This document summarizes a presentation on developing dynamic components in AEM using single-page application concepts. It discusses how traditional approaches to dynamic components can be tricky when components need to communicate and update frequently. An SPA approach treats each component as a module that handles its own data fetching and updating independently via AJAX calls. On page load, the server returns only static markup and components get dynamic data by making POST requests to a controller returning JSON. This allows for perceived faster interactions and easier front-end/back-end separation compared to full page reloads. Examples demonstrate rendering templates, initialization scripts, and a sample controller class to retrieve and return dynamic component data.

1. APACHE SLING & FRIENDS TECH MEETUP
BERLIN, 22-24 SEPTEMBER 2014
Dynamic Components using SPA Concepts
Andon Sikavica, Bojana Popovska

2. Dynamic Components
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3. Dynamic vs Static Components
Initial and form-based
components take big chunk
of the statics
We spend more than 90%
of the time developing
dynamics
Count of Dynamic vs Statics
(in hundreds)
Dynamic Static
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4. Dynamic Component Development
 Placeholder for dynamic component in dispatcher
 think about what you will have in the dispatcher
 Request dynamic component via URL
 /content/page/_jcr_content/par/comp.dynamic.html
 Instruct dispatcher not to cache based on selector
 #/0042 { /type "deny" /glob "GET *.dynamic.html*" }
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5. Server Side Includes
Browser Dispatcher AEM
GET Page
return complete Page
<!--#include virtual=
“${c.resourcePath}.dynamic.html}”-->
GET dynamic component HTML
return component HTML
with dynamic data
Generate
HTML
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6. AJAX
Browser Dispatcher AEM
GET Page
return Page with
Placeholders
GET dynamic component HTML
$.ajax({
url: '${c.resourcePath}.dynamic.html',
success: function(data) {
$(“#${c.identifier}").replaceWith(data);
}});
return component HTML
with dynamic data
Generate
HTML
Create
Markup
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7. Summary
 Sling Concepts
 component-path
 selectors
 sling:resourceSuperType
 Aspect-Oriented Solution
 Sling Dynamic Include
adaptTo() 2014 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/fabrisalvetti/489593502 image by Fabrizio Salvetti 7

8. What if…
 … you have high number of dynamic
components on a single page?
 … your components need to communicate
between themselves and update their state?
 … you need to do notifications for the user?
…basically need SPA
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9. Why were the usual approaches Tricky?
They were meant to be used
with page reloads
They work with pre-loaded
Markup from server
adaptTo() 2014 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/15708236@N07/2754478731 photo by jphilipg 9

10. Single Page Application
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11. SPA Component
 Rendering Script (JSP)
 Cached, Inherited
 Module (JS)
 Cached, Composition
 Controller
 Handles all dynamic calls
Abstract
Table
Paging
Sorting
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12. Page Load
Browser Dispatcher AEM
GET Page
return Markup Skeleton
POST for Dynamic Data
return Dynamic Data as JSON
Serialize
Data as
JSON
Render HTML
using Template
with dynamic data
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13. Technologies
 jQuery
 jQuery loadTemplate
 GSON
 Spring (MVC, AOP)
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14. Benefits
 Perceived User Experience
 Separation of front- and
back-end engineering
 easier development
 prototype
 mocked data
adaptTo() 2014 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/mishism/5370473007 photo by Mish Sukharev 14

15. Showcase
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16. Rendering Script
<script type=“text/html”
id=“scheduleTableTemplate”>
<tr>
<td data-content=“talkName”></td>
<td data-content =“time”></td>
</tr>
Static
Markup
</table> Template
</script>
class=“scheduleTable”>
<th>
<td>Talk Name</td>
<td>Time</td>
</th>
<tbody></tbody>
$(‘.scheduleTable tbody’).loadTemplate(
$(‘#scheduleTableTemplate’),
data.talks);
<table
<script type=“text/javascript”>
aemdemo.scheduletable.init(
‘http://localhost:4502/bin/mvc.do/scheduletable/getresult’);
</script>
Inject data
Initialization script
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17. Module
aemdemo.schedulestable = (function($, paging, sort){
var params;
function init (dataUrl){
params.dataUrl = dataUrl;
}
function getDataByPage (pageNumber) {
$.ajax {
data : {. . .},
url : params.dataUrl,
success : function (data){paging.update (data)}
}
}
return {
init:init
}
}(jQuery, aemdemo.paging, aemdemo.sort));
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18. Controller
@Controller
public class ScheduleTableController {
@RequestMapping(value = "/scheduletable/getresult",
produces = {"application/json" }, method = POST)
@ResponseBody
public String getResult(@RequestParam int pageNumber) {
ConferenceDay conferenceDay = getDataFromService();
return serializeData(conferenceDay);
}
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}

19. Identify and Control POSTs
 Add Header
$.ajaxPrefilter(function (options, originalOptions, jqXHR) {
jqXHR.setRequestHeader('X-Request-Source', ‘spa-ajax');
});
 Check Handler
Servlet servlet = servletResolver.resolveServlet(slingRequest);
if (“SlingPostServlet”.equals(servlet.getClass().getSimpleName()
&& isDynamicRequest() ) {
// ups
}
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20. Demo Project
http://bit.ly/aemspademo
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21. Questions
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22. Thank You!
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