Riddlevox

Riddlevox is an open-source TypeScript widget that will help you capture more leads with email opt-in forms. This is a rough and untested widget, built in a couple of hours to be used solely for demonstrating the power of Shopify's script tag API.

Do not use this widget in production, it has not been extensively tested.

Installation

You can install this package using npm:

npm install @nozzlegear/riddlevox --save

##Usage

For proper display on mobile, the target website must have set a meta viewport tag with width=device-width, initiali-scale=1.0. This will already be set on Shopify store fronts, unless the store has explicitly installed a goofy, mobile-hostile theme.

<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" />

Configuring Riddlevox

Riddlevox can be configured with the following options, by passing them in as an object to the Riddlevox constructor:

const options = 
{
    position: "bottom-right",
    title: "Sign up for our mailing list!",
    message: "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua.",
    buttonText: "Sign up!",
    defaultThankYouMessage: "Thank you! Your subscription to our mailing list has been confirmed.",
    backgroundColor: "#34495e",
    // Whether Riddlevox should inject its own CSS style tag onto the page.
    // Default value: false
    injectCss: true,
    onConversion: function (firstName, emailAddress, vox) {
        console.log("Conversion received.", firstName, emailAddress);

        if (!fname || !email)
        {
            vox.showError("You must enter a valid first name and email address.");

            return;
        }

        vox.showThankYouMessage();
    }
}

new Riddlevox() and vox.start()

Before you can use Riddlevox, you must construct a new instance of it while passing in the options.

import { RiddleVox } from "@nozzlegear/riddlevox";

const vox = new Riddlevox(options);

//Show Riddlevox's unopened tab on the page.
vox.start();

At this point, nothing will be displayed even though Riddlevox has been added to the page's DOM. Call vox.start() to show the title tab.

//Show Riddlevox's title tab.
vox.start();

Clicking on the title tab will open and close Riddlevox's form.

vox.open() and vox.close()

While the user can click on Riddlevox's title tab to open and close the form, you can also open and close it programatically.

//Open Riddlevox's form
vox.open();

//Close Riddlevox's form
vox.close();

vox.showError() and vox.hideError()

Riddlevox lets you show or hide an error message on its form. It should be used when validating their email details after they've submitted the form.

//Show an error on Riddlevox's form.
vox.showError("Please enter a valid email address.");

//Hide that error
vox.hideError();

vox.hideError will be called automatically by Riddlevox each time the user submits the form.

vox.showThankYouMessage()

After the user has submitted their details, assuming it passes your validation, you can show the previously configured default thank-you message, or you can pass in a custom message with dynamic information. This will hide Riddlevox's email capture form and display the thank-you message in place of it.

// Show the default thank-you message
vox.showThankYouMessage();
// Show a custom thank-you message with dynamic information like the user's first name
vox.showThankYouMessage(`Thanks for joining our mailing list, ${firstName}!`); 

vox.options.onConversion()

Configure your onConversion handler by setting it in Riddlevox's options. When the user submits Riddlevox's email capture form, your onConversion handler will be called and receive the user's first name, their email address and the instance of Riddlevox that owns the form.

This is a great time to validate the information they've provided, show an error message if necessary, or else show the thank-you message.

const options = 
{
    ...
    onConversion: function (firstName, emailAddress, vox) {
        console.log("Conversion received.", firstName, emailAddress);

        if (!fname || !email)
        {
            vox.showError("You must enter a valid first name and email address.");

            return;
        }

        vox.showThankYouMessage();
    },
    ...
}

vox.destroy()

If you want to completely remove Riddlevox from the page, including Riddlevox's title tab, you can use this method. Note that after destroying Riddlevox, you must create and start a new instance to use it again.

vox.destroy();

Learn how to build rock-solid Shopify apps with C# and ASP.NET

Riddlevox was built to showcase the power of Shopify's script tag API, which lets you inject your own, custom scripts and JS libraries onto a Shopify store's website. It's a great way to add dynamic functionality or analytics to a merchant's store front.

I've created a premium course for building rock-solid Shopify apps with C# and ASP.NET, and one of the chapters deals specifically with using custom JavaScript widgets and libraries to add things like Riddlevox to a Shopify store. It's called The Shopify Development Handbook, and you can get a free preview with real, production-ready code samples by going to https://nozzlegear.com/shopify-development-handbook.