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Using Other Frameworks

From version 2.1.0, Admin UI extensions can be written in either Angular or React. Prior to v2.1.0, only Angular was natively supported.

It is, however, possible to extend the Admin UI using other frameworks such as Vue, Svelte, Solid etc. Note that the extension experience is much more limited than with Angular or React, but depending on your needs it may be sufficient.

info

For working examples of a UI extensions built with Vue, see the real-world-vendure ui extensions

There is still a small amount of Angular "glue code" needed to let the compiler know how to integrate your extension, so let's take a look at how this is done.

1. Install @vendure/ui-devkit​

To create UI extensions, you'll need to install the @vendure/ui-devkit package. This package contains a compiler for building your customized version of the Admin UI, as well as the Angular dependencies you'll need to create your extensions.

yarn add @vendure/ui-devkit

# or

npm install @vendure/ui-devkit

2. Create the folder structure​

In this example, we will work with the following folder structure, and use Create React App our example.

src
└─plugins
  └─ my-plugin
    └─ ui
      ├─ routes.ts
      └─ vue-app
        └─ (directory created by `vue create`, for example)

3. Create an extension module​

Here's the Angular code needed to tell the compiler where to find your extension:

src/plugins/my-plugin/ui/routes.ts
import { hostExternalFrame } from '@vendure/admin-ui/core';

export default [
    hostExternalFrame({
        path: '',

        // You can also use parameters which allow the app
        // to have dynamic routing, e.g.
        // path: ':slug'
        // Then you can use the getActivatedRoute() function from the
        // UiDevkitClient in order to access the value of the "slug"
        // parameter.

        breadcrumbLabel: 'Vue App',
        // This is the URL to the compiled React app index.
        // The next step will explain the "assets/react-app" path.
        extensionUrl: './assets/vue-app/index.html',
        openInNewTab: false,
    })
];

4. Define the AdminUiExtension config​

Next we will define an AdminUiExtension object which is passed to the compileUiExtensions() function in your Vendure config:

src/vendure-config.ts
import path from 'path';
import { VendureConfig } from '@vendure/core';
import { AdminUiPlugin } from '@vendure/admin-ui-plugin';
import { compileUiExtensions } from '@vendure/ui-devkit/compiler';

export const config: VendureConfig = {
    // ...
    plugins: [
        AdminUiPlugin.init({
            route: 'admin',
            port: 3002,
            app: compileUiExtensions({
                outputPath: path.join(__dirname, '../admin-ui'),
                extensions: [{
                    // Points to the path containing our Angular "glue code" module
                    extensionPath: path.join(__dirname, 'plugins/my-plugin/ui'),
                    routes: [{ route: 'vue-ui', filePath: 'routes.ts' }],
                    staticAssets: [
                        // This is where we tell the compiler to copy the compiled Vue app
                        // artifacts over to the Admin UI's `/static` directory. In this case we
                        // also rename "build" to "vue-app". This is why the `extensionUrl`
                        // in the module config points to './assets/vue-app/index.html'.
                        {path: path.join(__dirname, 'plugins/my-plugin/ui/vue-app/dist'), rename: 'vue-app'},
                    ],
                }],
                devMode: true,
            }),
        }),
    ]
};

5. Build your extension​

To ensure things are working we can now build our Vue app by running yarn build in the vue-app directory. This will build and output the app artifacts to the vue-app/build directory - the one we pointed to in the staticAssets array above.

Once build, we can start the Vendure server.

The compileUiExtensions() function returns a compile() function which will be invoked by the AdminUiPlugin upon server bootstrap. During this compilation process, a new directory will be generated at /admin-ui (as specified by the outputPath option) which will contains the un-compiled sources of your new Admin UI app.

Next, these source files will be run through the Angular compiler, the output of which will be visible in the console.

Now go to the Admin UI app in your browser and log in. You should now be able to manually enter the URL http://localhost:3000/admin/extensions/vue-ui and you should see the Vue app rendered in the Admin UI.

Integrate with the Admin UI​

Styling​

The @vendure/admin-ui package (which will be installed alongside the ui-devkit) provides a stylesheet to allow your extension to fit visually with the rest of the Admin UI.

If you have a build step, you can import it into your app like this:

import '@vendure/admin-ui/static/theme.min.css';

If your extension does not have a build step, you can still include the theme stylesheet as a local resource:

<!-- src/ui-extension/plain-js-app/index.html -->
<head>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../theme.min.css" />
</head>

UiDevkitClient​

The @vendure/ui-devkit package provides a number of helper methods which allow your extension to seamlessly interact with the underlying Admin UI infrastructure, collectively known as the UiDevkitClient. The client allows your extension to:

  • Make GraphQL queries & mutations, without the need for your own HTTP or GraphQL client, with full integration with the Admin UI client-side GraphQL cache.
  • Display toast notifications.

setTargetOrigin​

The UiDevkitClient uses the browser's postMessage API to communicate between the Admin UI app and your extension. For security reasons this communication channel is restricted to a specific domain (where your extension app will be running from). To configure this, use the setTargetOrigin function:

import { setTargetOrigin } from '@vendure/ui-devkit';

setTargetOrigin('http://my-domain.com');

If this is mis-configured you will see an error along the lines of "Failed to execute 'postMessage' on 'DOMWindow'".

For apps with a build step, you can use these functions like this:

import { graphQlMutation, notify } from '@vendure/ui-devkit';

// somewhere in your component
const disableProduct = (id: string) => {
  graphQlMutation(`
    mutation DisableProduct($id: ID!) {
      updateProduct(input: { id: $id, enabled: false }) {
        id
        enabled
      }
    }`, { id }).then(result => {
     notify({
       message: 'Updated Product',
     });
  })
}

If your extension does not have a build step, you can still include the UiDevkitClient as a local resource, which will expose a VendureUiClient global object:

<!-- src/ui-extension/plain-js-app/index.html -->
<head>
  <script src="../devkit/ui-devkit.js"></script>
</head>
<script>
  const disableProduct = id => {
    VendureUiClient.graphQlMutation(`
      mutation DisableProduct($id: ID!) {
        updateProduct(input: { id: $id, enabled: false }) {
          id
          enabled
        }
      }`, { id }).then(result => {
       VendureUiClient.notify({
         message: 'Updated Product',
       });
    })
  }
</script>

Next Steps​

Now you have created your extension, you need a way for your admin to access it. See Adding Navigation Items