Tutorial - Custom configurator in Angular

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

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-card {
      padding: 8px;
      width: 28%;
      box-shadow: rgba(99, 99, 99, 0.2) 0px 2px 8px 0px;
    }

    div.product-overview > div.product-card > 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, Configuration } 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

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

@Component({
  selector: 'app-checkout',
  templateUrl: './checkout.component.html',
  styleUrls: ['./checkout.component.css']
})
export class CheckoutComponent implements OnInit {

  constructor(private configuratorContext : ConfiguratorContext) { }

  ngOnInit(): void {
  }
  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>