Custom Widget - How to create Custom Dialog for custom widget?

[DK_10003244]

I couldn't find any documentation regarding how to use custom dialog when developing custom widgets from any of these documentations. Are there any documentation for custom dialogs?

• https://community.ptc.com/t5/ThingWorx-Developers/Mashup-Widget-Custom-Dialog-API/m-p/532001
• https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS276506 
• https://support.ptc.com/help/thingworx_hc/web_component_sdk/overview/index.html

taken from thingworx_extension_development_user_guide.pdf 

• customEditor – the name of the custom editor dialog to use for entering and editing the widget configuration. The system assumes there is a dialog named you created TW.IDE.Dialogs..
• customEditorMenuText - The text that appears on the flyout menu of the widget and the hover over text for the Configure Widget Properties button. For example, “Configure Grid Columns.”

[bchaudhary]

Hello @DK_10003244 ,

Hope you are doing well!

I have checked the links mentioned in the query and seems like you are referring to an old guide: https://support.ptc.com/WCMS/files/170215/en/thingworx_extension_development_user_guide.pdf?

You can explore some latest documents custom Widgets/ Extensions:

Article: https://www.ptc.com/en/support/article/CS201191

Help center guide link: https://support.ptc.com/help/thingworx/platform/r9/en/index.html#page/ThingWorx/Help/Best_Practices_for_Developing_Applications/EclipsePluginInstallingThePlugin.html

Community Tutorial: https://community.ptc.com/t5/IoT-Tips/Create-An-Extension-Part-1/ta-p/827938

Kindly check the above attached links. Let me know if it helps.

Thanks

Bhawna

[DK_10003244]

Hi @bchaudhary 

Thank you for the response,

The link you provided writes the exact same thing as the documentation in 2015 and 2018.

I also found other community posts regarding this topic that also refer to the documentation I provided above. 

It doesn't mention anything about customEditor like grid or mashup 

[slangley]

Hi @DK_10003244.

What version or ThingWorx are you running?  The 9.x documentation for extension development can be found here.

Regards.

--Sharon

[DK_10003244]

Hi @slangley,

Thank you for your response,

I couldn't find any information regarding custom dialog on the link you provided, along with the Lit Component version for 9.4.x and above.

So it can be concluded that the devs can't use any custom dialog when developing a custom widget?

[bchaudhary]

Hello @DK_10003244 , 

I believe Sharon has shared the right link with you. If you are developing a lint widget, you can also look for any lint custom dialog. Also, You can use SimpleJavaScript Dialog.

Thanks

Bhawna

[DK_10003244]

Hello @bchaudhary,

Sorry, but I couldn't find the SimpleJavaScript Dialog that you are mentioning on any link that Sharon shared.

I think this topic is leading the wrong way. Maybe I'll rephrase my question. What I meant was how to create this dialog when developing or creating a Custom Widget. This is the example dialog from Mashup. Another widget that has this dialog is the Grid Widget. By using this dialog, we can make the widget configuration to the next level.

Thanks!

[allardv]

Hello David,

The reason you have not found any documentation on the 'custom editor' is that it's an internal API only and is currently not intended for external use. The custom editor is used for certain PTC widgets that deviate from the standard configuration options. This would be a feature request for Mashup Builder and Widget development. I will inform PTC Product Management about your request.

Sincerely,

-Allard van der Heijden

Director Software development at PTC.

[atondorf]

Dear Allard,

thanks for the information, but when it's an "Internal API" why is it mentioned in the Documenation?

customEditor	Name of the custom editor dialog that should be used to set and edit the widget configuration. In your widget project create a dialog box with the name TW.IDE.Dialogs.<name>.
customEditorMenuText	The text that appears on the flyout menu of the widget. It is also the text that appears as the tooltip for widgets in the ThingWorx Composer . For example, Configure Grid Columns.

Thingworx and it's documentation are making promises and raises expectations that cannot be kept.
Please also inform PTC Product Management, that before implementing 100 new cool features,
they should get the existing ones smoothly operational and well documented.

Greetings

Andreas

[posipova]

We apologize for the documentation gaps that may have caused a subpar experience. In the recent patches, we have worked on improving the feature and providing an appropriate example to follow in our helpcenter. You can find the documentation and downloadable example here https://support.ptc.com/help/thingworx/platform/r9.7/en/#page/ThingWorx/Help/Mashup_Builder/Mashups/MashupConfigurationForm.html

Please let us know if anything has been missed and should be clarified further

[atondorf]

Sorry, but the link you shared has nothing in common with the issue discussed here. The discussion is about missing documentation or features of the ThingWorxExtension SDK. 

[DK_10003244]

Dear @posipova and @allardv ,

I agree with @atondorf, as those features are intended for PTC internal use, is it possible to remove that part from the documentation? Rather than a feature request, I prefer to have complete and well-documented guides regarding the custom widget a lot more than new features for now. In short, to enhance the developer experience. 

I know that with versions already up to 9.7, you have improved some aspects of the developer experience. I appreciate that. But we also prefer to have well-documented features rather than new features to fix the developer experience. Since it will also introduce new bugs and increase the complexity in developing applications.

Thank you!