Custom component

The feature is deprecated, please refer to this article for information on building custom components in UI Bakery.

UI Bakery offers a large number of built-in components that you can choose from. Check out our Reference section for the full list. But it's also possible to create custom components if you want to add functionality not present in our Components list. Here, we'll dive into how custom components work and provide you with some examples.

Custom components basics

Custom components can have their own logic and interface that are defined by you. Additionally, they can communicate with other features in UI Bakery by triggering events and receiving data to display. Custom components can be written in pure JavaScript or can be imported from custom libraries, such as jQuery or React.

Custom components are rendered inside of an iframe, thus we recommend using them only for fix-sized elements and avoiding overlays/popups inside them.

However, you can use unrestricted custom components to render any HTML or JavaScript without any restrictions - they are not rendered inside of an iframe.

Component anatomy

A custom component is basically an HTML page embedded within an iframe that can contain HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You can specify its code in the component's Code property.

Here is an example of a custom component based on React:

<!-- 3rd party scripts and styles -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js" crossorigin></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js" crossorigin></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/babel-standalone@6/babel.min.js"></script>

<!-- custom styles -->
<style>
  body {
    padding: 1rem;
  }

  p {
    margin-top: 0;
  }

  button {
    margin-bottom: 1rem;
  }

  .container {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: column;
    align-items: flex-start;
  }
</style>

<!-- root element where the component will be rendered -->
<div id="root"></div>

<!-- custom logic -->
<script type="text/babel">
  function CustomComponent() {
  
    // receive data from UI Bakery
    const data = UB.useData();

    return (
      <div className="container">
        <p>Data from UI Bakery: {data.title}</p>
        <button onClick={() => UB.triggerEvent("Data from custom component")}>Trigger Event</button>
        <input onChange={(event) => UB.updateValue(event.target.value)} placeholder="Set state"></input>
      </div>
    );
  }

  const Component = UB.connectReactComponent(CustomComponent);
  ReactDOM.render(<Component />, document.getElementById("root"));
</script>

Since the custom component is rendered inside an iframe there are no specific limitations to the code and styles specified by the developer.

Passing data to a component

To pass data into your custom component you can use the component's Data property. You simply need to specify the JavaScript object that contains the necessary data, for example:

{
  data: [1,2,3],
  display: 'only_new',
}

Additionally, you can also pass data using JS API in your actions:

ui.customComponent.setData({ ... })

• To access this data within the custom component, you can use:

const data = UB.useData()

• You can also subscribe to updates of the data using:

UB.onData(data => {
    console.log('new data', data);
});

Receiving data and triggering actions from a component

If your custom component produces events or needs to trigger an action, you can use the following code:

• UB.updateValue('Data from custom component');

Use this code inside the component to set its value. Once executed, the new value will be available as {{ui.customComponent.value}}.

• UB.triggerEvent('Data from custom component');

Use this code inside the component to trigger an action. You also need to subscribe your action to the On Event trigger of the custom component. Once the UB.triggerEvent('data') is executed, the assigned action will be triggered.

The data supplied to the triggerEvent() function is available as the {{ui.customComponent.value}} variable as well as the {{params}} variable in the assigned action.

jQuery example

Copy and paste the whole example into the custom component Code field:

<script src="https://code.jquery.com/jquery-3.6.0.min.js" integrity="sha256-/xUj+3OJU5yExlq6GSYGSHk7tPXikynS7ogEvDej/m4=" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

<style>
  body {
    padding: 1rem;
  }

  p { margin-top: 0 }

  button { margin-bottom: 1rem }

  .container {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: column;
    align-items: flex-start;
  }
</style>

<div class="container">
  <p>Data from UI Bakery: <span id="uibakeryData"></span></p>
  <button id="triggerEvent">Trigger Event</button>
  <input id="updateValue" placeholder="Set state"/>
</div>

<script>
  $('#triggerEvent').click(() => UB.triggerEvent('Data from custom component'));
  $('#updateValue').change(event => UB.updateValue(event.target.value));

  UB.onData(({ title }) => {
    $('#uibakeryData').text(title);
  });
</script>

React example

Copy and paste the whole example into the custom component Code field:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/react@17/umd/react.production.min.js" crossorigin></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/react-dom@17/umd/react-dom.production.min.js" crossorigin></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/babel-standalone@6/babel.min.js"></script>

<div id="root"></div>

<style>
  body {
    padding: 1rem;
  }

  p { margin-top: 0 }

  button { margin-bottom: 1rem }

  .container {
    display: flex;
    flex-direction: column;
    align-items: flex-start;
  }
</style>

<script type="text/babel">
  function CustomComponent() {
  	const data = UB.useData();

    return (
	  <div className="container">
        <p>Data from UI Bakery: {data.title}</p>
		<button onClick={() => UB.triggerEvent('Data from custom component')}>Trigger Event</button>
      	<input onChange={event => UB.updateValue(event.target.value)} placeholder="Set state"/>
      </div>
    );
  }

  const Component = UB.connectReactComponent(CustomComponent);
  ReactDOM.render(<Component />, document.getElementById('root'));
</script>

Custom components examples

Now that we're done with the basics, let's explore how you can actually create custom components. In this section, we'll review the following examples:

• Custom Calendar

• MUI React library template

Custom Calendar

In this section, we will create a custom calendar to display appointments:

1. Start by loading your data - create a JavaScript Code action step and add your data in the following format:

return [
  {
    title: 'New Event',
    start: '2024-12-18T10:00:00',
    end: '2024-12-20T12:00:00',
    allDay: false,
  },
  {
    title: 'Another New Event',
    start: '2024-12-16T10:00:00',
    end: '2024-12-17T12:00:00',
    allDay: false,
  },
];

This format is required to make sure your events are correctly displayed in the calendar.

1. Next, add a Custom Component to your working area.

2. Assign your load data action to the custom component's Data field: { events: {{ actions.loadAppointments.data }} }.

4. In the component's Code field, specify the following code:

<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/main.min.css"> 
<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/[email protected]/main.min.js"></script>

<div class="container">
  <div id="calendar"></div>
</div>

<style>
   body, html {
     height: 100%;
     padding: 0;
     margin: 0;
   }

  .container {
    background: white;
    padding: 2rem;
    height: 100%;
    overflow: hidden;
    border-radius: 0.25rem;
    border: 0.0625rem solid #dde1eb;
    box-shadow: 0 0.5rem 1rem 0 rgb(44 51 73 / 10%);
  }

  .fc-daygrid-event-harness {
    cursor: pointer;
  }
</style>

<script>
  document.addEventListener('DOMContentLoaded', function() {
    var calendarEl = document.getElementById('calendar');
    var calendar = new FullCalendar.Calendar(calendarEl, {
      initialView: 'dayGridMonth',
      eventClick: (info) => {
        // Update UI variable value
        UB.updateValue({ id: info.event.id });
        // Event triggering
        UB.triggerEvent({ id: info.event.id });
      }
    });
    calendar.render();
    
    // Callback to process new data in custom component
    UB.onData(data => {
      calendar.removeAllEvents();

      const events = data && data.events ? data.events : [];
      if (events && events[0]) {
        // In case of new data, the first event is automatically selected
        UB.updateValue({ id: events[0].id });
        UB.triggerEvent({ id: events[0].id });
      }
      events.forEach(event => {
        calendar.addEvent(event);
      });
    });
  });
</script>

And voilà! Your calendar is ready now.

MUI React library template example

You can connect and use the MUI library to build custom components in UI Bakery, for example, a custom Sign In form.

To do so, simply copy and paste the following code in the custom component Code field:

<!-- React -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/react@latest/umd/react.development.js" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/react-dom@latest/umd/react-dom.development.js"></script>
<script src="https://unpkg.com/babel-standalone@latest/babel.min.js" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>

<!-- MUI -->
<script src="https://unpkg.com/@mui/material@latest/umd/material-ui.development.js" crossorigin="anonymous"></script>
<!-- Fonts to support Material Design -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Roboto:300,400,500,700&display=swap"/>
<!-- Icons to support Material Design -->
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/icon?family=Material+Icons"/>

<div id="root"></div>

<script type="text/babel">
    const {
        Avatar,
        Button,
        CssBaseline,
        TextField,
        FormControlLabel,
        Checkbox,
        Link,
        Grid,
        Box,
        Typography,
        Container,
        createTheme,
        ThemeProvider
    } = MaterialUI;

    const theme = createTheme();

    function Copyright(props) {
        return (
            <Typography variant="body2" color="text.secondary" align="center" {...props}>
                {'Copyright © '}
                <Link color="inherit" href="https://mui.com/">
                    Your Website
                </Link>{' '}
                {new Date().getFullYear()}
                {'.'}
            </Typography>
        );
    }

    function App() {
        const handleSubmit = (event) => {
            event.preventDefault();
            const data = new FormData(event.currentTarget);
            console.log({
                email: data.get('email'),
                password: data.get('password'),
            });
        };

        return (
            <ThemeProvider theme={theme}>
                <Container component="main" maxWidth="xs">
                    <CssBaseline />
                    <Box
                        sx={{
                            marginTop: 8,
                            display: 'flex',
                            flexDirection: 'column',
                            alignItems: 'center',
                        }}
                    >
                        <Avatar sx={{ m: 1, bgcolor: 'secondary.main' }}/>
                        <Typography component="h1" variant="h5">
                            Sign in
                        </Typography>
                        <Box component="form" onSubmit={handleSubmit} noValidate sx={{ mt: 1 }}>
                            <TextField
                                margin="normal"
                                required
                                fullWidth
                                id="email"
                                label="Email Address"
                                name="email"
                                autoComplete="email"
                                autoFocus
                            />
                            <TextField
                                margin="normal"
                                required
                                fullWidth
                                name="password"
                                label="Password"
                                type="password"
                                id="password"
                                autoComplete="current-password"
                            />
                            <FormControlLabel
                                control={<Checkbox value="remember" color="primary" />}
                                label="Remember me"
                            />
                            <Button
                                type="submit"
                                fullWidth
                                variant="contained"
                                sx={{ mt: 3, mb: 2 }}
                            >
                                Sign In
                            </Button>
                            <Grid container>
                                <Grid item xs>
                                    <Link href="#" variant="body2">
                                        Forgot password?
                                    </Link>
                                </Grid>
                                <Grid item>
                                    <Link href="#" variant="body2">
                                        {"Don't have an account? Sign Up"}
                                    </Link>
                                </Grid>
                            </Grid>
                        </Box>
                    </Box>
                    <Copyright sx={{ mt: 8, mb: 4 }} />
                </Container>
            </ThemeProvider>
        );
    }

    const root = ReactDOM.createRoot(document.getElementById("root"));
    root.render(<App/>);

</script>