In this tutorial, I will provide a quick overview of how to implement your customer-facing showroom in Angular.

You can find the resulting project in the showroom-example repository on our Github.

ℹ️ If you’re not familiar with Angular, you can follow the Angular getting started guide.

Setting up a new Angular project​

Create a new Angular project using the Angular CLI.

Creating the project​

    ng new ShowroomExample --routing=true --style=css --skipTests=true

Once that’s finished, you should be able to run the application and open it on localhost:4200.

    ng serve

Installing dependencies​

For this tutorial, we’ll make use of the @elfsquad/authentication and @elfsquad/configurator packages.

These are developed and maintained by Elfsquad.

    npm install @elfsquad/authentication
    npm install @elfsquad/configurator

Adding some basic html/css​

In the index.html, we add a little bit of styling:

    <style>
        * {
          font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, "Segoe UI", Roboto, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol";
        }

        body, p {
          margin: 0;
          padding: 0;
        }
    </style>

And in the app.component.html file, we’ll remove everything but the <router-outlet></router-outlet> tag.

Creating the configurator context​

We communicate with the Elfsquad API through the ConfiguratorContext. We can initialize this class in the app.module.ts file. The configurator context can be used for both anonymous and showrooms that require a logged in user.

    import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
    import { BrowserModule } from '@angular/platform-browser';
    import {ConfiguratorContext, IConfiguratorOptions} from '@elfsquad/configurator';
    import {AuthenticationMethod} from '@elfsquad/configurator/dist/configurator/IConfiguratorOptions';

    import { AppRoutingModule } from './app-routing.module';
    import { AppComponent } from './app.component';
    import { ProductOverviewComponent } from './product-overview/product-overview.component';
    import { FormsModule } from '@angular/forms';

    const options: IConfiguratorOptions = {
      authenticationMethod: AuthenticationMethod.ANONYMOUS,
      tenantId: '5dcd73c7-c0e9-44e8-85f3-dfef7553e8a2',
    };

    const configuratorContext = new ConfiguratorContext(options);

    @NgModule({
      declarations: [
        AppComponent,
        ProductOverviewComponent
      ],
      imports: [
        BrowserModule,
        AppRoutingModule,
        FormsModule
      ],
      providers: [
        { provide: ConfiguratorContext, useValue: configuratorContext }
      ],
      bootstrap: [AppComponent],
    })
    export class AppModule { }

If you want to require a logged in user, you can need to change a few snippets of code in the example above.

1. Add the authenticationOptions to the configuratorOptions object:

    const options = {
      tenantId: '5dcd73c7-c0e9-44e8-85f3-dfef7553e8a2',
      authenticationMethod: AuthenticationMethod.USER_LOGIN,
      authenticationOptions: {
        clientId: '60a98ec8-c9f7-4b4e-a809-0492f25b8037',
        redirectUri: 'http://localhost:4200',
      }
    };

1. Check if the user is logged in and if not, redirect to the login page.

    const configuratorContext = new ConfiguratorContext(options);
    configuratorContext.authenticationContext.isSignedIn().then(signedIn => {
      if (signedIn) {
        return;
      }
      configuratorContext.authenticationContext.signIn();
    });

⚠️ Make sure to replace the tenantId with your tenant id

Creating the product overview page​

We start by creating a ProductOverview component. This component will show all configuration models available.

ng generate component ProductOverview

Adding the product overview route​

Now that we’ve created the component, we should register it as a route, so our users can access it. You can register the route by adding it to the app-routing-module.ts file.

    import { NgModule } from '@angular/core';
    import { RouterModule, Routes } from '@angular/router';
    import {ProductOverviewComponent} from './product-overview/product-overview.component';

    const routes: Routes = [
      { path: '', component: ProductOverviewComponent },
    ];

    @NgModule({
      imports: [RouterModule.forRoot(routes)],
      exports: [RouterModule]
    })
    export class AppRoutingModule { }

Retrieving the configuration models​

The first step to creating the product overview is retrieving a list of available configuration models. We can do this in the ngOnInit method of the ProductOverview component.

    import { Component, Inject, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
    import { ConfigurationModel, ConfiguratorContext } from '@elfsquad/configurator';

    @Component({
      selector: 'app-product-overview',
      templateUrl: './product-overview.component.html',
      styleUrls: ['./product-overview.component.css']
    })
    export class ProductOverviewComponent implements OnInit {
      public configurationModels: ConfigurationModel[] = [];

      constructor(
        @Inject(ConfiguratorContext) private configuratorContext: ConfiguratorContext,
      ) { }

      ngOnInit(): void {
        this.configuratorContext.getConfigurationModels().then(configurationModels => {
          this.configurationModels = configurationModels.features;
        });
      }
    }

The configuration models should now be retrieved when you open the page.

Displaying the configuration models​

To display those models, we create a grid overview in the product-overview.component.html file.

    <div class="product-overview">
      <div *ngFor="let model of configurationModels" class="product-card" [routerLink]="['configure', model.featureModelId]">
        <img [src]="model.imageUrl" />
        <h3 [innerHTML]="model.description"></h3>
      </div>
    </div>

And the following CSS:

    div.product-overview {
      padding: 80px;
      display: flex;
      gap: 40px;
      flex-wrap: wrap;
      justify-content: center;
    }

    div.product-overview > div.product {
      padding: 8px;
      width: 28%;
      box-shadow: rgba(99, 99, 99, 0.2) 0px 2px 8px 0px;
    }

    div.product-overview > div.product > img {
      height: auto;
      width: 100%;
    }

Creating the configurator page​

Now that we have a product overview page, we can proceed to build the actual configurator. This is the page on which users can configure their model.

Let’s start by creating a ConfiguratorComponent

    ng generate component Configurator

And registering a route to access the configurator page. Notice we use a :id parameter in the path. This id can either be the name or the id of a configuration model.

    { path: 'configure/:id', component: ConfiguratorComponent }

Starting a new configuration​

Once the user visits the configurator page, we need to start a new configuration. To do this, we’ll:

1. Inject the ActivatedRoute, from which we can retrieve the configuration model id

2. Use the ConfiguratorContext to start a new configuration

3. Store the new configuration on the ConfiguratorComponent

4. Update ConfiguratorComponent.configuration every time the configuration is updated.

    import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
    import { ActivatedRoute } from '@angular/router';
    import { Configuration, ConfiguratorContext } from '@elfsquad/configurator';

    @Component({
      selector: 'app-configurator',
      templateUrl: './configurator.component.html',
      styleUrls: ['./configurator.component.css']
    })
    export class ConfiguratorComponent implements OnInit {
      public configuration: Configuration | undefined;

      constructor(
        private route: ActivatedRoute,
        private configuratorContext: ConfiguratorContext
      ) { }

      ngOnInit(): void {
        this.route.params.subscribe(params => {
          this.configuratorContext.newConfiguration(params['id'])
            .then(configuration => {
              this.configuration = configuration;
            });
          this.configuratorContext.onUpdate((e: CustomEvent) => {
            this.configuration = e.detail;
          });
        });
      }
    }

The resulting configuration object contains many different fields, all of which can be explored on docs.elfsquad.io.

This tutorial will focus mainly on steps and displaying the price.

The configuration object has a steps property, which contains an array of all steps. A step contains features, and each feature can contain child features.

- Title
- Features
  - Description
  - UnitPrice
  - TotalPrice
  - Type
  - Features (Children of the current feature, recursive)
    - ...
  - ...

Displaying the steps​

We will display only one step at a time. To do this, we’ll add a activeIndex and functions to go the next/previous step to the configurator.component.ts file.

      public activeIndex: number = 0;

      public next() {
        this.activeIndex += 1;
      }

      public previous() {
        this.activeIndex -= 1;
      }

In the HTML, we’ll iterate overall features in the step and display them by using the app-feature tag. This is a component we’ll create in the next step.

    <div *ngFor="let step of configuration?.steps ?? []; let i = index">
      <div class="step" [class.active]="i === activeIndex">
        <app-feature [configuration]="configuration" [feature]="feature" *ngFor="let feature of step.features"></app-feature>
      </div>
    </div>

    <div class="footer">
      <span>
        <b>Total price:</b>
        {{ configuration?.totalPrice | currency: 'EUR': true }}
      </span>
      <br />
      <button
        [disabled]="activeIndex === 0"
        (click)="previous()"
      >
        Previous
      </button>
      <button
        [disabled]="activeIndex === (configuration?.steps ?? []).length - 1"
        (click)="next()"
      >
        Next
      </button>
    </div>

and CSS

    div.step {
      display: none;
      max-width: 400px;
    }

    div.step.active {
      display: block;
    }

    div.footer {
      margin-top: 12px;
      margin-left: 24px;
    }

Creating the feature component​

We show features using the app-feature tag in the previous step. This is a new component that we’re about to implement.

Because of the recursive nature of features, we need to create a new component for them.

    ng generate component Feature

This component will take a feature as input.

    import { Component, Input, OnInit } from '@angular/core';
    import { ConfigurationFeature, ConfiguratorContext } from '@elfsquad/configurator';

    @Component({
      selector: 'app-feature',
      templateUrl: './feature.component.html',
      styleUrls: ['./feature.component.css']
    })
    export class FeatureComponent implements OnInit {
      @Input('feature') feature: ConfigurationFeature | undefined;
      @Input('configuration') configuration: Configuration | undefined;

      constructor( ) { }

      ngOnInit(): void { }
    }

Toggling features on/off​

For this example, we’ll only enable toggling features on and off, so we’ll only have to implement the toggle() function.

This function will (de)select an option within the configuration model.

      toggle(): void {
        if (!this.feature)
          return;

        if (!this.configuration)
          return;

        const value = this.feature.isSelected ? 0 : 1;
        this.configuration.updateRequirement(
          this.feature.id,
          this.feature.isSelected,
          value
        );
      }

Displaying the feature​

For displaying features, we’ll add some HTML to the feature.component.html file.

    <div class="feature">
      <div class="header">
        <span [innerHTML]="feature?.description"></span>
        <input
         type="checkbox"
         [checked]="feature?.isSelected"
         (click)="toggle()"
         *ngIf="feature?.type === 0"
        />
        <input
         type="radio"
         [checked]="feature?.isSelected"
         (click)="toggle()"
         *ngIf="feature?.type === 2"
        />
      </div>
      <span *ngIf="feature?.minValue == feature?.maxValue && feature?.value != 0 && feature?.value != 1">
        {{feature?.value}} {{feature?.unitOfMeasurement}}
      </span>
      <span>{{feature?.unitPrice}}</span>
      <app-feature
        [configuration]="configuration"
        [feature]="f"
        *ngFor="let f of feature?.features"
        ></app-feature>
    </div>

And add the css below to feature.component.css

    div.feature {
      width: 100%;
      height: 100%;
      margin-left: 24px;
      margin-bottom: 6px;
    }

    div.feature > div.header {
      display: flex;
      align-items: center;
      justify-content: space-between;
    }

Requesting a quote​

Now that we are able to configure a product, we can go ahead and request a quotation. We’ll add a button to the configurator page:

    <button [routerLink]="['/checkout', configuration?.id]">Request quote</button>

Creating the checkout page​

As before, we’ll start by creating the Checkout component.

    ng generate component Checkout

and add the route to the app-routing.module.ts file. In this route, the id stands for the configuration id.

      { path: 'checkout/:id', component: CheckoutComponent }

In the checkout.component.ts file, we’ll create a function to request a quote

      public isSubmitted = false;
      public model: QuotationRequest = {};

      requestQuote() {
        this.configuratorContext.requestQuote(this.model).then(_ => {
          this.isSubmitted = true;
        });
      }

The checkout page itself, is divided into two sections. One before the request is submitted, and one afterward:

    <h3>Request quote</h3>

    <div *ngIf="!isSubmitted">
      <form>
        <fieldset>
          <legend>Contact information</legend>
          <label>
            First name:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.firstName" name="firstName" />
          </label>
          <label>
            Last name:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.lastName" name="lastName" />
          </label>
          <label>
            Email:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.email" name="email" />
          </label>
          <label>
            Phone:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.phoneNumber" name="phone" />
          </label>
          <legend>Company information</legend>
          <label>
            Company name:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.companyName" name="companyName" />
          </label>
          <label>
            Street:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.streetName" name="streetName" />
          </label>
          <label>
            City:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.city" name="city" />
          </label>
          <label>
            Postal code:
            <input [(ngModel)]="model.postalCode" name="state" />
          </label>
          <input type="submit" value="Submit" (click)="requestQuote()" />
        </fieldset>
      </form>
    </div>

    <div *ngIf="isSubmitted">
      <h3>Thank you for your request!</h3>
      <p>We will contact you shortly.</p>
    </div>

Quick overview​

Verge3D is a 3D viewer that can be used to bring your Blender, 3ds Max or Maya scene to life in the browser. For more information on how to use it, please refer to the Verge3D documentation.

Using the Elfsquad Verge3D blocks, you can easily create interactions between the Showroom and your 3D scene. An overview of the available blocks and other examples can be found on GitHub.

Installing the Elfsquad Verge3D blocks​

Plugins can be installed by unzipping the zip file inside Verge3D's puzzles/plugins directory. The default location for the plugins should be: %USERPROFILE%\verge3d_blender\puzzles\plugins.

Download the latest version here.

A list of all releases can be found here.

Setting the example scene in Verge3D​

The Elfsquad Verge3D plugin provides sample scenes for the Showroom. These can be found in the Examples directory.

If you would like to use this example scene you must setup the External application directory in the Verge3D App Manager:

This should add a new entry to your Verge3D App Manager: Parametric Models. This is a modified version of the original Parameteric Models sample scene, that interacts with the Showroom, using the newly added Elfsquad Verge3D blocks.

A block has been added to listen to configuration updates and update the configuration model accordingly:

Update requirement actions have been added to the UI buttons to tell the configurator to update the configuration model:

A JavasScript block has been added to trigger the On configuration update event when the scene is fully loaded:

Available puzzle blocks​

As you can see in the examples, the Elfsquad Verge3D plugin provides several puzzle blocks that can be used to interact with the configurator.

Events​

On configuration update​

This block is called when the configuration is updated.

Actions​

Get value by code​

This block can be used to retrieve the value of a feature by its feature code.

Get value by name​

This block can be used to retrieve the value of a feature by its feature name.

Update requirement by code​

This block can be used to update the requirement of a feature by its feature code.

Setting up the Showroom​

Configuration model​

In order to fully interact with the sample Verge3D scene, we need to setup a configuration model that has 3 features: Height, Thickness, and Corners. It is important to use the same names and codes as the sample model:

Third party visualization step​

Now we can add a step to the configuration model to display our Verge3D scene, using the following settings:

• Type: Third party visualization
• Third party visualization url: http://localhost:8668/ext/Examples/parametric_models/index.html
• Send data on 'configurationUpdate': checked

Result​

With the setup done we can open the example model in the showroom and should see the following result:

Quick overview​

In this tutorial I will provide a quick overview of the endpoints that can be used to implement your own customer-facing configurator.

Step 1. Retrieve a list of configuration models.​

The first thing we want to do is provide the user with a selection of available configuration models. In order to achieve this we can use the configuration models endpoint

GET /configurator/1/configurator/configurationmodels

Step 2. Start a new configuration​

When a user has selected a configuration model to be configured, we can use the featureModelId property to start a new configuration session. We use the start configuration endpoint for this.

GET /configurator/1/configurator/new/{featureModelId}

Result (Some data has been emitted for clarity.):

{
  "id": "9c83b007-7e61-4b4c-9920-f125606844d5",
  "currencyIso": "eur",
  "currency": {
    "iso": "eur",
    "name": "Euro",
    "symbol": "\u20ac",
    "decimalDigits": 2,
    "rounding": 0,
    "namePlural": "Euros",
    "isDefault": false
  },
  "languageIso": "nl",
  "countryIso": "nl",
  "featureModelId": "b8230fc6-454c-4190-a33a-08d5640714ca",
  "featureModel": ..., 
  "values": {
    "7bcf2363-4300-4a6a-faa9-08d5640714d2": 1,
    "580b4519-1a7a-46f9-fa7d-08d5640714d2": 4,
    "8c81fabc-eaed-41e2-8ec2-08d5d10145ad": 4,
    "e22f606d-3e4e-462e-8ec3-08d5d10145ad": 72,
    ...
  },
  "conflicts": null,
  "basePrice": 42750,
  "basePriceLabel": "\u20ac 42.750,00",
  "basePriceIncVAT": 42750,
  "basePriceIncVATLabel": "\u20ac 42.750,00",
  "basePriceExVAT": 42750,
  "basePriceExVATLabel": "\u20ac 42.750,00",
  "additionalPrice": 10730,
  "additionalPriceLabel": "\u20ac 10.730,00",
  "additionalPriceIncVAT": 10730,
  "additionalPriceIncVATLabel": "\u20ac 10.730,00",
  "additionalPriceExVAT": 10730,
  "additionalPriceExVATLabel": "\u20ac 10.730,00",
  "totalPrice": 53480,
  "totalPriceLabel": "\u20ac 53.480,00",
  "totalPriceExVAT": 53480,
  "totalPriceExVATLabel": "\u20ac 53.480,00",
  "totalPriceIncVAT": 53480,
  "totalPriceIncVATLabel": "\u20ac 53.480,00",
  "leasePrices": null,
  "leasePricesLabels": null
}

Overview of important configuration properties:

Step 3. Update value​

In order to update a value for a particular option we use the update requirement endpoint

PUT /configurator/1/configurator/{configurationId}?ignoreConflicts=true

• The ignoreConflicts parameter is optional. When this parameter is set to true the configurator will automatically resolve any conflicts that might occur.

Request body:

{featureModelNodeId: "949af91c-8a0b-4540-fa87-08d5640714d2", value: 1}