Introduction to UI Extensions

The UI Extension feature enables you to extend your PIM by integrating custom views and actions from external systems. This framework provides the flexibility to modify and adapt your PIM experience to meet specific business requirements. By leveraging this functionality, you can integrate custom solutions while maintaining the reliability and ease of use of our SaaS platform, offering a balance between flexibility and stability.

This is a brief functional guide to the UI Extensions feature, focusing on the PIM display. For detailed setup and development instructions, refer to our technical documentation here.

Permissions

To manage UI Extensions directly from the Administration Panel in your PIM, you'll need to validate the related permissions.

To activate the permissions, follow these steps:

1. Go to System > Roles
2. Select a role
3. Navigate to the Permissions tab
4. Find UI Extensions and activate the permissions

There are three types of available permissions:

1. Manage UI Extensions through the Administration Panel
2. View UI Extensions available for your organization in the Administration Panel
3. Manage UI Extensions via API endpoints (create, update, delete)

We recommend enabling all three permissions for both administrators and developers to ensure smooth management of your customizations.

Administration panel

Once your permissions are activated, you can access the UI Extensions section in your administration panel under System > System Customization > UI Extensions.

This panel allows you to:

1. View an overview of all UI Extensions created and set up for your PIM, including their attachment type, placement within the PIM, and status (enabled/disabled) to show whether the extension is active.
2. Enable or disable UI Extensions as needed, giving you the flexibility to quickly address any issues with the extension or only activate them during a predefined period of time depending on your business needs. 
3. Create, modify and delete UI Extensions directly from the interface.

To create and manage UI extensions in Akeneo PIM, follow the steps below.

Creating a UI Extension

Access the PIM Interface: Navigate to the PIM interface where the guide system will assist you in creating your connection.

Choose Extension Type: Select from the three available extension types:

• Action: Triggers a specific action within the PIM.
• Iframe: Embeds an external web page within the PIM interface.
• Link: Provides a hyperlink to an external resource.

You can find more information on the extention types here.

Fill in Mandatory Fields:

• Name: The technical name of the extension.
• Position: The placement of the extension within the PIM interface. Available options vary depending on the chosen extension type.
• Label: A customer-facing label for the extension.

Add Translations (Optional): In the 'Additional' tab, you can provide translations for other languages. By default, the label serves as the translation for your PIM language.

Configure the Extension URL: Specify the URL of the extension. For guidance on personalizing the URL, refer to the Akeneo API documentation.

Enable or Disable the Extension: Decide whether to enable or disable the extension by default. You can change the status after the extension is created.

Optional Fields

• Secret: (Applicable to Action type extensions) Adds an additional security layer to ensure that triggers originate from Akeneo.
• Description: Provides an administrative description of the extension.
• Versioning: Allows you to specify the version of your extension.

Modifying a UI Extension

You can modify any field of the extension except for the UUID, which remains the unique identifier for your extension. The UUID can also be used in your API to modify the extension. Ensure you are the owner of the extension if you intend to make changes via the API.

Deleting a UI Extension

To delete an extension, initiate the deletion process, and a confirmation prompt will appear.