the parts) first and work upwards towards the final functionality.
Avoid using experimental widgets as much as possible. The DojoX package was originally intended for this purpose, although some components.
- Check for existing widgets. Don’t reinvent the wheel, re-use as much as possible.
- Keep reusability in mind. Make sure your widgets can be reused in other widgets later on. Also write clear API documentation for your own widget using JSDoc.