Sunday 24 July 2022

AEMaaCS - Authoring - Asset Selector in Dialog

Asset Selector

The asset selector lets you browse, search, and filter assets in Adobe Experience Manager Assets. You can also fetch the metadata of assets that you select using the asset selector. To customize the asset selector interface, you can launch it with supported request parameters. These parameters set the context of the asset selector for a particular scenario.

Contextual Parameters - https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/experience-manager-64/assets/managing/asset-selector.html?lang=en#contextual-parameters 

You can pass the request parameters in a URL to launch the asset selector in a particular context.

Here we are interesting only in dialog parameter

i.e. http://localhost:4502/aem/assetpicker.html?dialog=true

Use these parameters to open the asset selector as Granite Dialog. This option is only applicable when you launch the asset selector through Granite PathField, and configure it as pickerSrc URL.

I and others tried using this in a dialog but unfortunately it does not work. and A lot people queried about it to make it work.

  • https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-experience-manager/how-to-use-the-aem-asset-selector-in-a-dialog/m-p/265970
  • https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-experience-manager/how-to-use-asset-selector-in-dialog-aem-6-4/m-p/294065#M18413

I tried fixing this problem and now it work with dialog as well. In below section, I have explained what I have tried.


Asset selector in Dialog

1. Used pickerSrc URL as /libs/dam/gui/content/assetselector/jcr:content/body/items/assetselector.html?dialog=true, this will allow to see picker popup but when you select as assets and click on select button, nothing happens.





2. To fix select button problem in point 1, a small javascript written which get the value from picker to dialog and close the picker

(function (document, $) {
    "use strict";

    const PICKER_FORM = 'form.granite-pickerdialog-content';
    const PATHFIELD_TARGET = '.pathfield__asset--selector';
    const MULTIPLE = 'multiple';
    const CLICK = 'click';
    const SELECTORS = {
        SELECT_BTN: PICKER_FORM + ' button.asset-picker-done',
        CANCEL_BTN: PICKER_FORM + ' button.asset-picker-clear',
        SELECTED_ITEM: PICKER_FORM + ' .foundation-selections-item.is-selected',
        ITEM_ATTR: 'data-foundation-collection-item-id',
        PATHFIELD_SELECTOR: PATHFIELD_TARGET + ' input[aria-controls="asset-selector-launcher-setting"]',
        PATHFIELD_MULTI_SELECTOR: PATHFIELD_TARGET + '[multiple] input[aria-controls="asset-selector-launcher-setting"]',
        MODE_ELEMENT: PICKER_FORM + ' #cq-damadmin-admin-assetselector-collection',
        MODE_ATTR: 'selectionmode',
        CORAL_TAGLIST: 'coral-taglist'
    };

    $(document).on(CLICK, SELECTORS.SELECT_BTN, function () {
        var mode = document.querySelector(SELECTORS.MODE_ELEMENT).getAttribute(SELECTORS.MODE_ATTR);
        if (mode === MULTIPLE) {
            var selectedItems = document.querySelectorAll(SELECTORS.SELECTED_ITEM);
            var tagList = $(SELECTORS.PATHFIELD_MULTI_SELECTOR).closest(PATHFIELD_TARGET).find(SELECTORS.CORAL_TAGLIST);
            for (const item of selectedItems) {
                var value = item.getAttribute(SELECTORS.ITEM_ATTR);
                var tag = new Coral.Tag().set({
                    value: value,
                    label: {
                        innerHTML: value
                    }
                });
                tagList.append(tag);
            }
        }
        else {
            var selectedItem = document.querySelector(SELECTORS.SELECTED_ITEM).getAttribute(SELECTORS.ITEM_ATTR);
            document.querySelector(SELECTORS.PATHFIELD_SELECTOR).value = selectedItem;
        }
        //closing popup by cancel button click
        document.querySelector(SELECTORS.CANCEL_BTN).click();
    });

})(document, Granite.$);

Now this work absolutely fine.




PathField example

// Asset Selector picker with single mode
<pathfield
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
granite:class="pathfield__asset--selector"
sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/pathfield"
fieldDescription="Browse pathfield"
fieldLabel="Asset Picker 1"
name="./path"
pickerSrc="/mnt/overlay/dam/gui/content/assetselector/_jcr_content/body/items/assetselector.html?dialog=true"
rootPath="/content/dam"/>

// Asset Selector picker with multiple mode and mimetype
<pathfield2
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
granite:class="pathfield__asset--selector"
sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/pathfield"
fieldDescription="Browse pathfield"
fieldLabel="Asset Picker - Multiple"
name="./path2"
multiple="{Boolean}true"
pickerSrc="/mnt/overlay/dam/gui/content/assetselector/_jcr_content/body/items/assetselector.html?dialog=true&amp;mimetype=*png&amp;mode=multiple"
rootPath="/content/dam"/>

// Default picker
<pathfield3
jcr:primaryType="nt:unstructured"
sling:resourceType="granite/ui/components/coral/foundation/form/pathfield"
fieldDescription="Browse pathfield"
fieldLabel="Defualt Picker"
name="./path3"
rootPath="/content/dam"/>




Github

Sample Component
ClientLibs

Note : This fix has been implemented and tested only in AEM as a cloud service instance.


Asset Selector Picker vs Default Picker

Asset Selector gives option to serach and filter, whereas default picker is just allow you to navigate and select in a tree

Asset Selector


Default Picker







Sunday 17 July 2022

AEM - Authoring - Multifield counter

Multifield component allows to add/reorder/remove multiple instances of a field.

In the simplest case this is a simple form input field (e.g. textfield, textarea) but it can also be a complex component acting as an aggregate of multiple subcomponents 


I created a simple dialog which has textfield and pathfield types as subcomponents and look like below in the diagram.I have also authored this with 5 multifield items which are shown in below. 

Can you see all 5 items? Answer is No and to see all 5 you need to scroll down in the form. 

The current design does not gives hint of how many items are there and where individuals item is starts and ends. If the multifield item has many field then it is difficult for Author to visualise this.





Lets write few line of CSS to make it better for readability. Looks better than previous.






With nested multifield




CSS Code

.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-multifield-item:not(:first-child){
border-top:2px solid gray;
margin-bottom:10px;
margin-top:20px;
}

.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-multifield-item:first-child{
margin-bottom:10px;
margin-top:-10px;
}

.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-multifield-item:last-child{
margin-bottom:0px;
margin-top:20px;
}

.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-multifield-item .coral3-Multifield-remove,
.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-multifield-item .coral3-Multifield-move,
.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-multifield-item coral-multifield-item-content{
padding-top:20px
}

.cq-Dialog coral-multifield coral-Multifield-item::before{
content: attr(aria-label);
font-size:1rem;
background-color:lightgray;
color:#919191;
padding:0 10px ;
}


If you want to apply this change to all of the component then create a clientlibs of category cq.authoring.dialog otherwise use exraClientlibs

Above CSS Clientlibs at GitRepo - clientlib-dialog-multifield-decoration

This is tested only in AEMaaCS, this should work in other AEM version as well if coral-multifield-item contains aria-label attribute otherwise you can use CSS counters. e.g. https://github.com/arunpatidar02/aem63app-repo/blob/master/forum/multifield.number.css 


Friday 15 July 2022

AEM - Authoring - Page Status Visualisation



The AEM sites console http://localhost:4502/sites.html/content can list the AEM pages in List, Column and Card view.

Column View



To check the page status for example if the page is published or not, you need to click on individual page. Due to that the overall pages status in not visible in a glance.


Maximum number of AEM user use this view to navigate through the pages.


Card View

Card view at other hand gives you more information as compare to Column view like locked and Publish/not publish




List View

List view provide more information and option to add/remove columns via settings




but none of the view gives more accurate information like 
if the page is unpublished that means is it never published or unpublished later? 
Whether the page is modified after the publish or before the publish?

And it is impossible to get all this information visually.


What can be done to improve visualisation

The inspiration can be taken from classic UI to show color indicators  or something new can be introduce.
At https://experienceleaguecommunities.adobe.com/t5/adobe-experience-manager-ideas/published-status-visualization/idc-p/461069 some ideas are proposed, If Adobe bring this change would be good for Authors

One of the idea which I implemented as part of PoC looks like 


The color/icon indicators represent the following

 Page is published, after publish no modifications are took place

This page is locked

 Page is unpublished, after unpublish no modifications are done

         Page is published, after publish modifications are took place

 Page is published and locked, after publish no modifications are took place

 This page is locked and modified 

 Page is published and locked, after publish modifications are done.


I am not an UX expert but this is just an attempt to implement the concept of visualisations 


PoC Implementation  

The implementation is done only for column view in this PoC, this is done in AEM as a cloud service, so may not work in other version of AEM

  • The sites column view is generated by /libs/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column resource 
  • The children resources for column collected by /libs/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column/datasource, 
  • The column item rendering is done by /libs/cq/gui/components/coral/admin/page/columnitem 


To add the extra status in column view item response
  • /libs/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column/datasource has to be overlay 
  • New column item renderer need to be created similar to /libs/cq/gui/components/coral/admin/page/columnitem  
  • Add CSS to style the visualisation. 

1. Create Custom columnitem resource

copy /libs/cq/gui/components/coral/admin/page/columnitem in apps e.g. /apps/custom/columnitem
update the columnitem.jsp at /apps/custom/columnitem/columnitem.jsp to add following line of code after  line progressTracker.log("completed lastModified handling");
make sure you have opened and closed JSP tags properly. 

// Adding new property START
            Resource jcrItem = resource.getChild(JcrConstants.JCR_CONTENT);
String replicationAction = "";
boolean lockStatus= false;
boolean lastModifiedStatus = false;

            if(null !=jcrItem){
                ValueMap vm = jcrItem.getValueMap();
                replicationAction = vm.get("cq:lastReplicationAction", String.class) != null ? vm.get("cq:lastReplicationAction", String.class)  : "false";
                lockStatus = vm.get("jcr:lockOwner") != null  ? true : false;

                Calendar createdDate = vm.get("jcr:created",Calendar.class);
                Calendar lastModifiedDate = vm.get("cq:lastModified",Calendar.class);
                Calendar lastlastReplicatedDate = vm.get("cq:lastReplicated",Calendar.class);

                if(lastlastReplicatedDate != null && lastModifiedDate !=null){
                    lastModifiedStatus = lastModifiedDate.getTimeInMillis() > lastlastReplicatedDate.getTimeInMillis() ? true : false;
                }
                else if(createdDate != null && lastModifiedDate !=null){
                    lastModifiedStatus = (int) lastModifiedDate.getTimeInMillis()/1000 > (int) createdDate.getTimeInMillis()/1000 ? true : false;
                }
            }

%>
<div class="coral-columnview-item-extra-status">
<% if(lockStatus){%>
  <coral-icon size="S" icon="lockOn"></coral-icon>
<% }
    if(replicationAction.equals("Activate")){%>
        <coral-icon size="S" icon="globeCheck"></coral-icon>
        <% }
    if(replicationAction.equals("Deactivate")){%>
      <coral-icon size="S" icon="globeRemove"></coral-icon>
        <%}
if(lastModifiedStatus){%>
  <coral-icon size="S" icon="edit" content="<%= lastModifiedStatus %>"></coral-icon>
<% }%>
</div>
<% // Adding new property END 

2. Overlay 

Overlay /libs/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column/datasource to /apps/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column/datasource

copy the all the properties of /libs/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column/datasource to /apps/wcm/core/content/sites/jcr:content/views/column/datasource

update the itemResourceType  property to use custom columnitem created in Step1 



2. CSS/Styling 

Create an clientlibs of category cq.listview.coral.columns.personalization only for css e.g. /apps/custom/author/clientlib-sites-color

create color.css with following css rules

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status{
    order: 1;
}

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status coral-icon{
    height:40px;
}

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status ~ svg._coral-AssetList-itemChildIndicator{
    margin-right: 10px;
}

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status [icon="edit"]{
    background-color: #cfe4ec;
    color: #2466b3;
}

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status [icon="lockOn"]{
    background-color: #a39f9f;
    color: #746f6f;
}

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status [icon="globeCheck"]{
    background-color: #8ed58ea8;
    color: #1e481e;
}

.coral-columnview-item-extra-status [icon="globeRemove"]{
    background-color: #eac1c1;
    color: #b23232;
}



Sample package to try this in local (only for AEMaaCS)


Conclusion 

People with access to an AEM author should be able to be quick in recognizing a node as “never published”, “published”, “unpublished”, “modified” and/or “locked”. 
If the three view modes would be enriched with colours a user would immediately see what status a node is in. Imagine if such colours: red = unpublished, green = published, blue = modified, grey = locked, no colour = never published. 

Although the implementation should be done by Adobe to de-risk the future update impact on overlaying and using custom renderer.

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