This document describes the SDK that a custom extension can use to communicate with the Contentful Web App and the Contentful Management API.

Table of Contents

Usage

• Inclusion in your project
• Initialization
• Locations

Methods

• Field
• Entry
• Content Type
• Space
• Locales
• User
• Window
• Dialogs
• Navigator
• Notifier
• Editor
• IDs
• Access
• Parameters
• App configuration

Inclusion in your project

You will need to include the contentful-ui-extensions-sdk library in your HTML5 app:

<script src="https://unpkg.com/contentful-ui-extensions-sdk@3"></script>

The SDK is also distributed as an NPM package.

npm install --save contentful-ui-extensions-sdk

Initialization

The SDK exposes the contentfulExtension.init() method. This is the entry point for all extension-related code. If you require the script from the CDN and use it without any module system the init method is available as window.contentfulExtension.init:

window.contentfulExtension.init(function (sdk) {
  var value = sdk.field.getValue();
  sdk.field.setValue("Hello world!");
});

If you use a bundler supporting ES6 modules you can use the import statement:

import { init as initContentfulExtension } from "contentful-ui-extensions-sdk";

initContentfulExtension((sdk) => {
  /* ... */
});

If you use a CommonJS bundler you need to require the Extensions SDK:

const contentfulExtension = require("contentful-ui-extensions-sdk");

contentfulExtension.init((sdk) => {
  /* ... */
});

Locations

Each individual place in the Web App where a widget can be rendered is called "location". All available locations are exported as constants:

import { init, locations } from "contentful-ui-extensions-sdk";

Location	Rendered as...	Additional APIs available
locations.LOCATION_ENTRY_FIELD	a content field editor	sdk.editor, sdk.entry, sdk.contentType, sdk.field
locations.LOCATION_ENTRY_SIDEBAR	an entry sidebar item	sdk.editor, sdk.entry, sdk.contentType
locations.LOCATION_ENTRY_EDITOR	the entire entry editor	sdk.editor, sdk.entry, sdk.contentType
locations.LOCATION_DIALOG	a dialog window	none
locations.LOCATION_PAGE	a separate page	none
locations.LOCATION_APP_CONFIG	an app configuration screen	sdk.app

Deprecated:

• locations.LOCATION_ENTRY_FIELD_SIDEBAR - renders a content field control in the sidebar. Use locations.LOCATION_ENTRY_SIDEBAR instead.

To check the location in which your extension is running use location.is:

import { init, locations } from "contentful-ui-extensions-sdk";

init((sdk) => {
  if (sdk.location.is(locations.LOCATION_ENTRY_SIDEBAR)) {
    renderSidebarUI();
  }
  if (sdk.location.is(locations.LOCATION_DIALOG)) {
    renderDialogUI();
  }
});

Since 3.6.0

Field

sdk.field

Only available in some locations.

This API gives you access to the value and metadata of the field the extension is attached to.

If you use localization, an extension instance will be rendered for each locale. This means you can only change the value for the given locale. See the entry.fields API for how to change values for different locales.

If an entry returned by the Contentful Management API looks like the following:

{
  sys: { ... },
  fields: {
    title: {
      "en_US": "My Post"
    },
    ...
  }
}

Then the extension is attached to the title field and the en_US locale.

Getting field values

sdk.field.getValue(): mixed

Gets the current value of the field and locale. In the example this would yield "My Post".

Setting field values

sdk.field.setValue(value): Promise<mixed>

Sets the value for the field and locale. The promise is resolved when the change has been acknowledged. The type of the value must match the expected field type. For example, if the extension is attached to a "Symbol" field you must pass a string.

Example:

sdk.field
  .setValue("foo")
  .then((data) => {
    console.log(data); // Returns "foo".
  })
  .catch((err) => {
    console.log(err);
  });

Removing field values

sdk.field.removeValue(): Promise<void>

Removes the value for the field and locale. A subsequent call to getValue() for the field would yield undefined.

Setting a field to be invalid/valid

sdk.field.setInvalid(Boolean): undefined

Communicates to the Contentful web application if the field is in a valid state or not. This impacts the styling applied to the field container.

Receiving notifications for external field value changes

sdk.field.onValueChanged(callback): function

Calls the callback every time the value of the field is changed by an external event (e.g. when multiple editors are working on the same entry) or when setValue() is called. Note that onValueChanged also gets called when the Entry is loaded the first time.

The method returns a function you can call to stop listening to changes.

Example:

// Handler for external field value changes.
function valueChangeHandler(value) {
  inputEl.value = value || "";
}
// Callback for changes of the field value.
var detachValueChangeHandler = sdk.field.onValueChanged(valueChangeHandler);

Use detachValueChangeHandler() to unsubscribe.

Changed in v3.0.0

Receiving notifications for external enabling/disabling of field

sdk.field.onIsDisabledChanged(callback): function

Calls the callback when the disabled status of the field changes. A boolean indicating whether the field is disabled or not is passed to the callback.

The method returns a function that you can call to stop listening to changes.

See above for an example.

Receiving notifications when field is re-validated

sdk.field.onSchemaErrorsChanged(callback): function

Calls the callback immediately with the current validation errors and whenever the field is re-validated. The callback receives an array of error objects. An empty array indicates no errors.

The errors are updated when the app validates an entry. This happens when loading an entry or when the user tries to publish it.

The method returns a function that you can call to stop listening to changes.

See above for an example.

Since 2.1.0

Getting the id of the field

sdk.field.id: string

The ID of a field is defined in an entry's content type. Yields "title" in the example.

Getting the locale of the field

sdk.field.locale: string

The current locale of a field the extension is attached to. Yields "en_US" in the example.

Getting the type of the field

sdk.field.type: string

Holds the type of the field the extension is attached to. The field type can be one of those described in our api documentation.

In the case that the field type returned from sdk.field.type is "Array" use sdk.field.items to find the type of the items inside that array.

Getting the type of items inside an array field

sdk.field.items:
  { type: string
    linkType?: string
    validations?: Object[]
  }

The type of items inside of an "Array" field.

Getting the validations of the field

sdk.field.validations: Validation[]

A list of validations for this field that are defined in the content type. The content type documentation provides more information on the shape of validations.

Since 2.1.0

Entry

sdk.entry

Only available in some locations.

This object allows you to read and update the value of any field of the current entry and to get the entry's metadata.

Getting the Entry's sys object

entry.getSys(): object

Returns metadata for an entry. The value coincides with the sys value of an entry returned by the v0.8.x of the Contentful Management API.

Receiving notifications when sys object is changing

entry.onSysChanged(callback): function

Calls the callback with metadata every time that metadata changes. You can call the returned function to stop listening to changes.

See above for an example.

Getting individual fields of an Entry

entry.fields[id]: Field

In addition to sdk.field, a extension can also control the values of all other fields in the current entry. Fields are referenced by their ID.

The Field API methods provide a similar interface to sdk.field. The methods also accept an optional locale to change the value for a specific locale. It defaults to the space the space's default locale (see sdk.locales). Providing an unknown locale throws an exception.

• field.id: string
• field.locales: Array<string>
• field.getValue(locale?): mixed
• field.setValue(value, locale?): Promise<void>
• field.removeValue(locale?): Promise<void>
• field.onValueChanged(locale?, cb): function
• field.onIsDisabledChanged(locale?, cb): function
• field.getForLocale(locale): LocaleField

You may want to build an instance of an entry Field identical to that provided by sdk.field in order to, for example, re-use a field extension as part of an entry extension. The entry.field[id] object allows you to do this by using the getForLocale method.

Example: If the entry has a "title" field, you can transform it to upper case with:

var titleField = sdk.entry.fields.title;
var oldTitle = titleField.getValue();
titleField.setValue(oldTitle.toUpperCase());

Content Type

sdk.contentType

Only available in some locations.

This API gives you access to data about the content type of the entry. It has the form as described under "content type properties" in our api documentation.

Since 1.0.0

The object it returns looks similar to this:

{
  sys: { ... },
  fields: { ... },
  name: "fooContentType",
  displayField: "title",
  description: "This is an example description of a Content Type"
}

Space

sdk.space

The space object exposes methods that allow the extension to read and manipulate a wide range of objects in the space. Its API mirrors v0.8.x of the contentful-management library, with a few differences.

Content Types of a Space

Allows operating on the current space's content types. Content types created/updated or deleted this way will immediately be published or unpublished respectively.

• space.getContentType(id)
• space.getContentTypes()
• space.createContentType(data)
• space.updateContentType(data)
• space.deleteContentType(data)

Since 3.10.11

• space.getCachedContentTypes()

Entries of a Space

• space.getEntry(id)
• space.getEntrySnapshots(id)
• space.getEntries(query)
• space.createEntry('content-type-id', data)
• space.updateEntry(data)
• space.publishEntry(data)
• space.unpublishEntry(data)
• space.archiveEntry(data)
• space.unarchiveEntry(data)
• space.deleteEntry(data)
• space.getPublishedEntries(query)

Since 1.0.0 getEntrySnapshots since 3.6.0

Assets of a Space

• space.archiveAsset(data)
• space.createAsset(data)
• space.createUpload(base64data)
• space.deleteAsset(data)
• space.getAsset(id)
• space.getAssets(query)
• space.getPublishedAssets(query)
• space.processAsset(asset, locale)
• space.publishAsset(data)
• space.unarchiveAsset(data)
• space.unpublishAsset(data)
• space.updateAsset(data)
• space.waitUntilAssetProcessed(assetId, locale)

Note that snapshots are not available for assets.

Since 1.0.0 createUpload and waitUntilAssetProcessed since 3.7.0

Editor Interface

space.getEditorInterface(contentTypeId)

Gets a single point editor interface a given content type ID.

Since 3.8.0

space.getEditorInterfaces()

Gets all editor interfaces for all content types of the active environment.

Since 3.10.0

Users of a Space

space.getUsers()

Returns a promise of all User objects for users who belong to the space.

Since 3.6.0

Scheduled actions

space.getAllScheduledActions(): Promise<ScheduledAction[]>

Returns a list of scheduled actions for the currenst space & environment.

space.getEntityScheduledActions(entityType: 'Entry' | 'Asset', entityId: string): Promise<ScheduledAction[]>

Returns a list of scheduled actions for a given entity.

Since 3.11.0

Locales

sdk.locales

A space can have multiple locales and each localized entry field can have different values for different locales. Locales are identified by their locale code, e.g. "en_US".

Default Locale

locales.default: string

The default locale code for the current space.

Listing Locales

locales.available: Array<string>

A list of locale codes of all locales available for editing in the current space.

Locale names

locales.names: Object

An object with keys of locale codes and values of corresponding human-readable locale names.

Since 3.4.3

Locale fallbacks

An object with keys of locale codes and values of corresponding fallback locale codes. If there's no fallback then the value is undefined.

Since 3.10.4

Locale direction

locale.direction: Object

An object with keys of locale codes and values of corresponding information indicating if the locale is right-to-left or left-to-right language.

Since 3.10.7

Locale optional

locale.optional: Object

An object with keys of locale codes and values of corresponding boolean value indicating if the locale is optional or not.

Since 3.10.7

{
  available: ['en-US', 'pl', 'ar-DZ'],
  default: 'en-US',
  names: {
    'en-US': 'English (US)',
    pl: 'Polski',
    'ar-DZ': 'Arabic (Algeria)'
  },
  fallbacks: {
    'en-US': undefined,
    pl: 'en-US',
    'ar-DZ': 'es-US'
  },
  optional: {
    'en-US': false,
    'pl': true,
    'ar-DZ': true
  },
  direction: {
    'en-US': 'ltr',
    'pl': 'ltr',
    'ar-DZ': 'rtl'
  }
}

User

sdk.user

This object holds information about the current user and roles. It has the following shape.

{
  sys: { id: 'b33ts', type: 'User' },
  firstName: 'Dwight',
  lastName: 'Schrute',
  email: 'dwight@dundermifflin.com',
  avatarUrl: 'https://avatar.com/x.jpg',
  spaceMembership: {
    sys: { id: 'abc123xyz', type: 'SpaceMembership' }
    admin: false,
    roles: [{
      name: 'Assistant to the regional manager',
      description: 'Not “Assistant regional manager”',
    }]
  }
}

The spaceMembership and roles objects have include a subset of the data from the corresponding resources in the Contentful Management API. You can find more information in the CMA Reference Documentation.

Since 3.3.0

Window

sdk.window

The window object provides methods to update the size of the iframe the extension is contained within. This prevents scrollbars inside the extension.

To prevent a flickering scrollbar during height updates, it is recommended to set the extension's body to overflow: hidden;.

Updating the extension's height

window.updateHeight()

Calculates the body's scrollHeight and sets the containers height to this value.

Setting the extension's height

window.updateHeight(height)

Sets the iframe height to the given value in pixels. height must be an integer.

Automatically updating the extension's height

window.startAutoResizer()

Listens for DOM changes and calls updateHeight() when the size changes.

Stopping the automatic updating of the extension's height

window.stopAutoResizer()

Stops resizing the iframe automatically.

Dialogs

sdk.dialogs

This object provides methods for opening UI dialogs:

Opening an extension in a dialog

dialogs.openExtension(options)

Opens an extension in a dialog.

options is an object configuring the dialog. The available options are:

• id (string): ID of the extension to open (if id is not passed then the same extension is opened in a dialog mode)
• title (string): adds header to the dialog if specified
• width (number | small | medium | large | fullWidth): width of the dialog in pixels. Defaults to 700.
• position (center | top): vertical position of the dialog. Defaults to center.
• allowHeightOverflow (boolean): determines whether a modal higher than the viewport is allowed. Defaults to false.
• minHeight (string | number): determines minimal height of a modal window, helps to avoid "bubble" effect when dialog extension is opened
• shouldCloseOnOverlayClick (boolean): indicates if clicking the overlay should close the dialog. Defaults to false.
• shouldCloseOnEscapePress (boolean): indicates if pressing the ESC key should close the dialog. Defaults to false.
• parameters (mixed): invocation parameters to pass to the extension. Can be accessed as parameters.invocation in the opened extension.

openExtension returns a promise. Inside the extension opened in a dialog you can call close(data) which will close the dialog and resolve the promise with data.

// Extension to open: `mydialog`.
init((sdk) => {
  console.log(sdk.parameters.invocation);
  sdk.close({ hello: "world" });
});

// Opening the extension:
dialogs
  .openExtension({
    id: "mydialog",
    width: 500,
    parameters: { test: true, value: 42 },
  })
  .then((data) => {
    /* ... */
  });

Since 3.6.0

Open the current app in a dialog

dialogs.openCurrentApp(options)

Opens the current app in a dialog. Only available if rendered as an app. Accepts the same parameters as dialogs.openExtension does with exception of id.

Since 3.10

Open the current app or extension in a dialog

dialogs.openCurrent(options)

Opens the current app or current extension in a dialog. Accepts the same parameters as dialogs.openExtension and dialogs.openCurrentApp. The id property will always be set to the current id of the app or the extension.

Since 3.15

Opening an alert dialog

dialogs.openAlert(options)

Opens a simple alert window (which can only be closed). The method returns a promise always resolving to true once the dialog is closed.

options is an object configuring the dialog. The available options are:

• title (string, required): title of the dialog.
• message (string, required): message of the dialog.
• confirmLabel (string, optional): label of the confirmation button. Defaults to "Confirm".
• shouldCloseOnEscapePress (boolean, optional): indicates if pressing the Escape key closes the dialog. Defaults to true.
• shouldCloseOnOverlayClick (boolean, optional): indicates if clicking the dialog overlay closes the dialog. Defaults to true.

dialogs
  .openAlert({
    title: "My alert",
    message: "My message to you",
  })
  .then((result) => {
    // `result` is always `true`, can be skipped
  });

Since 3.4.2

Opening a confirm dialog

dialogs.openConfirm(options)

Opens a confirmation window. A user can either confirm or cancel the dialog. The method returns a promise resolving to either true (for confirmations) or false (for cancellations). Clicking the dialog overlay or pressing the Escape key (if enabled) will cancel the dialog.

options is an object configuring the dialog. The available options are the options of dialogs.openAlert(options) and additionally:

• cancelLabel (string, optional): label of the cancellation button. Defaults to "Cancel".
• intent (primary, positive, negative): color of the confirmation button. Defaults to primary.

dialogs
  .openConfirm({
    title: "My question",
    message: "What is your answer?",
    intent: "positive",
    confirmLabel: "Yes!",
    cancelLabel: "No...",
  })
  .then((result) => {
    // `result` is either `true` or `false`
  });

Since 3.4.2

Opening a prompt dialog

dialogs.openPrompt(options)

Opens a prompt window. A user can either provide a string input or cancel the dialog. The method returns a promise resolving the provided string (when confirmed) or false (when cancelled). Clicking the dialog overlay or pressing the Escape key (if enabled) will cancel the dialog.

options is an object configuring the dialog. The available options are the options of dialogs.openConfirm(options) and additionally:

• defaultValue (string, optional): the default value of the text input. Defaults to an empty string.

dialogs
  .openPrompt({
    title: "My question",
    message: "Please tell me more...",
    defaultValue: "hello world",
  })
  .then((result) => {
    // `result` is either a string or `false`
  });

Since 3.4.2

Selecting a single Entry

dialogs.selectSingleEntry(options)

Opens a dialog for selecting a single entry. It returns a promise resolved with the selected entity or null if a user closes the dialog without selecting anything.

options is an optional object configuring the dialog.The available options are:

• locale: The code of a locale you want to use to display proper titles and descriptions. Defaults to the space's default locale.
• contentTypes: An array of content type IDs of entries that you want to display in the selector. By default entries of all content types are displayed.

// display a dialog for selecting a single entry
dialogs.selectSingleEntry().then((selectedEntry) => {});

// select a single entry of "blogpost" content type
// and display result in "de-DE" locale
dialogs
  .selectSingleEntry({
    locale: "de-DE",
    contentTypes: ["blogpost"],
  })
  .then((selectedEntry) => {});

Since 3.1.0

Selecting multiple Entries

dialogs.selectMultipleEntries(options)

Works similarly to selectSingleEntry, but allows to select multiple entries and the returned promise is resolved with an array of selected entries.

Both locale and contentTypes options can be used. There are two additional options:

• min and max - numeric values specifying an inclusive range in which the number of selected entities must be contained

// display a dialog for selecting multiple entries
dialogs.selectMultipleEntries().then((arrayOfSelectedEntries) => {});

// select between 1 and 3 (inclusive) entries
dialogs
  .selectMultipleEntries({ min: 1, max: 3 })
  .then((arrayOfSelectedEntries) => {});

Since 3.1.0

Selecting a single Asset

dialogs.selectSingleAsset(options)

Counterpart of selectSingleEntry for assets. A contentTypes option is not available.

Since 3.1.0

Selecting multiple Assets

dialogs.selectMultipleAssets(options)

Counterpart of selectMultipleEntries for assets. A contentTypes option is not available.

Since 3.1.0

Navigator

sdk.navigator

Exposes methods for navigating between entities stored in a Contentful space.

Opening an existing entry or asset

• navigator.openEntry(entryId, options)
• navigator.openAsset(assetId, options)

Opens an existing entry or asset in the current Web App session. Both entryId and assetId are string identifiers as in the sys.id property of an entity.

options object is optional. The only recognized options are { slideIn: true } or { slideIn: { waitForClose: true } }.

When { slideIn: true } is set, it will open the entity in the slide-in editor over the current entity editor instead of navigating and resolve a promise immediately after slide-in editor is opened.

navigator.openAsset("si29ajxns80", { slideIn: true }).then(({ entity }) => {
  /* asset was opened in the slide-in editor */
  /* promise is resolved immediately after slide-in editor is opened */
});

When { slideIn: { waitForClose: true } } is set, it will open the entity in the slide-in editor over the current entity editor instead of navigating and resolve a promise only after slide-in editor is closed, so you can get an entry with all the latest changes that were made when editor was open. If the entry is deleted or otherwise made unavailable before the slide-in editor is closed, the entity property will be undefined on the resolved promise.

navigator.openAsset("si29ajxns80", { slideIn: { waitForClose: true }).then(({ entity }) => {
  /* asset was opened in the slide-in editor and then closed */
  /* promise is resolved only after slide-in editor is closed, entity object has all latest changes */
  /* entity is undefined if the entry has been deleted during user interaction */
})

Since 3.5.0

Opening a new entry or asset

• navigator.openNewEntry(contentTypeId, options)
• navigator.openNewAsset(options)

Opens a new entry or asset in the current Web App session. When opening an entry, contentTypeId string identifier must be provided. options object is optional and has the same effect as in openEntry and openAsset methods.

navigator.openNewEntry("blogPost", { slideIn: true }).then(({ entity }) => {
  /* new entry of the "blogPost" content type was opened in the slide-in editor */
});

Since 3.5.0

Navigating within a page app

Note: This function is only available in apps and not in UI extensions.

• navigator.openCurrentAppPage(options)

This function enables your page app to inform the browser URL of any state changes within your app that you want to be reflected in your browser history.

Calling openCurrentAppPage without any arguments will navigate you to the root of your page app.

navigator.openCurrentAppPage();
/* navigated to /app_installations/{app-id} */

The options parameter is optional and it contains a single property path that is optional as well. Providing it allows you to change the route in the browser URL.

Note: If you provide a path you must prepend it with a slash like in the example below.

navigator.openCurrentAppPage({ path: "/settings" });
/* navigated to /app_installations/{app-id}/settings */

navigator.openCurrentAppPage({ path: "/settings/features" });
/* navigated to /app_installations/{app-id}/settings/features */

openCurrentAppPage returns a promise which provides an object:

  {
    navigated: bool
    path: string
  }

navigated will be true if the navigation succeeded. path will be a string of the new route and the browser URL will reflect that change.

navigator.openCurrentAppPage({ path: "/settings" }).then((result) => {
  if (result.navigated && result.path === "/settings") {
    doSomething();
  }
});

It is also possible to navigate directly to a page app by specifying its id.

// normal URL
"https://app.contentful.com/spaces/{space-id}/app_installations/{app-id}/";

// URL with environment
"https://app.contentful.com/spaces/{space-id}/environments/{environment-id}/app_installations/{app-id}/";

Since 3.13.0

Notifier

sdk.notifier

Allows to display notifications.

Displaying success and error notifications

• notifier.success(message)
• notifier.error(message)

Provided with a string message, displays a success (rendered in green) or an error (rendered in red) notification in the notification area of the Web App.

notifier.success("Settings successfully updated!");

Since 3.5.0

Editor

sdk.editor

Only available in some locations.

Exposes editor interface and provides subscription methods for editor state: locale mode, selected locales, visibility of fields disabled for editing.

Editor Interface

• editor.editorInterface - instance of EditorInterface entity for the content type of the entry being edited

Receiving notifications about locales settings change

sdk.editor.onLocaleSettingsChanged(callback): function

Calls the callback every time locale mode (single or multi), active locales or focused locale are changed.

The method returns a function you can call to stop listening to changes.

Example:

function localeSettingsHandler(data) {
  const { mode, focused, active } = data;
  if (mode === "single") {
    console.log(focused);
  } else if (mode === "multi") {
    console.log(active);
  }
}
const detachHandler = sdk.editor.onLocaleSettingsChanged(localeSettingsHandler);

• active locales: array of locales codes, present in multi mode
• focused locale: currently focused locale code, present in single mode

Use detachHandler() to unsubscribe.

Receiving notifications about changes of visibility of fields disabled for editing

sdk.editor.onShowDisabledFieldsChanged(callback): function

Calls the callback every time disabled fields visibility is changed.

The method returns a function you can call to stop listening to changes.

Example:

function visibilityHandler(visible) {
  if (visible) {
    console.log("show disabled fields");
  } else {
    console.log("hide disabled fields");
  }
}
const detachHandler = sdk.editor.onShowDisabledFieldsChanged(visibilityHandler);

Use detachHandler() to unsubscribe.

Since 3.8.0

IDs

Exposes IDs of entities available in the current context.

Always available:

• user - ID of the current user
• space - ID of the current space
• environment - ID of the current environment

Note that environment is an ID of an environment, but not of an environment alias. Even if you use an environment alias to access your environment, the original environment ID will be given. To understand which alias was used to access the current environment use:

• environmentAlias - ID of the currently used environment alias (undefined if accessing an environment directly)

Available only in entry editor:

• entry - ID of the current entry
• contentType - ID of the current content type
• field - ID of the current field

Only one of the following will be available, depending on the type of the widget running:

• app - ID of the current app
• extension - ID of the current extension

Since 3.8.0

ids.environmentAlias since 3.26.0

Access

sdk.access.can(action, typeOrEntity): Promise<boolean>

Returns a promise of true or false indicating if an action can be performed on typeOrEntity by the current user.

Action can be one of:

• create
• read
• update
• delete
• publish
• unpublish
• archive
• unarchive

Supported types are:

• ContentType
• EditorInterface
• Entry
• Asset

Entity objects of these types can also be passed as the second argument to the .can() call.

sdk.access.can("create", "ContentType"); // -> can a user create content types?
sdk.access.can("archive", "Entry"); // -> can a user archive entries?
sdk.access.can("update", {
  sys: { type: "Entry", id: "my-entry" },
  fields: {
    title: { "en-US": "hello!" },
  },
}); // -> can a user update this specific entry?
sdk.access.can("create", {
  sys: {
    type: "Entry",
    contentType: {
      sys: { id: "my-content-type", type: "Link", linkType: "ContentType" },
    },
  },
}); // -> can a user create an entry of this specific content type?

Note that not all entity types support all actions:

Action	Supported entity types
create	ContentType, Entry, Asset
read	all
update	all
delete	ContentType, Entry, Asset
publish	ContentType, Entry, Asset
unpublish	ContentType, Entry, Asset
archive	Entry, Asset
unarchive	Entry, Asset

Since 3.14.0

Configuration of an extension with parameters

sdk.parameters

Exposes extension configuration parameters as defined in the Content Management API reference.

sdk.parameters has the following shape:

{
  installation: {
    retries: 10,
    isDevMode: true
  },
  instance: {
    theme: 'light'
  }
}

You can rely on both sdk.parameters.installation and sdk.parameters.instance being defined. If no parameters were provided they will default to an empty object:

{
  installation: {},
  instance: {}
}

Since 3.4.0

If your extension was opened with dialogs.openExtension, you can access invocation parameters as parameters.invocation. Invocation parameters are not guaranteed to be defined and depend on the extension type and value provided when opening a dialog.

Since 3.6.0

App configuration

sdk.app

Only available in LOCATION_APP_CONFIG.

Exposes methods useful when building app configuration screens.

Check if an app is installed

app.isInstalled(): Promise<boolean>

Resolves with true if an app is installed. Resolves with false otherwise.

Since 3.10

Get the current app installation parameters

app.getParameters(): Promise<Object | null>

Resolves with an object of all app parameters. If an app is not installed yet, it resolves with null.

Since 3.10

Mark an app as loaded

app.setReady(): void

The Contentful web app will display a generic loading screen until the app calls this method. Once setReady is called, the loading screen is hidden and the app is presented to a user.

If setReady() is not called in 15 seconds we assume the app is broken and display a generic error screen.

Since 3.10

Get the current app state

app.getCurrentState(): Promise<AppState | null>

Resolves with an object containing the AppState: a data structure defining where the app should be rendered. It has the following shape

{
  // Defines the locations where the app is rendered
  EditorInterface: {
    // App is added as the first (position = 0) editor
    // in editor list for the content type with ID `ct1`.
    ct1: { editors: { position: 0 } },
    // App is rendered in the second slot (position = 1)
    // of the sidebar for the content type with ID `ct2`.
    ct2: { sidebar: { position: 1 } },
    // App shows as a field editor of the content type with ID `ct3`.
    ct3: {
      controls: [
        { fieldId: 'title' },
        { fieldId: 'subtitle' }
      ]
    }
  }
}

This method is useful to preserve the current EditorInterface state upon configuration updates (see next section)

Since 3.18

Register an app configuration hook

app.onConfigure(cb): void

This method takes a callback function which will be invoked every time when a user clicks either "Install" or "Save" but before an app is installed or updated.

Keep in mind that even though you can call app.onConfigure(cb) as often as you like, only the last handler (cb) will be used by the Web App to install your app. Additionally, your handler will be potentially called by the Web App more than once.

The callback provided can be synchronous or asynchronous.

If the callback returns false, throws or returns a promise which will be eventually rejected, the process is aborted and no changes are made. This way the app can validate its state and user inputs before continuing.

The callback can return an object or a promise resolving with an object. The object can define parameters and targetState (both are optional):

• under the parameters key you should place an object of parameter values to be persisted in the process; they will be available to your app as installation parameters
• under the targetState key you should place a data structure defining where the app should be rendered; omitting the targetState will remove any previous app location configuration.

For example:

async function onConfigure () {
  // Get current state
  // This will be used as base for next state updates
  const currentState = await sdk.app.getCurrentState();

  // Perform validation.
  if (!isValid()) {
    // Current state of the app is not valid.
    // Notify the user and return `false` so installation
    // is aborted.
    sdk.notifier.error("Invalid input - fix it before installing.");
    return false;
  }

  // You can call external services, for example to get
  // some extra inputs or create 3rd party artifacts.
  const magicNumber = await callMagicNumberApi();

  return {
    // Persist parameters.
    parameters: {
      greeting: userInput.greeting,
      magicNumber,
    },
    targetState: {
      EditorInterface: {
        // Use previous EditorInterface as base to not
        // lose any existing app location configuration
        ...currentState?.EditorInterface
        // Render the app on the top (position = 0) of the
        // sidebar for the content type with ID `ct1`.
        ct1: { sidebar: { position: 0 } },
        // Add the app as the first (position = 0) entry
        // editor in the list for the content type with ID `ct2`.
        ct2: { editors: { position: 0 } },
        // Render the app as two field editors of the content
        // type with ID `ct3` (fields: `title`, `metadata`).
        ct3: {
          controls: [{ fieldId: "title" }, { fieldId: "metadata" }],
        },
      },
    },
  };
}

Since 3.10

Register an app post-configuration hook

app.onConfigurationCompleted(cb): void

Registers cb to be called once the app is installed or updated. cb can be used to perform post-configuration tasks.

If the app failed to install or update, the callback will be called with an error object.

app.onConfigurationCompleted((err) => {
  if (err) {
    revertExternalChanges();
  } else {
    notifyBackend();
  }
});

Since 3.10