Overview

The Glue42 Angular wrapper, @glue42/ng, aims to facilitate Angular developers in initializing the Glue42 JavaScript libraries and using Glue42 functionalities in their projects. The Glue42 Angular wrapper works both with the @glue42/web library, if you are working on a Glue42 Core project, and with the @glue42/desktop library, if you are working on a Glue42 Enterprise project. The @glue42/ng package is a simple lightweight wrapper which makes initializing a Glue42 Client and consuming the Glue42 Web APIs easy and convenient. The examples below use the Glue42 Web library.

Prerequisites

This package should be used only in Angular applications. If your app was created with the Angular CLI, then you don't need to take any additional steps. However, if you have manually created your app, then you need to make sure to install the peer dependencies of @glue42/ng:

"dependencies": {
    "@angular/common": "^9.1.3",
    "@angular/core": "^9.1.3",
    "rxjs": "^6.5.5",
    "tslib": "^1.10.0"
}

The example below assumes that your app was created with the Angular CLI. Install @glue42/ng and the Glue42 Web library:

npm install --save @glue42/ng @glue42/web

Library Features

The Glue42 Angular library exposes two important elements:

• Glue42Ng - an Angular module that initializes the Glue42 Web library;
• Glue42Store - an Angular service that gives access to the Glue42 Web API;

Glue42Ng Module

The Glue42Ng module is responsible for initializing the Glue42 Web library. You must import the Glue42Ng module once for the entire application - in the root module by using the forRoot() method. This methods accepts a settings object which has the following signature:

Glue42NgSettings = {
    config?: Glue42NgConfig;
    factory?: Glue42NgFactory;
    holdInit?: boolean;
};

• config - Optional. A configuration object for the Glue42 factory function (for detailed configuration options, see the Glue42 Client: Overview section);
• factory - Optional. A Glue42 factory function. If you do not pass a factory function, the Glue42 Angular library will search for a factory function attached to the global window object (e.g., window.GlueWeb when using the Glue42 Web library);
• holdInit - Optional. Toggles whether or not your app initialization should wait for the Glue42 factory function to resolve. Defaults to true;

The initialization of the Glue42 Web library is asynchronous and therefore can take anywhere between a few milliseconds and a couple of seconds. There are two main situations in which setting holdInit to true (default) or false will benefit your project:

• holdInit: false - If the Glue42 functionalities play only a supporting role in your project, rather than being an essential part of it, it is recommended that you set holdInit to false. This way, your app will not have to wait for the Glue42 library to initialize in order to be able to function properly. You can use the Glue42Store service to get notified when the Glue42 Web library is ready.

• holdInit: true - If the Glue42 functionalities, however, are a critical part your project, then it is recommended to leave holdInit set to true. This way, Angular will wait for the Glue42 factory function to resolve before bootstrapping your first component. This will spare you the need to check whether the Glue42 Web library is available or not every time you want to use it in your app. As a negative result to this approach, when your users load the app, they will keep seeing a blank screen up until the first component has been bootstrapped. Of course, you can solve this by providing a loader animation as soon as your app is accessed.

The example below shows how to initialize the Glue42 Web library by passing a factory function and a custom configuration object:

import { Glue42Ng } from "@glue42/ng";
import GlueWeb from "@glue42/web";

@NgModule({
    declarations: [
        AppComponent
    ],
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,
        Glue42Ng.forRoot({ factory: GlueWeb, config: { extends: false } })
    ],
    providers: [],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

It is important to note that if the Glue42 initialization fails for any reason (invalid configuration, missing factory function, connection problems or initialization timeout), your app will still initialize.

Glue42Store Service

The Glue42Store service is used to obtain the glue object which exposes the Glue42 Web API. This service can also notify you when the Glue42 Web library has been initialized and enables you to check for any initialization errors.

Example of creating a Glue42Store service:

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { Glue42Store } from "@glue42/ng";

@Injectable()
export class Glue42Service {
    constructor(private readonly glueStore: Glue42Store) { }
}

The Glue42Store service offers the following methods:

• this.glueStore.ready() - returns an Observable. If you subscribe to it, you will be notified when the Glue42 Web library has been initialized. If the initialization fails, you will receive an object with an error property, otherwise the object will be empty. This is particularly useful if you set holdInit to false when initializing the library, because you need to make sure that the Glue42 library is ready for use before accessing any of its APIs;
• this.glueStore.initError - returns an initialization error object returned from the Glue42 factory function or undefined;
• this.glueStore.glue - returns the Glue42 Web API object. If needed, it is up to the developer to cast the returned object to the respective type (either Glue42.Glue or Glue42Web.API depending on the used Glue42 JavaScript library);

You can now inject the service in the components that need it and access the Glue42 Web API from the this.glueStore.glue object. This gives you a decent level of encapsulation and control. If you prefer handling async actions with Observables, then this service is the perfect place to wrap the methods you want to use in Observables.

Usage

Below you can see some examples of initializing and using the Glue42 Angular library.

Initialization

Import the Glue42Ng module in the root module of your app and pass the factory function from @glue42/web:

import { BrowserModule } from "@angular/platform-browser";
import { NgModule } from "@angular/core";

import { AppComponent } from "./app.component";
import { Glue42Ng } from "@glue42/ng";
import GlueWeb from "@glue42/web";

@NgModule({
    declarations: [
        AppComponent
    ],
    imports: [
        BrowserModule,
        Glue42Ng.forRoot({ factory: GlueWeb })
    ],
    providers: [],
    bootstrap: [AppComponent]
})
export class AppModule { }

Consuming Glue42 Web APIs

Inject the Glue42Store service in your component/service of choice in order to use the Glue42 Web API. It is recommended that you create your own Angular service that injects the Glue42Store and exposes only the functionality your app needs.

When initializing the Glue42 Web library with the Glue42Ng module, you can use the holdInit property (see Glue42Ng Module) to configure the Angular framework to wait or not for the Glue42 factory function to resolve before bootstrapping your first component. Depending on this setting, you can use the Glue42Store service in different ways. Below are given examples and short explanations for both cases:

• holdInit: true

Creating the service:

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { Glue42Store } from "@glue42/ng";

@Injectable()
export class Glue42Service {

    constructor(private readonly glueStore: Glue42Store) { }

    public get glueAvailable() {
        return !!this.glueStore.initError;
    }

    public registerMethod(name: string, callback: () => void): Promise<void> {
        if (!this.glueAvailable) {
            return Promise.reject("Glue42 was not initialized.");
        }
        return this.glueStore.glue.interop.register(name, callback);
    }
}

Using the service:

import { Component, OnInit } from "@angular/core";
import { Glue42Service } from "./my-glue-service";

@Component({
    selector: "app-root",
    templateUrl: "./app.component.html",
    styleUrls: ["./app.component.css"]
})
export class AppComponent implements OnInit {

    constructor(private glueService: Glue42Service) { }

    public ngOnInit(): void {
        if (!this.glueService.glueAvailable) {
            // Тhere has been an error during the Glue42 initialization.
            return;
        }
        // Glue42 has been initialized without errors and is ready to use.
    }
}

If you set holdInit to true (default), you can be sure that everywhere you inject the Glue42Store service, the respective properties will be initialized and set. This is very convenient, because you don't have to subscribe and wait for an event in order to use the Glue42 Web library. However, you do need to always check if there is an initialization error by using this.glueStore.initError. If the Glue42 factory functions rejects or throws an error, your app will not crash, but Glue42 will not be available and the value of initError will be set to the respective error object during initialization.

• holdInit: false

Creating the service:

import { Injectable } from "@angular/core";
import { Glue42Store } from "@glue42/ng";

@Injectable()
export class Glue42Service {

    constructor(private readonly glueStore: Glue42Store) { }

    public ready() {
        return this.glueStore.ready;
    }

    public registerMethod(name: string, callback: () => void): Promise<void> {
        return this.glueStore.glue.interop.register(name, callback);
    }
}

Using the service:

import { Component, OnInit } from "@angular/core";
import { Glue42Service } from "./my-glue-service";

@Component({
    selector: "app-root",
    templateUrl: "./app.component.html",
    styleUrls: ["./app.component.css"]
})
export class AppComponent implements OnInit {

    constructor(private glueService: Glue42Service) { }

    public ngOnInit(): void {
        // Show the loader.
        this.glueService
            .ready()
            .subscribe((glueStatus) => {
                if (glueStatus.error) {
                    // Hide the loader.
                    // Glue42 is not available.
                    return;
                }
                // Hide the loader.
                // Glue42 is ready, continue with your logic.
            })
    }
}

As you can see, this approach requires a little bit more code, but it gives you an easy way to provide pleasant user experience while Glue42 is initializing, handle gracefully any initialization errors, and when the initialization resolves normally, you don't need to always check the error object like in the previous example.