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Legal notes
Copyright 2022 by TECHNIA AB
All rights reserved.
PROPRIETARY RIGHTS NOTICE
This documentation is proprietary property of TECHNIA AB. In accordance with the terms and conditions of the Software License Agreement between the Customer and TECHNIA AB, the Customer is allowed to print as many copies as necessary of documentation copyrighted by TECHNIA relating to the software being used. This documentation shall be treated as confidential information and should be used only by employees or contractors with the Customer in accordance with the Agreement.
Preface
Widget as a Service (WaaS) is a configurable widget framework for the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and Box is the SaaS foundation for tailored 3DEXPERIENCE apps. As a configurable UI framework for making widgets, it is a cost-efficient solution compared to coding custom widgets from scratch. It also brings more and higher quality features than a coding project would normally do. Widget Box is often used to raise productivity and user acceptance by streamlining workflows or filling gaps.
WaaS Widget Box allows configuration of tailored 3DDASHBOARD widgets presenting data from standard OOTB services in any preferred way making users more efficient and happy willing to accept using the platform. The framework contains many different building blocks, such as tables and forms, that could be configured individually into simple or together into more complex apps, all integrating well with OOTB functionality such as 6WSearch.
The widget framework and definition is hosted on TECHNIA.cloud. Access controlled by subscription and token it can be added to any 3DEXPERIENCE environment, including cloud tenants. The widget is added by pasting a link into the administration dialog “Create Additional App“. The dialog allows adding widgets without any customization to the target environment just by adding the metadata of the whereabouts of the widget that is kept fully outside.
Widget as a Service consume Box calls all 3DEXPERIENCE data locally, between the 3DEXPERIENCE platform and the client browser. No 3DEXPERIENCE data, except user information for usage audit purposes (see agreement for details), is passed elsewhere or to the TECHNIA.cloud.
Essentials
Supported platforms
3DEXPERIENCE 2019x or higher
Subscription & access
Widget configuration is controlled by a subscription and access token. Subscriptions have an end date and a user count. As the subscription runs out or the user count is exceeded, the widget is no longer accessible.
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To control usage the logged in user name is passed (and stored) each time a widget definition is loaded from TECNNIA.cloud. Fore more detail on the data stored see the privacy policy & data processing agreement. |
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To avoid unauthorized use of your subscription keep your access token a secret and renew it frequently. |
Hosting
Widgets are hosted on TECHNIA.cloud (currently on AWS). For more detail please refer to the agreement.
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No on-premise installation is required. The widget is fully hosted and ready to link to any 3DEXPERIENCE platform. |
The following resources are hosted on TECHNIA.cloud
Widget Framework (.html, .css, .js)
Widget Definition
Configuration (e.g. columns, datasets etc .json)
Code (e.g. custom rendering, data calculations etc .js)
Subscription detail and usage data
Setup (adding a widget in 3DEXPERIENCE)
Adding widgets is standard functionality part of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform. To access the command you need to be logged in with an administration user with the access to “Platform Management”. Once in “Platform management” navigate to the “Members” tab and scroll down to “Additional Apps” and you will fins the “Create Additional App” command.
A dialog will appear and you should enter
Short Name - The app label as displayed to users in the compass
Type - Select “Widget”
Source code URL - Enter the widget framework host URL & access key (shared with your subscription) followed by the name of the widget you like to add.
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As you press Create the widget should be made available under the Compass within seconds. |
Updates
The widget framework is evergreen and updates at least every 11 weeks. Updates could include improvements to existing functionality or new functionality enabled by configuration.
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Updates can be controlled by locking to a specific version, allowing validation before rolling new releases. |
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All improvement, including quality fixes, is delivered with the latest update only, there will be no fix packs on previous locked versions. |
Widget definition & administration
Plugin code extensions
To enable custom logic (e.g. calculated values) the framework comes with a plugin architecture.
TODO
Components & configuration
Concept overview
To make configuration independent of service detail, and to hide complexity from the developer, the framework comes with a technical concept common to all components.
All services loads data to a common in memory data store. Query statements and other configuration is applied to populate UI components, all from the data store. This allows a compact and standardized cross component configuration format independent of service details. There is no direct dependency between any UI component configuration and the service layer, on top of that all components share the same data store and reflect data changed by other components.
Data store
The client (browser) data store is in memory and temporary, the purpose is to track cross component state, provide data to the UI rendering and to provide a common format to avoid service dependency in configuration. A data store is common practice in many modern UI frameworks e.g. https://redux.js.org/ and should not be confused with a data base.
Cytoscape.js
https://js.cytoscape.org/, a “Graph theory (network) library for visualisation and analysis“, is used as data store. The graph capabilities enables complex data store selection and structure traversal (similar to mql). The cytoscape.js selectors is similar to css selectors and is used in configuration. Normally cytoscape runs in headless mode without any visualizations. Visual graphs can be enabled in development mode and provides a live view of the data store.
Cytoscape.js nomenclature
“nodes” → objects
“edges” → relationships
“eles” → a collection of edges and/or nodes
Framework / Core
Common configurations shared cross component.
Widget
A top level configuration. Defines a 3DDASHBOARD widget app that could be added to the compass.
Code Block |
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{
"$schema": "./schema/waas.schema.json",
"title": "Widget Example",
"resources": ["my-plugin.js"],
"components": [{}],
"table_definitions": [{}],
"tableColumn_definitions": [{}],
"toolbar_definitions": [{}],
"command_definitions": [{}],
"datasets": [{},{}],
"services": [{}],
"mode": {}
} |
Property
Description
Type
Required
$schema
string
false
title
string
resources
string [array]
false
components
component [array]
table_definitions
table [array]
tableColumn_definitions
table column [array]
datasets
data set [array]
services
service [array]
mode
mode
Component
Defines a UI component used by the widget. |
Remove this? Move requiresContext and root def to root widget conf?
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{
"name": "??neverUsed??",
"type": "table",
"definition": "ups-roots-example",
"root": true,
"requiresContext": true
} |
Property
Description
Type
Required
name
a unique identifier used for reference (but never used?)
string
type
the component type (e.g. table) - already by the def?
string
definition
the component identifier (e.g. table name)
string
true
root
true for the default top level component
boolean
requiresContext
true in case the widget require a dropped context object
boolean