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Custom Widget Development |
A Mendix custom widget is a part of the user interface in your Mendix app that enables functionality and interaction with the users of the app. A custom widget can alter the interface, data, and images of the app as well as the way the app works. These custom widgets bridge the gap between using standard Mendix components (for example, buttons and list-views) and creating very specific components yourself.
Custom widget development can be difficult at the beginning. The resources below will help you start your widget development.
In order to create widgets, you need a good understanding of how JavaScript works. These texts can help you get started:
The sections below describe the Mendix resources that can help you understand how widgets are built.
Custom widgets are Dojo widgets. In order to understand how widgets are structured and what their life cycle is, you need to know how Dojo widgets are built. You can consult this quick introduction:
For details on the widget life cycle, reference this documentation:
In the past we created widgets using Brackets and a plugin. With the new JavaScript/Node.JS tools that have recently come out, we deprecated this way of creating widgets. The new way of creating widgets is done using Yeoman and a generator.
For a quick tutorial on using the widget generator, see How to Scaffold a Widget with the Yeoman Widget Generator.
This information is also covered in Expert Series: Kickstart Your Widget Development.
This tutorial presents the steps a Mendix widget will go through in its life cycle and how a widget is structured: How to Create a Basic Hello World Widget.
Widgets have the ability to get data from the Runtime, manipulate objects, show validations, and set references. This is done through the Client API. For the latest version of the this API, see Client API.
Mendix has a specific way of configuring your widget through the use of an XML file. For more information and an example, see WidgetName in the AppStoreWidgetBoilerplate repository.
For the full reference on writing a widget XML, see the XML Reference Guide.
The Yeoman widget generator ships two versions of a boilerplate created by Mendix. The source code for this boilerplate is available in the AppStoreWidgetBoilerplate repository.
This category of how-to's presents in-depth information on how to build your own widgets. A few more tips are below.
Most of the widgets in the Mendix App Store are open-source and available on GitHub. You can find the View on GitHub link on the right side of the App Store screen:
Using the widget generator, you get a test project. With the test project (or your own project), you can quickly start creating widgets.
By debugging your widgets, you will quickly learn where you make mistakes and how the widget life cycle works.
Within the Mendix Community of developers, there are plenty of widget developers. The Mendix Forum is the place to go to when you have questions.