Now there are many ways to integrate with Magnolia without using Java. When your use case can be achieved with one of these "Light Integration" techniques, its usually quicker and takes less work and code to accomplish. Because they are lighter, they are often easier to maintain and can be maintained by developers without Java skills.

However, not all use cases can be achieved with light integrations.  In this case Java modules are the way to go.

Read on for the techniques and examples of each.

REST CLIENT / CONNECTOR FIELDS

Overview: The most popular DXP integration technique is a "Connector Field", a new field type which can be included in a form (for a dialog or content app editor) which allows an author to conveniently browse and link to items in a remote system. This is exactly what the Rest Client feature enables. You can configure a REST Client with a URL to a remote system, and then use the JSONFields which use them to browse remote content in a form.

Documentation
Rest Client module
JSON Link Field 
JSON Combobox field

Examples
Complete Shopify Demo
Rest Client UI Demo project (Many examples)
Rest Client Demo project (Additional examples of configuring REST Clients)

Notes: Requires DXCore

 

 

WEBHOOKS

Overview: The new Webhooks module allows you to trigger REST requests (via the Rest Client) when certain events happen in the system, for example when content is published or unpublished. Webhooks are commonly used to trigger CI such as Static Site Generation (SSG) in a Jamstack approach. But you can accomplish so much more, like triggering notifications (Slack, SMS, App...) or media processing. To get inspired take a look at Zapier or ITTT for all the systems you can connect to. 

Documentation
Webhooks Module

Examples
Webhooks Example

Notes: Requires DXCore. Beta.

 

 

JS DIALOG FIELDS 

Overview: Create custom fields with just Javascript and configuration. The field is encapsulated in its own iframe.  This tecnology is well suited for the popular "Connector Field" approach hilighted above. With JS Dialog Fields you have full control over the UI. Dialog fields can make frontend REST requests to the remote system from the frontend.

If you need to hide credentials or tokens, a common approach is to make a proxy with a simple web service outside of Magnolia, for example using serverless functions (aws lambda, etc) Or you can use Magnolia REST Clients, just create a page template that uses restfn to fire your REST client and returns json, then make a page in your pages tree and use it as your proxy endpoint.

Documentation:
JS Dialog Fields Module

Example
JS Dialog Field Example (Color picker and more)

Notes: Requires DXCore. Extension.

 

 

FRONTEND COMPONENT

Overview: A component renders a part of the frontend and can perform integration over REST calls directly from the frontend. This approach is relevant for both freemarker or headless SPA approaches. To protect credentials or tokens,  see the proxy approach outlined above in "JS Dialog Fields".

Documentation
Templating

Example
Attraqt Demo Fragment

 

 

BACKEND LIVE

The brand new Backend Live extension enables you to do deeper integrations, such as creating custom column views and actions, with server-side Javascript deployed in light modules. For example you could display metrics from an analytics platform directly in a Pages app browser view column.

Documentation
Backend Live

Examples
Backend Live Demo Project and Tutorial

Notes: Requires DXCore. Extension.

 

 

JAVA INTEGRATION

Want to do a deeper integration? The sky is the limit, you can provide custom Java classes and modules.

First - be sure to check out the Connector Pack frameworks. If you want to integrate an ecommerce, dam, marketing automation or analytics system, you can take advantage of the existing frameworks.

Otherwise, review the integration points documentation.