react-content-manager

Important!

Package is now stable, it could be used on production.

What is it?

React Content Manager is a package that allows you to build your app from manageable components, that can be edited by users for their needs.

Roadmap

• Add support to customize UI of the package
• Add support to customize Skeleton
• Drop antd library for smaller size of the package

How to use it?

Install package with your choice package manager

npm install react-content-manager

or

yarn add react-content-manager

If you are using React 19

You need to install @ant-design/v5-patch-for-react-19, more here: https://ant.design/docs/react/v5-for-19#compatibility-package

npm install --save-dev @ant-design/v5-patch-for-react-19

Integrate with your framework/bundler

Usage with Next.js

inside your next.config.js add or merge with existing one:

/** @type {import('next').NextConfig} */
const nextConfig = {
  // .. your other options
  webpack: (config) => {
    const path = require("path");
    config.resolve.alias = {
      ...config.resolve.alias,
      "cm.config.ts": path.resolve(__dirname, "cm.config.ts"),
      "cm.fetcher.ts": path.resolve(__dirname, "cm.fetcher.ts"),
      "cm.persister.ts": path.resolve(__dirname, "cm.persister.ts"),
    };
    return config;
  },
};

module.exports = nextConfig;

Usage with Vite

Inside your vite.config.ts add or merge with existing one:

import { defineConfig } from "vite";
import react from "@vitejs/plugin-react";
import path from "path";

// https://vite.dev/config/
export default defineConfig({
  plugins: [react()],
  resolve: {
    alias: {
      "cm.config.ts": path.resolve(__dirname, "cm.config.ts"),
      "cm.fetcher.ts": path.resolve(__dirname, "cm.fetcher.ts"),
      "cm.persister.ts": path.resolve(__dirname, "cm.persister.ts"),
    },
  },
});

Add necessary files to your root directory

Create cm.config.ts

import { CmConfig } from "react-content-manager";

// optionally last parameter is language, default is 'en', we support 'pl' as well
const cmConfig = new CmConfig("en");

export default cmConfig;

Create cm.fetcher.ts

import { CmHostHandler } from "react-content-manager";

const fetcher = async (componentId: string): Promise<any> => {
  return {};
};

export default fetcher;

Create cm.persister.ts

"use client";

import { CmHostHandler } from "react-content-manager";

const persister = async (configId: string, componentId: string, data: any) => {
  return {};
};

export default persister;

Minimal example of usage - TextEdit component

Working example in code

You can find working example inside demo catalog

• demo-next
  • Demo with latest Next.js framework
• demo-vite
  • Demo with latest Vite

How to add TextEdit component?

You need 4 files:

• Component.tsx - contains component itself
• Form.tsx - contains form that will be use to configure component by user
• ReadProps.ts - function that will deserialize data from source to component props
• WriteProps.ts - function that will serialize data from component props to source

minimal example for components (live inside demo-next app)

Component.tsx

export type ComponentProps = {
  text?: string;
};

const Component = (props: ComponentProps) => {
  const { text } = props;

  return (
    <div className="bg-white p-4 rounded-xl">
      <div className="text-black">{text}</div>
    </div>
  );
};

// remember to export default the component!
export default Component;

Form.tsx

"use client";

import { useState } from "react";
import { useCMConfig } from "react-content-manager/dist/esm/client/useCMConfig";
import { ComponentProps } from "./Component";

interface ComponentForm {
  configId: string;
  componentId: string;
}

const Form = (props: ComponentProps & ComponentForm) => {
  /**
   * // If you are using next.js you might want refresh page after saving changes
   * const router = useRouter();
   * // then pass the onSuccess as parameter of saveChange function
   * const OnSuccess = () => {
   *  router.refresh();
   * }
   **/
  const { saveChange, isSaving } = useCMConfig();
  const [limit, setLimit] = useState(props.text);

  return (
    <>
      <form
        className="p-5 flex flex-col gap-4"
        onSubmit={async (e) => {
          e.preventDefault();
          const formData = new FormData(e.target as HTMLFormElement);
          const text = formData.get("text") as string;
          await saveChange(props.configId, props.componentId, {
            text: text,
          });
        }}
      >
        <div>
          <input
            type="text"
            name="text"
            defaultValue={props.text}
            className="bg-white p-2 rounded-lg border border-gray-300"
          />
        </div>
        <div>
          <button
            type="submit"
            className="bg-blue-500 text-white p-2 rounded-lg"
          >
            Save
          </button>
        </div>
      </form>
    </>
  );
};

export default Form;

ReadProps.tsx

import { ComponentProps } from "./Component";

const readProps = async (
  serializedProps?: ComponentProps,
): Promise<ComponentProps> => {
  return {
    text: serializedProps?.text ?? "Default text, edit me!",
  };
};

export default readProps;

WriteProps.tsx

import { ComponentProps } from "./Component";

export const writeProps = async (props: ComponentProps) => {
  const data = {
    text: props.text,
  };
  return data;
};

export default writeProps;

cm.config.ts

import { CmConfig } from "react-content-manager";

// optionally last parameter is language, default is 'en', we support 'pl' as well
const cmConfig = new CmConfig("en");

// register your components
cmConfig.getComponentGallery().registerComponent({
  id: "text-block", // unique id of component, you will use it in your code
  name: "Text Block", // name of component, it will be visible in component gallery
  desc: "optionally you can add description for the user", // description of component, it will be visible in component gallery
  public: true, // should be visible in component gallery for users
  componentPath: () => import("@/app/components/text-block/Component"), // path to component that will be rendered
  formPath: () => import("@/app/components/text-block/Form"), // path to component with form that will be use to edit component props
  readProps: () => import("@/app/components/text-block/ReadProps"), // path to function that will deserialize component props from your persistence layer
  writeProps: () => import("@/app/components/text-block/WriteProps"), // path to function that will serialize component props to your persistence layer
  tags: ["content", "alert"], // tags that will be used to filter components in component gallery
});

export default cmConfig;

cm.persister.ts

Architecture Note: We are separating persister from configuration because of nature of React Server Component. We need to asure it will work on client side, because component edition need interactivity

"use client";

import { CmHostHandler } from "react-content-manager";

const persister = async (configId: string, componentId: string, data: any) => {
  const host = CmHostHandler.getHost();
  const response = await fetch(`${host}/api/store`, {
    method: "POST",
    body: JSON.stringify({
      configId: configId,
      componentId: componentId,
      data: data,
    }),
  });
};

export default persister;

cm.fetcher.ts

Architecture Note: If you are using Next.js framework code below will run on the server, otherwise it will run on client side

import { CmHostHandler } from "react-content-manager";

const fetcher = async (componentId: string): Promise<any> => {
  let host = CmHostHandler.getHost();
  const data = await fetch(`${host}/api/store?configId=${componentId}`, {
    cache: "no-cache",
  });
  const json = await data.json();
  return json;
};

export default fetcher;

page.tsx

import { CMComponent, CMProvider } from "react-content-manager";

export default function Home() {
  return (
    <CMProvider mode={"edit"}>
      <CMComponent
        configId="main_top"
        componentId={"text-block"}
        mode={"edit"}
      />
    </CMProvider>
  );
}

Run your project and go to http://localhost:3000 to see component gallery and edit mode.

Support for container query in tailwindcss

Library supports container query in tailwindcss. You can use it in your components.

You need plugin to enable it -> https://tailwindcss.com/docs/plugins#container-queries

With tailwindcss v4 container query will be included inside framework! 🥳

Run demo locally

It's very easy to run demo locally.

cd demo-next
npm install
npm run dev

The demo is using local file to persist data. It's only for demo purposes. In real project you should use your own persistence layer.

How to develop package locally?

setup project with npm link

You can use npm link to develop package locally.

1. Clone this repository
2. Run npm install in root directory
3. Run npm install in demo-next directory
4. run npm link in root directory
5. run npm link react-content-manager in demo-next directory

run project in watch mode

1. Run npm run watch in root directory
2. Run npm run dev in demo-next directory

NPM link

some useful commands in npm link

to list all npm links

npm ls -g --depth=0 --link=true

to remove npm link globally

npm unlink -g react-content-manager