Automating Mendix Widget Creation
A conceptual guide and script for automating the process of converting React components into Mendix pluggable widgets.
Manually creating Mendix widgets from React components is repetitive and error-prone. An automation script provides several key benefits: - **Consistency:** Ensures every widget is built and structured the same way. - **Speed:** Drastically reduces the time to create and update widgets. - **Reliability:** Eliminates manual errors in XML configuration and file packaging. - **Scalability:** Makes it feasible to manage a large library of custom widgets.
The process can be broken down into a few logical steps, which can be orchestrated by a Node.js script. 1. **Component Scaffolding:** Find the source React component files. 2. **XML Generation:** Introspect the component's props to auto-generate the Mendix widget XML. 3. **Bundling:** Use a tool like Webpack or Rollup to compile the code and styles. 4. **Packaging:** Zip the build artifacts into an `.mpk` file.
Below is a conceptual Node.js script that demonstrates how this automation could work. Note: This is a template and requires a real project structure and further development (e.g., more robust prop parsing, error handling) to be fully functional. It uses the `fs-extra` and `archiver` libraries.
// To use this script, first install dependencies:
// npm install fs-extra archiver commander
const fs = require('fs-extra');
const path = require('path');
const archiver = require('archiver');
const { program } = require('commander');
// A simplified mapping from TypeScript types to Mendix property types
const typeMapping = {
string: 'string',
boolean: 'boolean',
// Add more complex types like 'action', 'datasource', etc. as needed
};
// Generates the <properties> part of the widget XML
function generateXmlProperties(propsInterface) {
let propertiesXml = '<properties>\n';
for (const prop of propsInterface) {
const mendixType = typeMapping[prop.type] || 'string'; // Default to string
propertiesXml += ` <property key="${prop.name}" type="${mendixType}" required="${prop.required}">
<caption>${prop.name}</caption>
<description>Generated property for ${prop.name}</description>
</property>\n`;
}
propertiesXml += '</properties>';
return propertiesXml;
}
// A mock function to parse props from a TSX file
// In a real script, this would use a proper TypeScript parser like ts-morph
function parseComponentProps(filePath) {
console.log(`Parsing props from: ${filePath}`);
// This is a simplified mock. A real implementation is much more complex.
return [
{ name: 'triggerText', type: 'string', required: 'false' },
{ name: 'titleText', type: 'string', required: 'false' },
{ name: 'descriptionText', type: 'string', required: 'false' },
];
}
async function createWidget(componentName, options) {
const widgetName = options.widgetName || `${componentName}Widget`;
console.log(`Generating ${widgetName} from ${componentName} component...`);
const widgetDir = path.join(process.cwd(), 'widgets', widgetName);
const componentPath = path.join(process.cwd(), 'packages/shadcn-ui-components/src/components/ui', `${componentName}.tsx`);
if (!fs.existsSync(componentPath)) {
console.error(`Component source file not found at: ${componentPath}`);
return;
}
// 1. Generate XML
const props = parseComponentProps(componentPath);
const propertiesXml = generateXmlProperties(props);
const xmlTemplate = `<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<widget id="com.example.${widgetName.toLowerCase()}" pluginWidget="true" supportedPlatform="Web" xmlns="http://www.mendix.com/widget/1.0/">
<name>${widgetName}</name>
<description>A widget generated from the ${componentName} component.</description>
${propertiesXml}
</widget>`;
// Here you would scaffold the full widget directory structure
// For this example, we'll assume a 'dist' folder is created by a build step
const distDir = path.join(widgetDir, 'dist');
await fs.ensureDir(distDir);
fs.writeFileSync(path.join(widgetDir, `${widgetName}.xml`), xmlTemplate);
console.log('Generated widget XML.');
// 2. Mock build step (in reality you would run webpack/rollup here)
console.log('Running mock build step...');
const jsContent = `// Bundled JS for ${widgetName}`;
const cssContent = `/* Bundled CSS for ${widgetName} */`;
fs.writeFileSync(path.join(distDir, `${widgetName}.js`), jsContent);
fs.writeFileSync(path.join(distDir, `${widgetName}.css`), cssContent);
// 3. Create the .mpk package
const mpkPath = path.join(distDir, `${widgetName}.mpk`);
const output = fs.createWriteStream(mpkPath);
const archive = archiver('zip');
archive.on('error', err => { throw err; });
archive.pipe(output);
archive.directory(widgetDir, false);
await archive.finalize();
console.log(`Successfully created widget package at ${mpkPath}`);
}
program
.command('generate <componentName>')
.description('Generate a Mendix widget from a React component')
.option('-w, --widgetName <name>', 'The name for the output widget')
.action(createWidget);
program.parse(process.argv);1. **Save:** Save the code above into a file, for example, `scripts/create-mendix-widget.js`. 2. **Install Dependencies:** Run `npm install fs-extra archiver commander` in your project root. 3. **Run from Terminal:** You could then execute it like this: `node scripts/create-mendix-widget.js generate dialog --widgetName MyDialogWidget`. 4. **Integrate with `package.json`:** For easier use, add a script to your `package.json`: `"generate-widget": "node scripts/create-mendix-widget.js"`. Then you can run `npm run generate-widget -- generate dialog`.
This script is a starting point. A production-ready version would need: - **A real TypeScript parser:** Use libraries like `ts-morph` or the TypeScript Compiler API to accurately parse prop interfaces instead of mocking them. - **Real Build Integration:** Replace the mock build step with actual commands to run your bundler (e.g., `exec('npx webpack --config webpack.config.js')`). - **Error Handling:** Add robust error handling for file operations, parsing, and building. - **Template-based Scaffolding:** Use template files for the widget structure (`package.json`, `MyWidget.tsx`, etc.) and populate them with the correct names and imports.