SWIFTOTTER’S

JAVASCRIPT
STUDY GUIDE
JESSE MAXWELL
SWIFT OTTER STUDIOS
INTRODUCTION
You downloaded the most comprehensive resource for Magento 2 Javascript
Development. The material covered provides excellent methodology for training
developers who are new to these concepts.

This study guide answers the questions presented in Magento’s study guide for this
test. Reading this study guide is part of solid preparation for passing the test but
does not guarantee a passing grade. What will yield a passing grade is extensive
experience with Magento’s Javascript system combined with rigorous and careful
review of this study guide.

Most people who spend $260 on a test want confidence that they are likely to pass
it. Therefore the next step of taking our practice test is critical. The practice test
validates that you are ready for the test. Following completion of the practice test,
you see questions you answered correctly and the ones you didn’t.

Additionally, for a small fee, you can see your scores on the practice test by
objective (showing your weak areas) and get the objective scores emailed to you.
Think about it. After you take the real test, don’t you want to know where you were
weak? Now, you can know before you take the test how you are doing and where to
study more.

Acknowledgements

Jesse, my brother, spent many hours writing this study guide. He researched topics
that aren’t inherently clear to make it easier for you. He has mastered the trickier
aspects of Magento Javascript development and is investing back into you by
sharing this knowledge. Please take a moment to thank him on Twitter or email.

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 SwiftOtter’s Javascript Study Guide 

We also want to acknowledge Vinai Kopp’s Mage2.tv as an excellent resource for

learning Magento Javascript development. His in-depth videos are invaluable and
have greatly beneficial. Please consider subscribing to Mage2.tv.

All the best!

Joseph Maxwell

Copyright © 2018, SwiftOtter, Inc. 3

WE ARE SWIFTOTTER
We are focused, efficient, solution-oriented and use Magento as the agent for
solving medium-sized ecommerce merchant’s challenges. New sites, migrations and
maintenance are our bread and butter. Our clients are our friends. Simple.

In addition, we provide second-level support for merchants with in-house

development teams. While moving development in-house can save money, it often
leaves holes in the support system. We patch those holes by being available to
quickly solve problems that might be encountered.

This study guide demonstrates our commitment to excellence and our love
for continuous learning and improvement. Enhancing the Magento developer
community is good for everyone: developers, agencies, site owners and customers.

Copyright © 2018, SwiftOtter, Inc. 4

DRIVER
Driver—transforming your production database to staging and local.

There are a number of tools to assist in getting production data back to staging.
One of these is Sonassi’s. They work well.

But, there are some inherent shortcomings:

• These are limited by your skill level with sed.

• No way to run SQL commands.

• Transformations happen in the production environment.

What if you could:

• Run custom SQL commands to generate custom output for multiple

environments?

• Automatically upload to S3?

• Store configuration in git, making it easy to replicate and adjust?

We have built a tool just for that: Driver.

Driver allows you to do all the above. For example, we generate data for three
environments: staging, local initialization and local refresh. For the latter two
environments, the customer and order data has been so sanitized that we have
Driver set a standard admin login and password. The only thing that touches the
production database is the initial mysqldump command.

This process has become so automated that we can run one command on our
development machine to refresh the data: reload_customer_name.

Copyright © 2018, SwiftOtter, Inc. 5

How does it work?

The way Driver works is the production data is dumped and uploaded to a fresh
Amazon RDS (relational data storage) instance. The transformations are run for
each environment; that environment is dumped and loaded into S3. You can easily
automate the synchronizations back to your staging and local environments.

https://github.com/SwiftOtter/Driver

CI
Are you familiar with Jenkins automation? Maybe you are having trouble getting
code to production. We have developed an open-source continuous integration and
deployment system built on Jenkins to make building and deploying Magento 1 and
2 websites easy.

Additionally, our system enables deploying Magento 2 code with zero downtime (or
very little—if database updates are necessary).

Go to our website for more information.

Copyright © 2018, SwiftOtter, Inc. 6

CONTENTS
Introduction.......................................................................................2
We Are SWIFTotter..........................................................................4
1 Technology Stack............................................................................8
1.1 Demonstrate understanding of RequireJS.................................9
1.2 Demonstrate understanding of UnderscoreJS..........................16
1.3 Demonstrate understanding of jQuery UI widgets...................19
1.4 Demonstrate understanding of KnockoutJS..............................22
2 Magento JavaScript Basics............................................................27
2.1 Demonstrate understanding of the modular
structure of Magento......................................................................28
2.2 Describe how to use JavaScript modules in Magento.............31
2.3 Demonstrate ability to execute JavaScript modules................37
2.4 Describe jQuery UI widgets in Magento.....................................43
2.5 Demonstrate ability to customize JavaScript modules............47
3 Magento Core JavaScript Library.................................................52
3.1 Demonstrate understanding of the mage library......................53
3.2 Demonstrate understanding of mage widgets..........................61
3.3 Demonstrate the ability to use the customer-data module.....65
4 UI Components................................................................................69
4.1 Demonstrate understanding of Knockout customizations......70
4.2 Demonstrate understanding of Magento UI components.......77
4.3 Demonstrate the ability to use UI components.........................86
4.4 Demonstrate understanding of grids and forms.......................90
5 Checkout...........................................................................................103
5.1 Demonstrate understanding of checkout architecture............104
5.2 Demonstrate understanding of payments..................................109
Exam Notes:......................................................................................112
Glossary.............................................................................................113

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 Swift Otter's Javascript Study Guide

1.
TECHNOLOGY
STACK
 Technology Stack 

1.1 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

REQUIREJS

Describe the RequireJS framework and its approach to JavaScript

module organization

RequireJS facilitates segmenting Javascript into asynchronously loaded modules.

These modules are loaded and executed with no specific order except when it
relates to dependencies. RequireJS provides a way to specific dependencies for
modules. The dependencies are loaded before the module is executed so it can
run without having to cautiously check for other code. All of RequireJS happens at
runtime in the browser when the page is loaded (or some other action is initiated).

What is the main purpose of the RequireJS framework?

RequireJS allows deferred execution for the majority of the Javascript on the page
by asynchronously requesting modules. Loading JavaScript via RequireJS allows
a developer to ensure that required modules are accessible when referencing
them. RequireJS also allows grouping Javascript code into logical modules, making
writing and maintaining Javascript easier.

What are the pros and cons of the AMD approach to JavaScript
file organization?

AUTHOR NOTE
These pros and cons are in comparison to the Magento 1 technique
of including script tags directly into the head. They are not meant
to compare AMD with newer tools such as Webpack.

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 Technology Stack 

Pros:
• Javascript can be loaded asynchronously so it is not render-blocking on page
load.

• Logical groups of code are broken into modules so code is easier to understand.

• Smaller amounts of code can be overridden for the same effect because files are
smaller.

• Decreases time to first paint (although it can make the page’s Javascript-
powered functionality unusable for more time).

• Ensures the required module is present when referencing it.

• JavaScript is only loaded when it’s required, where traditionally a library such
as jQuery may be included in the head and always loaded with RequireJS, it will
only be loaded if it is required by reference on the page in question.

Cons:
• AMD is not a real standard, just a proposition that gained traction in the
Javascript community.

• Code has to be wrapped in a boilerplate outer function.

• There is little control over the size of the modules because they are individually
loaded on the frontend. It is more efficient to group them to some degree to
minimize total requests. (Magento provides a way to group the modules for
deployment, but this comes with side effects that more than negate any benefit.)

Which capabilities does RequireJS provide to create and

customize JavaScript modules?

RequireJS allows you to easily build and inject Javascript modules into a site
without incurring blocking page render. Modules can have dependencies without
needing complex configuration or conditional loading logic. There is a powerful

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 Technology Stack 

configuration layer which allows you to change which dependencies are loaded, or
add modules without needing to change the original Javascript files.

Demonstrate the ability to use requirejs-config.js files in the

development process

What is a requirejs-config.js file?

It is a Javascript configuration file that is concatenated with all the other

requirejs-config.js files for a given area (i.e. “frontend” or “adminhtml”). The
merged file is generated on the server with PHP collecting all requirejs-config.
js files for an area from modules and themes and combining them into a single file
before being saved. The location of the file influences its order of execution; see
the docs for the specific order.

requirejs-config.js files follow the standard of:

var config = {

//...

In which cases it is necessary to add configurations to it?

It is perhaps most helpful for modifying core code by overriding modules and
for adding mixins (described in more detail later). Essentially, any time updating
dependencies is necessary, requirejs-config.js is usually a good choice
because it does not require changing the Javascript modules themselves.

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 Technology Stack 

What tools does it provide?

There are quite a few things you can do using only the configuration file but
following are some of the ones more commonly used throughout Magento. We
suggest you refer to the RequireJS docs for a comprehensive list.

• map: the object assigned to the map key allows substitution of module IDs. For
instance, the ID of a commonly used module is 'Magento_Ui/js/lib/core/
element/element'. In the requirejs-config.js for that module, however,
is an entry which allows other modules to use a much more succinct uiElement
to require the module:

var config = {

map: {

'*': {

uiElement: 'Magento_Ui/js/lib/core/element/element'

};

Note the '*' item in the map object. Inside the map object, keys target specific
modules with the exception of the asterisk: it (*) is used to target all modules. When
a module ID is used, however, it provides the powerful flexibility of being able to
change dependencies in a or any specific module.

• path: this provides path mappings for module names not found directly under
baseUrl. It is similar, but ultimately less targeted than the map key. In other
words, the path object is more global and will change all references to a portion

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 Technology Stack 

of a path. Consider: {"Old_Module/prototype": "New_Module/lib"}.

Now, a module reference of "Old_Module/prototype/js/toolkit" will
actually load "New_Module/lib/js/toolkit".

The following is from the Magento_Ui theme (random aside: this configuration item
attempts to patch the lone and confusing “templates” directory used in contrast
to the typical, singular “template” directory where HTML templates are placed
reference):

var config = {

paths: {

'ui/template': 'Magento_Ui/templates'

};

• config: used for passing configuration into modules and, importantly, in

Magento, for declaring mixins (described in more detail later).

• shim: configures dependencies, exports, and custom initialization for older,

traditional "browser globals" scripts that do not use define() to declare the
dependencies. An example case for this configuration option would be to
include a custom module as a dependency for a core module so it runs every
time the core one does. Another good use case for this is when working with
older libraries that don’t support AMD.

In the following example, it is important that jquery/jquery.cookie load before

jquery/jquery-storageapi. While this would often be handled in the module
directly, we can also assert the load order here. Remember, RequireJS has no
particular load order unless specifically provided.

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 Technology Stack 

shim: {

'jquery/jquery-storageapi': {

'deps': ['jquery/jquery.cookie']

What are global callbacks?

This is a function that is executed after deps have loaded. As of the time of this
writing, it isn’t used in the core but still could be leveraged.

How can mappings be used?

More information is provided above. Using the map configuration object allows you
to selectively replace modules or update their location. It also allows you to provide
a shorter alias for a module.

Demonstrate the ability to use RequireJS plugins

What are RequireJS plugins?

Plugins provide additional functionality when loading modules. Plugins can be

recognized in the core by an ! (exclamation mark) preceding a module ID. Like so:
'text!./templates/virtual.html'. The plugin name is text and handles
loading textual files. An HTML template is a good use case because it is loaded
as plain text before being rendered as HTML. Ultimately, loader plugins are just
another module, but they implement a specific API.

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 Technology Stack 

When a plugin is used, that plugin module is loaded first. The dependency’s name is
passed into a load method—the only one required in the plugin. The load method
then handles processing the string it receives.

The RequireJS docs are a good place to find more details.

What are the text and domReady plugins used for?

The text loader plugin processes a module as text. This allows HTML to be put
into separate templates which can be easier than managing unwieldy multi-line
strings in a Javascript file.

Note that template literals provide a much easier way to include

multi-line strings directly in a Javascript file if the situation warrants
doing so. However, Internet Explorer 11 does not support them.
They are helpful in more situations than only multi-line strings,
though, and we will dive more into Magento’s use of them later in
this guide.

The domReady plugin waits for the DOM to load before executing the module.
This is often not essential, but if your module has a dependency on the DOM (i.e.
document.querySelector(.class-name)) it is good practice to include
because it removes the possibility of strange race conditions.

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 Technology Stack 

1.2 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

UNDERSCOREJS

Demonstrate understanding of underscore utility functions

UnderscoreJS is a popular cross-browser library containing many miscellaneous

helper functions including ones that assist with templating. It can be loaded into
Javascript modules by adding a dependency for 'underscore'. The parameter
in the callback is usually simply _ then. The functions are well documented on the
UnderscoreJS website: https://underscorejs.org/.

What are the benefits of using the underscore library versus

native JavaScript?

The goal of a library is to provide already-reliable functions for common tasks so

you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. It’s worth keeping in mind that
many of these functions are now available natively in Javascript.

One idea, then, is that UnderscoreJS is beneficial because it provides cross-

browser support for these functions. However, due to the tremendous progress
browsers have made, we find it difficult to say that using a library for helper
functions is superior to using native Javascript. Consequently, we recommend using
native Javascript anytime it serves your intended audience. In other words, if all the
browsers you need to support offer a method that you need, it is better to use the
native method because the library version adds processing overhead, with no other
benefits. You might be surprised at how many APIs are now commonplace across
the major browsers with Internet Explorer 11 being the main exception. Internet
Explorer 11’s use is dropping so low that many companies are dropping support for
it on their websites. (If you really want to stretch this, you may be able to go so far

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 Technology Stack 

as to say you are doing your users a favor to drop IE 11 support and encourage them
to upgrade to a more secure browser.)

Good examples of well supported APIs are Array.map() and Array.filter()—

both of which are supported by IE 11 and all other major browsers. Others like
Array.find() are supported in all major browsers except IE 11.

With that note aside, it is better to use the library than to write a custom function to
do the same thing. The benefit of using UnderscoreJS, in that case, is that it is fewer
lines of code you have to debug and maintain.

Use underscore templates in customizations

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Refer to the docs for the specific usage of templates.

There are three styles of handling input variables:

• <%= … %> -- interpolates a value

• <%- … %> -- interpolates a value and escapes HTML

• <% … %> -- executes arbitrary Javascript

Describe how underscore templates are used.

UnderscoreJS’s .template() method is central to Magento’s template rendering

and is used broadly through the core via the lib/web/mage/template.js
(referenced as a dependency with mage/template). The .template() method
is used by passing a string into it. A callback is returned and is executed with

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 Technology Stack 

an object for context. If you find a cool trick in the docs for this template, you’re
probably safe to use it.

For example: testString = _.template('Test string with the

following variable: <%- example %>'). Then, testString({example:
'some text'}).

What are the pros and cons of using underscore templates?

Pros:

• Ability to include logic in templates that are evaluated at runtime.

• Templating on even older browsers.

Cons:

• It’s not reactive like KnockoutJS (although, you can use the two frameworks
together).

• No automatic HTML escape (must use <%- for that).

• No translation.

Describe how underscore templates are used in Magento

together with the text RequireJS plugin.

Magento uses the text! RequireJS plugin (prefixed to the template’s path ID)
to load HTML files that are executed with the _.template() method (usually
indirectly via mage/template.js). This means chunks of HTML are loaded
asynchronously and executed with a data object for context.

A good example of this on the front end is breadcrumbs.html (Magento_Theme/

web/templates/breadcrumbs.html). The HTML template is loaded asynchronously

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 Technology Stack 

and rendered in the context of an array of breadcrumbs (not edible). Since the
breadcrumbs don’t change after the page is loaded, there is not a specific need for
reactive data handling.

1.3 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

JQUERY UI WIDGETS

Demonstrate understanding of the jQuery framework [sic] and its

role in the Magento JavaScript framework

AUTHOR NOTE
Technically, jQuery is a "library."

What is a jQuery library?

jQuery is a large library of Javascript tools with the ubiquitous jQuery object,
$, being the linchpin. It quickly became immensely popular after its release
in 2006, because of the consistent API it provided between browsers. At that
time, developing Javascript to be cross-browser compatible was a complicated
process because various browsers used complete disparate techniques for
performing tasks.

XHR requests (commonly known as "AJAX") are a great example of that.

Implementing them required long, complex methods with varying calls based on
the browser. jQuery solved that problem by providing a single interface: $.ajax
(plus its siblings like $.get). When browsers started developing and implementing

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 Technology Stack 

standards (some likely heavily influenced by jQuery’s simplicity), the cross-browser

differences dwindled to be much more manageable. Now, we have a well-supported
fetch() call, for instance, to handle our XHR needs. jQuery has been the most
popular Javascript library and still is widely used, although its popularity has
declined markedly.

The common alias for the jQuery object, the $, is usually global, although Magento
introduces some nuances with that. The $('.some-selector') method is
often used to select a collection of elements. Methods can then be called on
the collection to manipulate them or use them for some purpose. Methods can
be added to the jQuery object via widgets—something to be discussed in more
detail later.

What different components does it have (jQuery UI, jQuery

events, and so on)?

There is an entire additional library that is built on jQuery: jQuery UI. Its goal is
to make certain types of functionality that are desired in many UIs available via a
simple interface. Examples of that include tabs, accordions, and drag and drop. It is
built on jQuery because it uses the jQuery object and DOM manipulation. In simpler
terms, jQuery UI makes jQuery more powerful.

jQuery contains an entire event system. Most of that has been eclipsed by
the native, well supported .addEventListener() but jQuery’s are still
frequent in the core and important to be familiar with should the need arise
to update one. There are some differences as well. Many of jQuery’s event
listeners can be attached using a method name that corresponds to the
event. For instance, jQuery has a .click() method. The native equivalent is
.addEventListener('click'). A significant aspect to jQuery’s event listeners

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 Technology Stack 

is that they work regardless of whether it is a single element or a collection. Adding

an event listener works like this: $('.button').click(/* callback */) (all
elements with the .button class would trigger this event listener).

In addition to the DOM events, jQuery has global AJAX event listeners. These
over-achieving methods can be obscure when debugging because they perform
significant actions in code far from the place where the request is sent. Magento
core uses these event listeners to handle various tasks. For instance, in lib/web/
mage/backend/bootstrap.js, all requests are listened to. If one comes back
with a JSON object containing an ajaxRedirect key, the page is redirected—
automagically. It also injects the form_key if making a JSON type request.

In Chrome DevTools, you can see the names of these AJAX events by selecting a
DOM element—such as body. Select the “Event Listeners” from the group of tabs
that contains "Styles" and "Computed." There, if present, they will appear like:
ajax[Type] (ajaxComplete). This will lead you to the place in the jQuery library
where the event is triggered. You can place a breakpoint in that function and step
down to find the global event listener.

How does Magento use it?

Magento uses jQuery in a large percentage of its Javascript modules. It is

imported with the jquery (all lowercase) module key. The $ is used in the function
declaration for the RequireJS module. Magento uses a wide range jQuery tooling
in its core code: it’s used for DOM manipulation, XHR requests, widgets, and
generic methods. It is important to always use jQuery with RequireJS. Using it
without RequireJS makes it likely that a different jQuery object will be used, causing
problems related to jQuery widgets.

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 Technology Stack 

AUTHOR NOTE
It is our opinion that like UnderscoreJS, there’s little (if any) reason
to use jQuery if your targeted browsers contain native APIs that
do the same thing. We venture to offer the recommendation
to obtain the habit of using native APIs when available and
would reference this helpful website as a resource when doing
custom development.

1.4 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

KNOCKOUTJS

Describe key KnockoutJS concepts

KnockoutJS is a library that facilitates a Model-View-ViewModel technique (if

that sounded more like a Java term then Javascript, you’re not alone). One of
Knockout’s most important aspects is binding data to HTML elements. Any time the
data updates, the elements also update. An application then has a data structure
("Model") and templates ("View") with KnockoutJS assisting in linking the two
("ViewModel"). Elements are tied to data with a data-bind attribute. Overall,
KnockoutJS feels like a precursor to frameworks like VueJS or React.

And, yes, Knockout supports IE 6.

Describe the architecture of the Knockout library: MVVC concept,

observables, bindings.

MVVC is short for Model-View-ViewModel and is a programming paradigm.

The ViewModel sits in between the View and the Model, effectively connecting
(binding) them. Knockout has four hallmark features—five if you count IE 6 support—

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 Technology Stack 

declarative bindings, automatic UI refresh, dependency tracking, and templating.

Declarative bindings refer to the `data-bind` attributes that are added to elements
in order to associate them with data. This binding is two-directional in some
cases: for an input, if its value changes, it can update the model, or if the model
updates, it can update the input. In Magento, ViewModels are Javascript modules.
In the module, methods can be used to provide, assemble, or transform various
pieces of data before being displayed. This file is an example: Magento_Ui/js/
form/element/wysiwyg.js. The associated template binds the content key
(initialized in defaults of the Javascript module) as HTML.

With observables, KnockoutJS tracks any changes that occur in the underlying
data. It then updates the View. Consider the classic technique of: element.
textContent = newValue. With KnockoutJS and knockout-es5 library,
assuming that element has an attribute, data-bind="text: dataKey", it will
simply update the value.

Knockout has a number of different bindings available (refer to the documentation

to see a more complete list), and Magento adds a number as well. Various bindings
handle different interactions between the data and the element. A few examples:

• text: binds a value as the text content of an element. Would escape HTML as
a result.

• visible if the value is false, the element is hidden. if has the same end result
but actually removes the element’s content.

• foreach loops over an array and binds each item to the corresponding array
item. You probably aren’t surprised to learn that this is especially useful for
rendering lists and tables.

• click: adds an event handler. If you guessed it was for the click event, you are
correct. It can bind to a method, or you could assign a value in the attribute itself:
data-bind="click: total = timer + 1".

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 Technology Stack 

Demonstrate understanding of knockout templates

What is the main concept of knockout templates?

KnockoutJS templates provide client-side rendering of dynamic data. In Magento,

they are usually put in .html files and requested asynchronously, but they can be
added directly to the body if the scope binding is used. The templates contain
elements with data-bind attributes, or their Magento equivalents, and update
whenever the underlying data is changed.

Consider the catalog product grid in the admin panel: when a manager clicks the
"next page" button to see more results, a new set of objects need to be displayed.
Instead of reloading the entire page, the visible list re-renders due to the change in
the data.

What are the pros and cons of knockout templates?

Pros:

• Facilitates dynamic data binding

• Links the UI more tightly and logically to the underlying data set reducing brittle
DOM query and update mechanisms

Cons:

• Potential loss of SEO. Because Javascript must be executed in order for the
content to render, it is possible that some search engine bots would miss the
data. Search engine bots are growing in their ability to run Javascript and
may not be an issue for much longer. It is not a problem for areas that require
authentication to access either, like customer or admin areas.

• No automatic HTML escape

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 Technology Stack 

• Data-bind attributes can get unwieldy

• Delayed rendering (in some cases). Data must be loaded and available before it
can be rendered.

Compare knockout templates with underscore

JavaScript templates.
• Knockout templates automatically update when the underlying data changes.

• Underscore templates are rendered based on the data only when the string is
passed to the template() function. No further connection to the underlying
model is maintained.

• Knockout uses data-bind attributes.

• Underscore uses "ERB-style delimiters." ERB stands for "Embedded Ruby" (wait, what?).

Demonstrate understanding of the knockout-es5 library

Typically, to create an observable, this code is used: ko.observable(varName).

Further, to access the value, it is necessary to call it like a function: varName().
Magento includes Knockout-es5, a library that simplifies tracking observables
a bit, and uses it as the primary means of initiating an observable. In many core
Javascript modules, there is a section like the following:

initObservable: function () {
this._super()
.track([
'value',
'editing',
'customVisible',
])

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 Technology Stack 

This tracks specific properties on the parent object. It is itself an abstraction

beyond knockout-es5, but it uses it all the same. The knockout-es5 library
uses a simple ko.track call for tracking an observable, but perhaps the more
significant benefit is that it allows standard assignment and access of observed
values (again, compared to Knockout’s normal method-style of access). As a
result, this works with knockout-es5:

var latestOrder = this.orders[this.orders.length - 1]; // Read a value

latestOrder.isShipped = true; // Write a value

HINT
There is a rudimentary but helpful Chrome extension for
KnockoutJS.

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 Swift Otter's Javascript Study Guide

2.
MAGENTO
JAVASCRIPT
BASICS
 Magento JavaScript Basics 

2.1 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE

MODULAR STRUCTURE OF MAGENTO

Demonstrate understanding of the JavaScript file organization

in Magento

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Refer to this DevDocs article.

What file structure is used to organize JavaScript modules?

Javascript modules are placed in a web folder of a Magento component. This allows
all of the component’s files to be managed under a single directory.

Where does Magento locate a module’s JavaScript file?

Javascript files are placed in [Vendor]/[Module]/view/[area]/web/js.

Areas are described in more detail in the DevDocs and relate to the section of
the store that is being rendered. The most common ones are adminhtml and
frontend.base is available to all areas. Javascript placed in an area should only
be used in that area. Javascript files within view/[area]/web/js should be put
within directories to provide logical groups.

If a theme overrides a Javascript file, that version of the file will be loaded. It is
critically important to understand Magento’s fallback system. As a rudimentary
example, the following idea demonstrates the fallback system where the earlier

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

items in the following list are overridden by subsequent items (assuming a

frontend area):

• Module_Name/base (area)

• Module_Name/frontend (area)

• base/theme_name

• frontend/parent_theme

• frontend/theme_name

Notice how a module’s assets are overridden by themes and a more specific area
overrides a less specific area. We want to stress that the preceding example does
not cover all factors of inheritance and suggest you pursue the following resources
if you are unfamiliar with these concepts.

Where does Magento store the JavaScript library?

FURTHER RESOURCES:
• Theme structure

• Theme inheritance

• Module Dependencies

• Javascript file location walkthrough

Magento has a special folder with tons of libraries and files in it: lib/web/. It is
also in vendor/magento/magento2-base/lib/web/, but copied from there so
the primary use is lib/web. There’s a ton of stuff in there, and it would be a good
idea to at least take a brief look: lib/web/.

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

One file that is particularly interesting is legacy-build.min.js. It is a

conglomeration of old Javascript files and libraries, including Prototype, minified
into one super file. It is used to bridge old, Magento 1 code up to Magento 2 but
comes at a high cost of massive file size.

Describe how static content is organized in Magento

Publicly accessible files are symlinked (developer mode) or copied via CLI
(production mode) to the pub/static/ directory. From there, files are grouped
by area, theme, locale, and module name in the form of Vendor_Module (like
Magento_Ui).

How does Magento expose a module's static content to the

web requests?

The files in the view/[area]/web directory are copied to the pub/static folder
(symlinked in developer mode). For instance, a source Javascript file is placed in
app/code/SwiftOtter/Theme/view/frontend/web/js/hero.js. This file
is then referenced with SwiftOtter_Theme/js/hero. In developer mode, that
file is symlinked to its end location in pub/static. The full directory structure
of the public file is: pub/static/frontend/SwiftOtter/[Theme Name]/
[Locale]/SwiftOtter_Theme/js/hero.js. As a result, the identifier is the
last part of the path and does not include the file extension (.js).

What are the different ways to deploy static content?

In Developer mode, the files are automatically symlinked, and no action is

necessary. For production environments, the files must be copied: bin/magento

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

setup:static-content:deploy. This is a super-command. It processes assets

for all the areas, enabled themes, and locales. As of Magento 2.2.x, this command
is influenced by the database (reference). The main aspects related to the database
are the minification and bundling of assets. You can set these values via the CLI
now, but see this StackExchange answer for more information.

2.2 DESCRIBE HOW TO USE JAVASCRIPT

MODULES IN MAGENTO

Use requirejs-config.js files to create JavaScript

customizations

The requirejs-config.js is an important part of Magento’s Javascript

ecosystem. All these files are collected and concatenated to form a single version
that is sent to the browser and processed by RequireJS on the client side.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
DevDocs guide

There are a few common tasks you can accomplish by adding a requirejs-
config.js to a custom extension:

Override (replace) a core Javascript module. The following configuration example

would load the SwiftOtter_Theme/js/google-analytics Javascript module
instead of the Magento_GoogleAnalytics one. This is useful when a mixin is

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not feasible but a modification must be made. It can also be helpful when a change
is so significant that it is more efficient to replace the module.

var config = {

map: {

'*': {

'Magento_GoogleAnalytics/js/google-analytics':

'SwiftOtter_Theme/js/google-analytics'

};

Run Javascript on every page. If you want to run a module on every page of the
site, you can include it as shown below:

var config = {

deps: [

"SwiftOtter_Theme/js/core/light-run"

How do you ensure that a module will be executed before

other modules?

Remember that listing a dependency after another one does not enforce load order
at all. It is necessary to explicitly define what modules must be loaded before a
module can be executed. It is possible to declare these dependencies using the

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shim property of requirejs-config.js. Note that this has the same effect as
adding a module to the list of dependencies in a define() function, but allows you
to control order without modifying the target module. If you have access to the
define() function, it’s better to just use it because it is easier to comprehend when
working with it in the future.

This example loads a polyfill before the module:

var config = {

'shim': {

'MutationObserver': ['es6-collections'],

How can an alias for a module be declared?

Just like so:

var config = {

map: {

'*': {

uiElement: 'Magento_Ui/js/lib/core/element/element'

};

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What is the purpose of requirejs-config.js callbacks?

According to RequireJS docs: “Useful when require is defined as a config object

before require.js is loaded, and you want to specify a function to require after
the configuration's deps array has been loaded.” Magento declares require as
a config option, so a callback can be declared in order to execute a function in
the module.

Describe different types of Magento JavaScript modules

Plain modules

These are regular ones. The sky's the limit, though, so you can use them for
anything. Like other modules, call the define function and include a callback within
it. This callback often returns another function. In fact, it should return a callback if
you use it with the data-mage-init attribute or text/x-magento-init script
tag. Here’s an example:

define([/* … dependencies … */], function () {

function handleWindow() {

// ...

return function () {

handleWindow();

window.addEventListener('resize', handleWindow);

});

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jQuery UI widgets

Declares a jQuery UI widget which can be used elsewhere. Always return the newly
created widget as shown in the following example:

define(['jquery', /* ... */], function ($) {

$.widget('mage.modal', {

options: {

// default options

// options passed into the widget override these

},

/* Public Method */

setTitle: function() {},

/* Private methods being with _ (underscore) */

_setKeyListener: function() {}

});

return $.mage.modal;

});

UiComponents

Javascript modules that are part of UI Components extend uiElement

(Magento_‌
Ui/js/lib/core/element/element). Carefully consider the
following example:

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define(['uiElement', /* ... */], function(Element) {

'use strict';

return Element.extend({

// like jQuery "options." Can be overridden on initialization.

// In Magento, these can ultimately be provided, or overridden,

// from the server with XML or PHP. defaults: {

// UI Component connections are discussed in

// further detail later

links: {

// $.provider is equivalent to this.provider

value: '${ $.provider }:${ $.dataScope }'

},

// method is accessible in the associated

// KnockoutJS template

hasService: function () {},

// 1 of 6 `init[...]` methods which can be

// overridden and used for setup.

initObservable: function () {

this._super()

.observe('disabled visible value');

});

})

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Note that there are a number of different modules that extend uiElement.‌
uiCollection is a common one and, as the name implies, facilitates dynamic
lists. All UI Component Javascript modules follow the basic pattern of extending a
base class with an object containing a defaults object and a number of functions.
For one thing, the base class handles the template. This is why the methods (and
properties of the defaults object) can be called from the template. We’ll cover
this in more detail later because it’s complex.

2.3 DEMONSTRATE ABILITY TO EXECUTE

JAVASCRIPT MODULES
There are a number of ways to load Javascript. Choosing the appropriate method
for your use-case necessitates understanding each technique. A couple things
to remember with the data-mage-init attribute and text/x-magento-
init script:

• They provide a good way to pass server-generated configuration (not customer-

specific data, though) into Javascript modules.

• They typically do not execute quickly after the page loads.

• Both require a significant amount of Javascript to load and execute before they
are processed, loaded, and executed. While this often occurs at an acceptable
speed, depending on the module’s purpose, it may be an issue that users notice.

Demonstrate the ability to use the data-mage-init attribute to

run JavaScript modules

The data-mage-init is perfect for succinct initialization of modules. The element

which contains the attribute and the Javascript object are passed into the callback
that the module is expected to return—this callback can also be a jQuery widget—

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either are valid. The following is an example taken from the state.phtml file
(located in Magento_LayeredNavigation)

<div data-mage-init='{"collapsible":{"openedState": "active",

"collapsible": true, "active": false }}'>

<!-- … -->

</div>

This use is a bit nuanced. The first "collapsible" is a reference to a particular

module. This module ID is an alias to mage/collapsible. Files in mage/ are
in the lib/web/mage directory. If we look there, you will find a collapsible.
js module. This module declares a jQuery widget. It is initialized with the
<div/> being the targeted element and the configuration within the object
as the options: {"openedState": "active", "collapsible": true,
"active": false }.

Here is another example:

<div data-mage-init='{"SwiftOtter_Components/js/modal": <?=

$block->getConfig(); ?>}' />

This initializes a component with the following structure:

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define([/* ... */], function() {

return function(config = {}, element) {

// ...

})

What is the purpose and syntax of the data-mage-init

attribute?

The purpose is to easily initialize Javascript modules asynchronously. It serves as a

progressive enhancement of elements already in the DOM. The syntax is an object
containing module IDs as keys and configuration objects as values.

How is it used to execute JavaScript modules?

Magento has a Javascript module (lib/web/mage/apply/main.js) that finds

elements with the attribute and uses the configuration in it to execute modules. All
of this happens on the client side and at runtime; as such, there is a performance
trade-off.

Demonstrate the ability to use text/x-magento-init scripts to

execute JavaScript modules

This is the heavy hitter of Magento Javascript framework and is ultimately used for
many things, including initialization of UI Components. The same module that runs
the data-mage-init picks up and executes these script tags. Note that browsers

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

skip script tags with the type of text, so Magento can safely use them for storing
configuration objects. The object within them is similar to the data-mage-init
attribute with some important differences.

The initial key is a selector and its value (on the right side of the colon), is an
object with the module ID and its configuration data. Magento will use the
selector to query those elements and will execute the callback function for every
single element it finds that matches the selector. For instance, if “table” is the
key, Magento will load the component (once) and execute the callback for each
<table> found on the page with that element as the second argument and the
module’s component configuration as the first one.

Let’s look at some code:

<script type="text/x-magento-init">

".hero": {

"SwiftOtter_Theme/js/hero": {

// ... options that would be passed into the

// callback for every element

</script>

This is pretty simple, right? It gets more complicated from here, but this minimal
setup covers quite a few situations and serves as the foundation for more
complicated renderings.

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In this case, the hero module that was loaded has this structure:

define(['underscore'], function(_) {

return function(config, heroElement) {

// ...

};

});

Remember that the config comes first, and the element is second.

What is the purpose and syntax of the text/x-magento-init

script tag?

The text/x-magento-init script provides flexibility in initializing Javascript

modules and tying them to elements. It is also used for bootstrapping UI
Components. One of its core aspects is the ability to pass server-generated
configuration to the front end—a task common to Magento.

The syntax is quite loose: outer curly braces (an object) that surround necessary
configuration. The keys are element selectors, with one exception. If a * (asterisk)
is used, the module is run once and not bound to any specific element. Objects
are used for values there as well: keys are the module ID to load, and the value
is passed as an argument to that module. This is often an object and can be as
complex as needed.

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

What is the difference between the text/x-magento-init and

the data-mage-init methods of JavaScript module execution?

The text/x-magento-init has few boundaries while the data-mage-init

only applies to a single element. For text/x-magento-init, an object defines all
information necessary to bootstrap modules and provides links to the elements they
relate to. The data-mage-init targets one element and as a result, provides a
slightly simpler interface for initializing modules.

Describe advanced methods of executing JavaScript modules

How do you execute a JavaScript module in an AJAX response

and in dynamic code stored in a string?

There are a couple ways to do this. The first step will be to glean the Javascript
code from the response or string. Sometimes it will come in the form of a static
block that has a <script/> tag in it which must be separated from the rest of the
response. Then the raw string of Javascript can be passed to the eval() function,
or better Function(). Another option is to inject it into the <head>. If you do
choose to use Function() or eval(), read and understand the downsides
related to security and performance. While they are not “bad” in and of themselves,
they introduce risks that are important to understand first and reasonably mitigate.

If the goal is to process data-mage-init or text/x-magento-init, there are

other ways to do it as detailed later, but briefly, either fire the contentUpdated
jQuery event on the body, or re-execute mage/apply/main.

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2.4 DESCRIBE JQUERY UI WIDGETS

IN MAGENTO

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Refer to Magento DevDocs for information on some of the
widgets available.

Describe how Magento uses jQuery widgets, and demonstrate an

understanding of the $.mage object

They are frequently used in the data-mage-init attributes.

$.mage serves as a namespace for Magento widgets. Magento uses the

widget factory.

What is the role of jQuery widgets in Magento?

Magento uses jQuery widgets to implement client-side functionality to a wide range

of elements across the site. One particular benefit is their extensibility which allows
third-party developers to override aspects of them.

What are typical widgets?

FURTHER RESOURCES:

Refer to the DevDocs for a list of widgets.

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

Here are a few of the widgets available and examples of their use:

• Tabs (Example Use)

• Menu (Example Use)

• Sticky (Example Use)

• Toggle (Example Use)

It is important to take some time to review the various widgets’ functionality and
familiarize yourself with their different uses. For instance, consider three widgets
that perform a similar job of hiding and showing segments of content: tabs,
collapsible, and accordion. They each have nuances:

• Tabs show only one segment of content at a time. Selecting a new “tab” will
cause others in the same group to disappear and the new one to display alone.

• Collapsible is a single element.

• Accordion is many collapsible sections in one group. It differs from tabs by

allowing more than one to be open. It has settings that allow fine-tuning of this
as well. One of such would be the active setting: an array or string of integers
that can be used as indexes to show a number of the panels in the accordion
when it loads.

The Alert, Confirmation, Prompt, and DropDown widgets are another case where
there are multiple widgets that may appear similar on the surface but have
important differences.

How are Magento jQuery widget modules structured?

Widgets are declared with calling jQuery’s widget function like: $.widget('mage.
widget_name', {/* … everything else */}. They contain an options
key with an object of settings that are available in the widget. Practical defaults are
declared to minimize boilerplate elsewhere in the app. After the options object,

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

functions comprise the bulk of the widget with “private” functions starting with an
underscore (note that they can still be extended even when “private”), and public
methods without.

Following is an example of a widget declaration. Note the _create() method

which is used to set up the widget. There are other methods associated with the
widget factory that are available like _setOption().

$.widget('mage.list', {

options: {

template: '[data-role=item]',

templateWrapper: null,

destinationSelector: '[data-role=container]',

itemCount: 0

},

_create: function () {

this.options.itemCount = this.options.itemIndex = 0;

this.element

.addClass('list-widget');

},

});

Describe how Magento executes jQuery widgets

jQuery widgets are often executed through the template system as described in the
next section. However, another common use is to include them as a dependency in
the RequireJS module. The mage/validation widget is perhaps one of the most
frequent uses in this manner. They are appended to the list of other dependencies

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

but do not need to be added to the callback function’s definition because they are
accessed through the jQuery object.

Consider the following example based on the Magento_Checkout/js/view/

form/element/email module and note how there is no validation item in the
function declaration:

define([

'jquery',

'uiComponent',

'ko',

'Magento_Customer/js/model/customer',

'Magento_Customer/js/action/check-email-availability',

'Magento_Customer/js/action/login',

'mage/validation'

], function ($, Component, ko, customer, checkEmailAvailability,

loginAction) {

/* ... */

function validateEmail() {

var loginFormSelector = 'form[data-role=email-with-

possible-login]',

usernameSelector = loginFormSelector + '

input[name=username]',

loginForm = $(loginFormSelector),

validator;

loginForm.validation();

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

validator = loginForm.validate();

return validator.check(usernameSelector);

});

How are Magento jQuery widgets executed with

data‑mage‑init and text/x-magento-init?

The widget is initialized on the element that has the data-mage-init attribute or
is targeted in text/x-magento-init script. The module that contains the widget
is requested and after loading, the result is tested: if it is a function, it’s called like a
function, but if it is a jQuery widget, it’s executed like that. You can see the action in
the init() function of apply/main.js.

2.5 DEMONSTRATE ABILITY TO CUSTOMIZE

JAVASCRIPT MODULES

Use Magento JavaScript mixins for customizations

Mixins are to Javascript as plugins are to PHP in Magento. The logic is that you can
add actions before, after, or instead of core functions. This allows you to manipulate
core Javascript without always needing to override the entire file. The benefit is you
have to write and maintain less code. They are quite easy to use as long as the core

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

is facilitating. There are some places where things get weird, but they can still
be used.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
This DevDocs article will get you up to speed on the specifics of
building mixins

Describe advantages and limitations of using mixins.

Mixins allow you to change functionality in other Javascript without needing to

override the entire file. This, in turn, makes upgrading the core and other modules
easier because your code does not replace the entire file. Obviously, there could be
a change in the module that your mixin depends on, but fixing that is usually much
easier than attempting to upgrade your override.

Conversely, because the mixin is an outside entity, it can only do so much. The
following is an example of something that works around a problem where various
functions were not very accessible from a mixin:

define(function () {

var original;

function getSettingOverride(mode) {var output = original.

call(this, mode);

output['theme_advanced_buttons1'] =

output['theme‌
_‌
advanced_buttons1'] + ',styleselect';

return output;

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return function (target) {

if (typeof tinyMceWysiwygSetup.prototype ===

'object' && tinyMceWysiwygSetup.prototype.getSettings) {

original = tinyMceWysiwygSetup.prototype.getSettings;

tinyMceWysiwygSetup.prototype.getSettings =

getSettingOverride;

return target;

};

});

The biggest limitation mixins have is related to the architecture of the code within
the module you are targeting.

What are cases where mixins cannot be used?

It is not possible to add mixins to Javascript that is not included with RequireJS,
including Javascript in the HTML.

Describe how to customize jQuery widgets in Magento

There are many options available on most of Magento’s jQuery widgets; these
can be defined when the widget is called. Beyond whatever is available there,
overriding functions in the widget, or adding functions, can be done with mixins.
If the jQuery widget must be completely overhauled, it is possible to replace the

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 Magento JavaScript Basics 

entire widget; at that point, it may be better to create a completely custom widget
and extend the core one.

How can a new method be added to a jQuery widget?

This should be done with a mixin. There is a great answer on StackExchange that
details the approach.

When adding or modifying a widget, the callback inside the module should return
the widget. It is passed the original widget via a parameter. In effect, this callback
returns a brand new widget; there’s a great deal of control with that. This is
where jQuery’s widget factory is helpful: it will merge objects that are passed as
arguments into it. For instance:

$.widget('mage.priceBundle', parentWidget, { /* object with new

methods */ } );

How can an existing method of a jQuery widget be overridden?

The answer is nearly the same as the last question and should be done with a mixin.

Here’s an example of a module that adds functionality to the _create() method

of a parent widget. These methods should have a this._super() call in order to
call the parent function and can override “private” methods.

define(['jquery'], function($) {

function limitOptions(index, list) {

// ...

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return function(widget) {

$.widget('mage.priceBundle', widget, {

_create: function() {

this._super();

this.element.find('.options-list').

each(limitOptions.bind(this));

});

return $.mage.priceBundle;

});

What is the difference in approach to customizating [sic] jQuery

widgets compared to other Magento JavaScript module types?

jQuery widgets are customized by essentially creating a new version of the widget
with the same name as the original one. By including the original in the widget
factory method, it extends all functions and options that are not overridden. Other
Magento Javascript modules are extended via merging a mixin object onto the
original one.

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 Swift Otter's Javascript Study Guide

3.
MAGENTO CORE
JAVASCRIPT
LIBRARY
 Magento Core JavaScript Library 

3.1 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF THE

MAGE LIBRARY
It seems fair to describe the mage library as the linchpin of Magento’s Javascript
framework and a point from which everything comes to life.

Describe different types of Magento JavaScript templates

There are a number of different templating systems available in Magento:

• Underscore
• jQuery (rarely used)

• Knockout

• Kinda: ES6

Magento pseudo ES6 [template] literals and underscore

templates in Magento

The underlying problem is that Internet Explorer does not support template literals
(also referred to as template strings). To workaround for that, while still allowing for
the use of template literals, Magento uses UnderscoreJS to compile strings used
as templates in non-compliant browsers. The action happens in lib/web/mage/
utils/template.js. Magento detects native template literal support; if not
present it falls back to UnderscoreJS for evaluating the string. UnderscoreJS allows
for the specification of interpolation regex which Magento provides as equivalent of
ES6: ${ […] }.

This remarkable system does come with a caveat: when using Magento’s template
literals, it is necessary to use regular quotes (') and not backticks (`).

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 Magento Core JavaScript Library 

These ES6-like template strings are commonly (or even primarily) used in the
defaults object of UI Component’s to specify dynamic variables in an otherwise
static medium. We will be discussing them in more detail later, so you can look
forward to that.

Describe how to use storage and cookies for JavaScript modules

You will be shocked to learn that Magento uses a jQuery cookie plugin for helping
with cookies. Tasty comments aside, the jQuery Storage API is the primary
abstraction for leveraging browser storage.

To use this feature, it is necessary to add both jquery and jquery/jquery-

storageapi to the module’s dependencies. Even though the Storage API is a
jQuery plugin, it is not included in the global jQuery package. There is no need to
add a parameter in the module function for the Storage API because it is accessed
by the jQuery object: $.

Following is an abbreviated example from the core:

define([

'jquery',

'uiComponent',

'jquery/jquery-storageapi'

], function ($, Component) {

return Component.extend({

defaults: {

cookieMessages: []

},

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 Magento Core JavaScript Library 

initialize: function () {

this._super();

this.cookieMessages = $.cookieStorage.get('mage-messages');

$.cookieStorage.set('mage-messages', '');

});

});

A few things to consider in the previous example. Note that the jquery/jquery-
storageapi dependency does not have a corresponding parameter in the
function declaration. Further, this module follows the UI Component pattern of
extending the uiComponent (which is a module alias). The Storage API is accessed
with $.cookieStorage. In this case, the module saves the message locally then
clears them.

AUTHOR NOTE
Note: if the cookies are set to be HTTP-Only, it’s not possible to set
them with Javascript (also, consider reading the security cautions
related to using document.cookie).

How do you use cookies in the module?

This is largely described in the previous section: use $.cookieStorage.

get('mage-messages')

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 Magento Core JavaScript Library 

How is localStorage used in Magento?

window.localStorage is a well-supported tool for storage data client-side.

Magento uses it to store customer and app data. Customer data might relate to the
wishlist, app data might have to do with checkout fields. The jQuery Storage API
plugin is used for getting and setting the data. Some of the primary consumers, like
the Customer and Catalog extensions have their own modules as an abstraction.

Demonstrate the ability to use the JavaScript

translation framework

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Refer to the DevDocs topic on translation.

Magento 2 has a mature and thorough localization framework in place. Translating

strings in Javascript is more complex than its PHP cousin. The foundation consists
of .csv files that have the original string (English, in the core) on the left and the
translated string on the right. Here is an example of a CSV line for a English to
German translation:

"Welcome back!","Willkommen zurück!"

"Forgot Your Password?","Passwort vergessen?"

These Javascript translations for the user’s locale end up in JSON format in local
storage. They are then used to translate dynamic strings from Javascript modules
and Knockout templates.

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 Magento Core JavaScript Library 

How are CSV translations exported to be available in

JavaScript modules?

This question is a bit unclear, but we will provide insight into how strings are
translated in Javascript. Ultimately, the answer is to use the i18n:collect-
phrases command. This command collects strings that meet the translation criteria
(as described here) and saves them into CSV format for translation. The .csv
language files provide a list of all strings that need to be translated—they can be
sent to translators for processing.

The translated strings still need to make it to the frontend. Here is how that
happens: there is a .phtml template (Magento_Translation/view/base/
templates/translate.phtml) comprised of a RequireJS call for translation
stuff from the server. It only fetches the strings for the current store, or, more
specifically, the locale. The server responds with a JSON object of the strings which
the module then persists to localStorage. The server actually saves the JSON
content as well, in a js‑translation.json file within the theme directory in
pub/static.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Be sure to visit DevDocs for more guidance on translating the
strings.

AUTHOR NOTE
If you can’t get some Javascript translations to work, delete
js‑translation.json in your theme’s folder within
pub/‌ static.

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 Magento Core JavaScript Library 

AUTHOR NOTE
You can see what strings are available to Javascript two
ways. First, you could open the js-translation.json
file. Second, in Chrome DevTools, select Local Storage under
the Application tab. After picking the correct domain, filter to
mage‑translation‑storage.

How is a new translation phrase added using JavaScript methods?

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Do as DevDocs says.

Briefly, add jquery and mage/translate as dependencies; then $.mage.__

('Translate this string please').

Describe the capabilities of the JavaScript framework

utils components

The lib/web/mage/util/… extends Underscore—your favorite library just got

more powerful!

What are the different components available through the

mage/‌utils module?

These utils can:

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• Wrap and extend functions

• Interpolate template literals

• Manipulate strings, objects, and arrays

• Generate a unique ID

• Compare values

We suggest reviewing the contents of the utils/ directory.

Demonstrate the ability to use and customize the

validation module

A great example of using the validation module is: Magento_Contact/view/

frontend/templates/form.phtml. Refer to this article for a thorough look at
using the library. Briefly, include data-mage-init='{"validation":{}}' on
the form element that contains the elements to be validated. On the form fields,
use the data-validate attribute with Javascript object-like syntax to define the
validation constraints.

What is the architecture of the validation modules in Magento?

The validation super-module is lib/web/mage/validation.js, but there are

two other important links: lib/web/jquery/jquery.validate.js (of course!)
and lib/web/mage/validation/validation.js. The last is the one used as
an entry point. It includes mage/validation, which, in turn, includes the jQuery
validation library. The mage/validation module contains a rules variable with a
large object containing many validation criterion: like max-words (fun fact, this one
appears to be there for your enjoyment so do use it—the core doesn’t). Also, if you
are building a car parts store for the US, there’s a vinUS validator.

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The rules object is iterated and each one is used to extend jQuery’s
validation library.

How can a custom validation rule be added?

HINT
There’s a great answer here.

The addition involves creating a mixin for the mage/validation module and
using addMethod() for the validator:

define(['jquery'], function($) {

"use strict";

return function() {

$.validator.addMethod(

'validate-example',

function() {/* validation logic */},

$.mage.__('Your validation error message')

});

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How can an existing rule be customized?

Like the previous example, create a mixin for mage/validation and use
addMethod() with the exact name of the validator to override. Copy and update
the logic inside the function that determines whether or not the value passes.

3.2 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

MAGE WIDGETS

FURTHER RESOURCES:
We recommend that you review DevDocs for the widgets.

Describe the collapsible jQuery widgets in the Magento

JavaScript library and how to use them

The collapsible widget hides content that follows a header until the heading is
clicked. It then expands to show the content:

Closed:

Open:

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One way to use the collapsible widget is to add our trusty friend data-mage-
init to an element that surrounds both the heading and content. It is used in
this manner in the Luma theme’s state.phtml template (vendor/magento/
theme-frontend-luma/Magento_LayeredNavigation/templates/
layer/state.phtml). This is the attribute from the file: data-mage-init
='{"collapsible":{"openedState": "active", "collapsible":
true, "active": false }}'. The header has an important attribute: data-
role="title". The widget will also look for a related element with the attribute
data-role="content". If not found, it picks the element immediately following
the title as the content. In the example provided, “openedState” is a class applied
to the parent—this can be helpful if some secondary effect is desired when the
section is open. The last two key/value pairs are redundant because they match the
default settings.

Which collapsible widgets are available in Magento?

Collapsible widgets include: the collapsible widget as described above, the

accordion widget, and tabs. Refer to the DevDocs to uncover the power of these
widgets.

How do you use them?

The accordion is very similar to the collapsible widget. Use the data-mage‑init
attribute on an element with children that have data-role attributes. See this
question for more concrete examples. Demonstrate the ability to use the popup and
modal widgets

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These widgets follow common jQuery style and DevDocs has articles on them, so
we will point you there:

• Modal

• Alert

• Confirmation

• Prompt

There are also wrappers for these widgets. They are found in vendor/magento/
module-ui/view/base/web/js/modal/ and handle some of the boilerplate
for you.

How do you create a new popup, dialog, or modal with the

Magento components?

The DevDocs references above contain examples of their direct use. To use the
Magento wrappers, include the appropriate Magento_Ui module as a dependency.
Then, call it as a function with whatever configuration argument is needed. For
instance, let’s use the following core module as an example: vendor/magento/
module-ui/view/base/web/js/grid/massactions.js. This module
handles changes on a grid where multiple items are manipulated together.

'Magento_Ui/js/modal/alert' is a dependency and a parameter in the

module’s callback function. In its applyAction() method, it is called if no
items were selected. It is called with a configuration argument with a single
value: content:

alert({

content: this.noItemsMsg

});

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Describe the different jQuery widgets in the Magento

JavaScript library

Which other widgets are available in the Magento

JavaScript library?

Other widgets we have not specifically referenced include:

• Calendar

• DropdownDialog (essentially, a more flexible <select/>)

• Gallery

• Magnifier

• Loader

• Menu

• Navigation

• Quick Search

How do you use them?

DevDocs contains a good amount of detail regarding their use. This usually involves
the text/x-magento-init script tag, or selecting an element (or many) with
jQuery and initializing a widget with it.

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3.3 DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO USE THE

CUSTOMER-DATA MODULE
DevDocs has an article that describes much of the customer-data API. Be sure to
read that; the following is only supplemental to it.

Demonstrate understanding of the customer-data

module concept

The customer data module (vendor/magento/module-customer/view/

frontend/web/js/customer-data.js) is the endpoint of a well-integrated and
somewhat automated way to maintain customer state. It is able to determine when
data becomes stale and update it. There is a complementary system on the server
to provide the information.

What is private data?

It’s data that is only applicable to one user. An example would be products that
were recently viewed. These only are relevant and appropriate for the user who
actually visited those product pages.

Why do we need to store information in the browser?

Data stored in the browser is immediately available—it’s a great place to cache

content. It is also a logical place to make data available that is only applicable to
individual users.

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What are performance considerations?

The data must still be synced with the server at some point, but that can be done as
a background task. Beyond that, querying localStorage or even cookies is fast and
does not necessitate a network connection.

Demonstrate understanding of how to use the customer-data

module in customizations

How is the customer-data module structured?

The module uses global event listeners for AJAX requests. This makes sense
because customer data would be manipulated through a request. If left unattended,
the data stored locally would then be stale. If the module decides it is necessary
to update the data, it will make a request of its own, after the original request
has completed.

How is data accessed, invalidated, or set?

Access: require Magento_Customer/js/customer-data, then use its

get(sectionName) method. The wishlist is a good example:

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define(['uiComponent', 'Magento_Customer/js/customer-data'],

function (Component, customerData) {

return Component.extend({

initialize: function () {

this._super();

this.wishlist = customerData.get('wishlist');

});

});

Invalidation: future HTTP POST or PUT requests update private_content_

version—the cookie which stores the version of the customer data. The module
will then request a new version of the data.

Set: essentially the same as accessing the data—only use the set(methodName,
data) method.

Describe how to use sections.xml to modify the information

available through the customer-data module

This is described here.

The typical format is the following:

<action name="catalog/product_compare/remove">

<section name="compare-products"/>

</action>

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The action name is the (beginning of) a request path to be matched. The section is
the name of the section to update. If you do not include any <section/> nodes,
all are invalidated.

How can a sections.xml file be used to add a new section and

to modify the invalidation rules of an existing section?

The sections.xml files are merged, so you can use the same action name
to update the sections. Beyond additions, a plugin for \Magento\Customer\
CustomerData\SectionConfigConverter::convert() would provide a great
deal of control.

How can a customization change the way existing sections work?

Changing URL structure could break the way the existing sections work. For
instance, if for some reason, the URL used for adding a product to the cart was
different than the default checkout/cart/add, the minicart would no longer
update properly.

It is possible to add data to current sections by using a PHP plugin for the
appropriate class because they must implement \Magento\Customer\
CustomerData\SectionSourceInterface. \Magento\Catalog\
CustomerData\CompareProducts is an example of this where
getSectionData() could be intercepted.

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4.
UI COMPONENTS
 UI Components 

4.1 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

KNOCKOUT CUSTOMIZATIONS

Describe Magento modifications to the Knockout template engine

The source files can be found in this directory: vendor/magento/module-ui/

view/base/web/js/lib/knockout/template/. Magento has significant
infrastructure around KnockoutJS, so there are aspects that will look unfamiliar to
the KnockoutJS master. The following sections describe the modifications in detail.

Describe the remote template engine, template syntax, custom

tags and attributes, and the rendering mechanism.

Remote Template Engine: KnockoutJS has a template binding but it expects all
of the template as a string. To facilitate modularity in the platform, Magento added
the ability to load templates from afar—the server. If it cannot find the requested
template in the DOM, it will fetch it with RequireJS.

Template syntax, custom tags, and attributes: Magento uses a layer of abstraction
for many of the KnockoutJS bindings. This comes in the form of custom tags (nodes)
and attributes. Instead of <div data-bind="template: templateUrl">
div>, it is possible to do: <div template="templateUrl"> </div>. There
</‌
are many aliases available, and they do not all share a similar structure so we
recommend you spend some time reviewing them.

A few examples:

• To bind a checkbox’s state to a variable, either of the following is valid:

• <input type="checkbox" data-bind="checked: isChecked"/>

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• <input type="checkbox" ko-checked="isChecked"/>

• For an if statement, the following are valid:

• <!-- ko if: isVisible--><!-- /ko -->

• <if args="isVisible"></if>

• <div data-bind="if: isVisible"></div>

• <div if="isVisible"></div>

• Or, for a negative if:

• <!-- ko ifnot: isVisible--><!-- /ko -->

• <ifnot args="isVisible"></ifnot>

• For a template:

• <div data-bind="template: templateUrl"></div>

• <div template="templateUrl"></div>

FURTHER RESOURCES:
DevDocs Topic

History Note: officially, Magento says this custom syntax is to make templates
simpler to write and easier to read. Interestingly, according to a source familiar
with the development of Magento 2, the original idea was to build a system where
KnockoutJS could be replaced. Given the functionality that was built to facilitate the
custom template syntax, this make sense. It sounds like that goal was given up on,
though, due to the permeation of KnockoutJS through the platform and perhaps
disparity between it and the newer frameworks available.

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Rendering mechanism: Magento has overridden the core KnockoutJS template

engine, noting that it: "Caches templates after it's unique name and renders it once."
The file that does this is: vendor/magento/module-ui/view/base/web/js/
lib/knockout/template/engine.js.

Demonstrate the ability to use the custom Knockout bindings

provided by Magento

Where can a full list of custom bindings be found?

You can find the list here.

What are they used for?

Refer to the DevDocs for specifics; they cover a wide range of functionality.
collapsible is an example. It is similar to the jQuery widget with regards to
configuration options.

What alternatives are there?

Some of the bindings can be used as attributes or nodes, as described in the

recent section on custom tags and attributes. Be sure to familiarize yourself with
the various options. You can also create your own bindings, nodes, and attributes
(or binding aliases). To create your own binding, look at the scope binding
source. ko.bindingHandlers.scope takes an object with various methods to
perform the logic. The renderer is a dependency, and a node is created by calling
the addNode() method. If the node name is different then the binding, pass an
object in as a second argument to reference the binding ({ binding: example

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}). To create an attribute call the addAttribute() method in a similar way to

addNode().

Describe the Knockout scope binding

First, a note on context in Knockout: in the template, the current binding context
is equivalent to this in plain Javascript. The context can contain methods or
static values. Other variables are added to the current context in Magento but are
referenced by prepending the name and a period to the value: $parent.value.

Consider this over-simplified example:

var scope = {

   contents: 'Display Me.',

   foo: function() {

       alert('Variety is the spice of life.')

   }

<div data-bind="text: contents, afterRender: foo">

The scope binding may be the most important binding to understand due to
Magento’s use of it. The scope binding sets up the connection between a template
and its Knockout context by evaluating descendant nodes in the scope of an
object found in the Ui Registry. In Magento’s Javascript framework, KnockoutJS
templates must have a parent with a scope binding. Not all HTML templates will
have a scope binding, but this is because they are requested within a different
template that would have context.

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 UI Components 

What is the purpose of the scope binding?

The scope binding provides a simple way to connect a Javascript module

(specifically, one in the Ui Registry) to a template area. The value of the scope
binding should be a string that identifies the item in the Ui Registry.

What Knockout problem does it solve?

It allows KnockoutJS to be initialized before it applies a ViewModel—a module that

is requested asynchronously. There is a good answer on StackExchange that deals
with some of this.

How exactly does this binding work?

An identifier is provided to the scope binding. This is used to lookup the

component in the Ui Registry (note, this is usually different, and shorter, than the
component’s RequireJS identifier). For instance, as seen in the example below, the
Ui Registry identifier is “wishlist” while RequireJS uses “Magento_Wishlist/
js/view/wishlist.” If the component is found in the Ui Registry, the associated
module is loaded via RequireJS. The object in the module is used to populate a
ViewModel on the nodes within the scope element.

The binding logic happens in: vendor/magento/module-ui/view/base/web/

js/lib/knockout/bindings/scope.js

Take the following example for usage:

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<li class="link wishlist" data-bind="scope: 'wishlist'">

   <a <?= $block->getLinkAttributes() ?>><?=

$block->escapeHtml($block->getLabel()) ?>

       <!-- ko if: wishlist().counter -->

       <span data-bind="text: wishlist().counter" class="counter

qty"></span>

       <!-- /ko -->

   </a>

</li>

<script type="text/x-magento-init">

   {

       "*": {

           "Magento_Ui/js/core/app": {

               "components": {

                   "wishlist": {

                       "component": "Magento_Wishlist/js/view/

wishlist"

                   }

               }

           }

       }

   }

</script>

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 UI Components 

Demonstrate the ability to use the scope binding

in customizations

How is the scope binding used?

The scope binding is used frequently because it is the way that the KnockoutJS
context is bound to a template. The following contains an example where a child
is loaded and bound to the child’s UI Component’s context: vendor/magento/
module-ui/view/base/web/templates/grid/sticky/sticky.html. The
requestChild() method loads a module from the Ui Registry with the applicable
key. This is a good way to nest modules. The basic concept is:

<scope args="requestChild('listing_paging')" render="totalTmpl"/>

We recommend experimenting with the scope binding if you are not already
familiar with it. While the previous example has concrete configuration you can build
based off of, create yours with the following general steps:

• Manually declare a script with the type of text/x-magento-init.

• Create a components object with one or more unique keys and assign it to the
Magento_Ui/js/core/app module.

• The value of components should be an object which contains a component

key with the RequireJS path to a module.

• Add a template with a scope binding that matches the unique key of its parent.

How do nested scopes work?

Each nested scope has a new binding scope as described here. Parent scopes are
accessible with $parentContext or $parents (an array of parents).

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How can data of a parent scope be accessed from a child?

Use either $parentContext or $parents to access their context. Keep in mind

that if structure changes and a custom module depends on a specific parent, it will
cause trouble.

How can the scope binding be applied to HTML in Ajax

responses?

There are two ways to do this after the response has been received: fire a
contentUpdated event or manually run with mage/apply/main.

To fire contentUpdated: jQuery('body').trigger('contentUpdated');

(lib/web/mage/mage.js). To manually run, add mage/apply/main as a
dependency, and call mage.apply() after the content has loaded.

4.2 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

MAGENTO UI COMPONENTS

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Overview of UI Components.

Describe how uiComponents are executed in Magento.

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 UI Components 

What is the difference in uiCompnent execution compared to

other JavaScript module types?

UI Component Javascript modules extend one of several abstract Javascript

classes, and there are several methods that are called during initialization. The
methods can be extended and used to set up functionality. UI Components also
have templates associated with them and provide a KnockoutJS context.

What does it mean to "execute a uiComponent"?

Use configuration to load a template and Javascript module (plus supporting

modules) and execute the Javascript in the module alongside rendering
the template.

Why do we need the app component to execute uiComponents?

UI Components are configured through a structure of Javascript objects that define

the various components. Many of these components can be cached and reused on
the page. The app module is the entry point for the configuration.

What is the role of the layout component?

The layout component is loaded and executed from the app component. It loads
the UI Components and saves them to the UI Registry. The entry point is the run()
function. There are more details in the DevDocs topic.

Describe the structure of a UiComponent

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 UI Components 

What is uiClass?

A very abstract class that introduces the basic architecture of UI Components.

uiClass is an alias for Magento_Ui/js/lib/core/class.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Refer to the DevDocs for more information about its role.

How does it instantiate uiComponents?

The layout component initializes the UI Component through the uiClass. This
occurs in the initComponent() method of the layout module where it calls
new Constr(...) (presumably short for “Constructor” which is a reserved
keyword in Javascript). This constructor function is returned from uiClass and
handles some inheritance, while primarily calling the initialize() function.
This, in turns, calls initConfig() which takes the defaults object, processes it
(including getting the template from it and rendering that), and embeds it onto the
module directly while parsing various keys (i.e. uiComponent.defaults.key
to uiComponent.‌
key). Each of the functions that have been overridden in the
concrete UI Component are wrapped. This is what allows the extended function to
be able to call this._super().

How can existing component instances be accessed?

There is a component referred to as the UI Registry. It is a central aspect of UI

Components and a tool for certain debugging tasks; it can be accessed in the
following way from the console: require('uiRegistry'). It serves as a store
for essentially all the modules in the UI Component system. For instance, open

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 UI Components 

the CMS Page Listing in the Magento admin panel and run the following in the
Javascript console: require('uiRegistry').get('cms_page_listing.
cms_page_listing_data_source'). It will return the listing’s data source
component instance.

The Registry is used from within components to access other components. Often
template literals are used to form the reference to the other module, but after it
has been processed, the plain, long form reference is used to look up the other
module. This reference is a chain of UI Component names. The 'cms_page_
listing.cms_page_listing_data_source' reference is the UI Component
named “cms_page_listing_data_source” which is inside the UI Component named:
“cms_page_listing”. For an example of how template literals are used in this way,
refer to the sample code regarding forms in section 4.4. One excerpt, though, is
the following: ${$.parentName}.master_field:checked. Here, we use the
“variable” $.parentName, which would evaluate to referral_form.dynamic_
fieldset, plus master_field to create the full reference of referral_form.
dynamic_fieldset.master_field, targeting a very specific UI Component. The
word after the colon (:) is a property of the module object.

How can a uiComponent be modified?

UI Components’ logic or other aspects of Javascript can be modified using mixins.

They shine in this way as long as the functions in the module are part of the primary
module object. Configuration, conversely, should be modified in other ways. This
can be done in the component’s XML declaration or with a DataModifier. All of
this is output into Javascript objects on the page and is used when the module is
initialized: it always takes precedence of the defaults.

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 UI Components 

How do you extend an existing uiComponent?

Create a Javascript module similar to the one shown below. Instead of the
dependency on uiElement, use whatever UI Component is to be extended.
Override and add functions and properties as necessary.

define([

   'uiElement'

], function (Element) {

   'use strict';

   

   return Element.extend({

       defaults: {

           // not required—just an example here

           links: {

               value: '${ $.provider }:${ $.dataScope }'

           }

       },

       // example function available in KnockoutJS template

       hasAddons: function () {

           return false;

       },

       // example observable initialization function

       initObservable: function () {

           this._super()

               .observe('disabled visible value');

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 UI Components 

           return this;

       }

   });

});

Again, we will take a moment to point out the template literal in the previous
snippet. In this case, $.provider would evaluate to a string that can be used
to perform a module lookup in the UI Registry. Then, there is the all-important
colon (:) separator, and then another template literal that is evaluated to target a
specific property.

What is the role ofthe uiElement and uiCollection modules?

Both are good modules to extend from when creating a UI Component:

uiElement if the component is based on a single element and uiCollection
if it is a collection of items. They both directly extend uiClass and provide
additional functionality.

• uiElement

• uiCollection

Demonstrate the ability to create a uiComponent with its own

data, or operate with data of existing uiComponents

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 UI Components 

How does a uiComponent access the data it needs?

The role of a data source is to provide data to UI Components. It is comprised of

two parts: the server side Data Provider and a Javascript data provider module. On
the server side, there is also a DataModifier, which allows data to be manipulated as
it is passed through. The Javascript module is responsible for interacting with (some
of the) data in a UI Component. Here is an example for a form: vendor/magento/
module-ui/view/base/web/js/form/provider.js. The reason we note that
it does not handle all data is because they are quite a long way from modern state
management tools like Redux or Vuex. Data sources provide data from the server to
the frontend.

What are the requirements for a subcomponent to provide data?

The module should extend uiElement. For example:

define(['uiElement'], function(Element) {

   return Element.extend({

       

   })

});

How can data be loaded by Ajax?

There is a URL endpoint that can be used to fetch chunks of data: mui/
index/render. Loading data through that endpoint is common for listings
(grids). The grid provider, Magento_UI/js/grid/provider, configures
Magento_Ui/js/grid/data-storage for its storageConfig. The name

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 UI Components 

is slightly misleading because that module focuses on loading data. In the

grid, whenever the state is changed (i.e. next page is clicked), a new set of
data is requested: var request = this.storage().getData(this.
params, options);. A request is initiated after this manner (%5D and %5B
replaced for readability): /mui/index/render/?namespace=product_
listing&filters[placeholder]=true&paging[pageSize]=20&paging
[current]=2&search=&sorting[field]=entityid&sorting[direction]
=asc&isAjax=true.

How can a component receive the data when it is loaded?

Add a callback for .done() on the request object returned from the storage
component. This callback receives the data as an argument. Here is an example
taken from the listing provider:

reload: function (options) {

var request = this.storage().getData(this.params, options);

request

.done(this.onReload);

}‌

onReload: function (data) {

this.setData(data)

.trigger('reloaded');

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 UI Components 

Describe the process of sharing data between components

How can one uiComponent instance access data of

another instance?

The native approach is to use one of: imports, exports, links, and listens.
They are described in more detail on the DevDocs site.

How can components communicate while taking into account

their asynchronous nature?

A problem arises when a module that depends on another module loads first.
Referencing a dependency when it hasn’t loaded will result in an undefined
object. There are two ways the core works around this: add a deps (preferable),
or use a Knockout observable. The deps works in the same way that RequireJS
dependencies do: it loads the child before executing the parent. The deps must be
declared in the JSON configuration (although, often that would be via XML). Here
is an example from: vendor/magento/module-sales/view/adminhtml/ui_
component/sales_order_shipment_grid.xml.

<listing>

<settings>

<deps>

<dep>sales_order_shipment_grid.sales_order_shipment_

grid_data_source</dep>

</deps>

</settings>

</listing>

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 UI Components 

Using deps.

The “UI Component” way to use Knockout observables would be to set a property
as an observable (with tracks), then use imports to obtain the data from the
other source. Vinai Kopp proposes a better alternative of creating a module just for
the purpose of tracking state. It would return an observable object. See his video
for more details.

4.3 DEMONSTRATE THE ABILITY TO USE UI

COMPONENTS

Describe the uiComponents lifecycle

What are the stages of uiComponent execution?

All the UI Component configuration that is handled with PHP and XML is processed
and encoded as JSON during the page load. It is rendered in a text/x-magento-init
script with the outer structure being:

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<script type="text/x-magento-init">

"*": {

"Magento_Ui/js/core/app": {

"types": { /* ... */ },

"components": { /* ... */ }

</script>

The Magento_Ui/js/core/app is the entry point that must process the massive
Javascript object. The types object is processed first and contains configuration
information related to specific types of UI Components to be shared among
components that extend them. The components object is where most of the
configuration typically is held. Each component is loaded, with any dependencies
loaded first. Configuration for the component is passed into its constructor method,
and the module is added to the UI Registry for later use.

Now that the module has been spun up, it starts its work with the abstract uiClass
processing the defaults object and running the various init methods.

RELATED READING
Check out this article.

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What is the role of the layout module, and how does it load
components, children, and data?

The configuration object passed to layout is processed by recursively loading the

RequireJS module keys. Data provided to the object on the page is passed into the
UI Component’s constructor module.

What are the types of components it supports?

Any module that returns a function.

Demonstrate the ability to use uiComponents configuration to modify existing

instances and create new instances

Let me make a critical point regarding UI Components: XML configuration

permeates into Javascript modules and allows you to exert tremendous control over
nearly any UI Component. Beyond XML, PHP DataModifier classes offer even
more precise control. This is a difficult concept to explain because it requires some
familiarity with the UI Component system to see the connection, but bookmark it
in your mind for future work on UI Components. As an example, take a look at my
answer here. The asker is referring to something that is handled by a Javascript
module, yet my answer entails only XML.

Describe the definitons.xml [sic] file and uiComponent instance

XML files.

definition.xml (note our correct rendering of the file name) is a unique file that
forms the basis of all UI Components. It cannot be directly changed but can be
extended on a per-component basis. (Source). Be sure to spend some time going

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through the file: it is also a helpful resource to refer back to when developing
UI Components.

UI Component XML files are used to modify configuration for individual UI

Components. These are merged into, but take precedence over, definition.xml.
We recommend reading the DevDocs topic on configuration.

How can you modify an existing instance of a uiComponent using

a configuration file?

Configuration XML files for any given UI Component are merged together. Take
product_listing.xml for instance. While the primary file is in Magento_
Catalog, there are other files in Magento_CatalogSearch and Magento_Inventory.
Any other files created in the same directory structure will be merged in as well.
In this example, that could be Namespace_ModuleName/view/adminhtml/
ui_component/product_list.xml. To ensure a module you work on is merged
after other modules, add those modules to your etc/module.xml sequence tag.

To summarize the above question: create a file that matches the (1) directory
structure and (2) schema structure of the file you are modifying and supply
different values.

What is the role of the Magento layout in the

uiComponent workflow?

UI Components can be placed onto a page with the <uiComponent/>

layout directive.

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4.4 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

GRIDS AND FORMS

Customize existing grids and create new grids

How do you create a grid?

A grid is a very common pattern in use in Magento. We suggest that you

implement one in a test environment to become familiar with the process. The
initial grid is created with an XML file. Custom and dynamic functionality is added
with Javascript.

The following is a very minimal example. The data source’s class is a PHP class that
has a CollectionFactory injected into its constructor.

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<listing xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation=

"urn:magento:module:Magento_Ui:etc/ui_configuration.xsd">

<argument name="data" xsi:type="array">

<item name="label" xsi:type="string" translate="true">Referral Listing</item>

<item name="js_config" xsi:type="array">

<item name="provider" xsi:type="string">referral_listing.referral_listing_data_source</item>

<item name="namespace" xsi:type="string">referral_listing</item>

</item>

</argument>

<settings>

<deps>

<dep>referral_listing.referral_listing_data_source</dep>

</deps>

</settings>

<dataSource name="referral_listing_data_source"component="Magento_Ui/js/grid/provider">

<settings>

<storageConfig>

<param name="indexField" xsi:type="string">entity_id</param>

</storageConfig>

<updateUrl path="mui/index/render"/>

</settings>

<dataProvider class="SwiftOtter\Example\Ui\Data\ListingProvider" name="referral_listing_data_source">

<settings>

<requestFieldName>id</requestFieldName>

<primaryFieldName>entity_id</primaryFieldName>

</settings>

</dataProvider>

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</dataSource>

<columns name="referral_listing_columns">

<column name="name">

<settings>

<label translate="true">Name</label>

</settings>

</column>

</columns>

</listing>

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How do you add an image column, standard validation, custom

validation rules, and custom column types to a grid?

Image:

<column name="thumbnail" class="Magento\Catalog\Ui\Component\

Listing\Columns\Thumbnail" component="Magento_Ui/js/grid/columns/

thumbnail" sortOrder="20">

<settings>

<altField>name</altField>

<hasPreview>1</hasPreview>

<addField>true</addField>

<label translate="true">Thumbnail</label>

<sortable>false</sortable>

</settings>

</column>

Standard Validation:

<column name="title">

<settings>

<filter>text</filter>

<editor>

<validation>

<rule name="required-entry"xsi:type="boolean">true</rule>

</validation>

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<editorType>text</editorType>

</editor>

<label translate="true">Title</label>

</settings>

</column>

Custom Validation:

Add a custom validator with the technique shown later in relation to adding custom
validation for form elements in UI Components. Then, reference it as shown in the
preceding example.

How do you modify existing grids?

As described above, place an XML file in the same relative directory as the one
that contains the grid component. Match the schema and use different value or add
applicable sections.

How do you customize the data loading process for a grid,

including filters and sorting?

Manipulating data can often be done on the server side. In this case, a
DataModifier is an excellent tool. When customization should be done client-side,
there are two options that should be chosen depending on the use: either create a
mixin or custom Javascript module. Creating a mixin is a good option when the UI
Component has a non-generic Javascript module assigned to it. An example of that
is in product_attribute_add_form.xml: component="Magento_Catalog/

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js/components/new-attribute-form". This module extends one of the

generic UI Component Javascript modules and adds functionality. This concept
would also apply for a provider module as well.

For instances where the UI Component uses a generic Javascript module, it

may be a good time to create a custom Javascript module that extends the core
module. Remember that it may not be clear in the UI Component’s XML file what
the Javascript module in use is. Everything extends from definition.xml, so
the file reference can be found there. After creating the Javascript module, create
the UI Component XML file in your module and assign your component to the
source node.

Customize existing forms and create new forms

How do you create a form, a form with tabs, a form with groups
of fields, a form with dynamic fields (when one field change will
cause a change in another place)?

Even Javascript developers need to be familiar with XML when working with
Magento. At this point, there is a stack of configuration necessary to create a
form with tabs (or whatever) with UI Components. As a result, we recommend you
carefully look through the following example and remember as much as possible.
We have made notes throughout it. While it is long, we have worked to make this a
minimal example that fills each of the operatives listed.

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<form xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"xsi:noNamespaceSchema

Location="urn:magento:module:Magento_Ui:etc/ui_configuration.xsd">

<argument name="data" xsi:type="array">

<item name="label" xsi:type="string" translate="true">Referral</item>

<item name="js_config" xsi:type="array">

<item name="provider" xsi:type="string">

referral_form.referral_form_data_source</item>

<item name="namespace" xsi:type="string">referral_form</item>

</item>

</argument>

<settings>

<layout>

<!-- This is what makes the tabs go -->

<navContainerName>left</navContainerName>

<type>tabs</type>

</layout>

<deps>

<!-- You do you. This is needed or else a weird,

unhelpful Javascript error will be thrown. -->

<dep>referral_form.referral_form_data_source</dep>

</deps>

</settings>

<dataSource name="referral_form_data_source">

<!-- All the regular dataSource stuff -->

<argument name="data" xsi:type="array">

<item name="js_config" xsi:type="array">

<item name="component" xsi:type="string">Magento_Ui/js/form/

provider</item>

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</item>

</argument>

<dataProvider class="SwiftOtter\Example\Ui\DataProvider"

name="referral_form_data_source">

<argument name="data" xsi:type="array"/>

<settings>

<requestFieldName>id</requestFieldName>

<primaryFieldName>entity_id</primaryFieldName>

</settings>

</dataProvider>

</dataSource>

<fieldset name="referral_fieldset">

<settings>

<label translate="true">General Info</label>

</settings>

<field name="entity_id" formElement="hidden">

<!-- Useful for data that shouldn't change but needs

to be sent with the payload when saving -->

<settings>

<label>Hidden Entity</label>

<dataType>text</dataType>

<visible>false</visible>

</settings>

</field>

<field name="referral_field" formElement="input">

<settings>

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 UI Components 

<label>Custom Field</label>

<validation>

<!-- Any validation rule -->

<rule name="validate-test"

xsi:type="boolean">true</rule>

</validation>

</settings>

</field>

</fieldset>

<fieldset name="second_fieldset">

<!-- Each <fieldset> is a new tab -->

<settings>

<label>Second Tab</label>

</settings>

<field name="simple_field" formElement="input">

<settings>

<label>Simple Input</label>

</settings>

</field>

</fieldset>

<fieldset name="dynamic_fieldset">

<settings>

<label>Dynamic Tab</label>

</settings>

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 UI Components 

<field name="master_field" formElement="checkbox">

<!-- Dynamic Field: Toggling this checkbox hides/

shows the following field -->

<settings>

<label>Toggle Child</label>

</settings>

</field>

<field name="dependent_field" formElement="input">

<settings>

<label>Dependent Field</label>

<imports>

<!-- All the Knockout observable goodies are

already handled in the uiElement module -->

<link name="visible">${$.parentName}.master_field:checked

</link>

</imports>

</settings>

</field>

</fieldset>

</form>

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 UI Components 

How do you customize existing forms?

Do this the same way as you would a grid.

How do you add validation to fields, including custom

validation rules?

See the <validation/> node in the section above. Adding a custom rule for a UI
Component is similar to the jQuery style on the front end but not identical.

Create the validator module that follows this pattern. It is important to return the
validator or nothing will work:

define(['jquery'], function($) {

"use strict";

return function(validator) {

validator.addRule(

'validate-example',

function(value) { /* validation logic */},

$.mage.__('Your validation error message')

);

return validator;

});

Create a mixin for either adminhtml or base:

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var config = {

config: {

mixins: {

'Magento_Ui/js/lib/validation/validator': {

'SwiftOtter_Example/js/validator-trial': true

},

};

How can you add a file upload field, an image field, and a custom
field to a form?

File/Image Upload:

<field name="head_shortcut_icon" formElement="fileUploader">

<settings>

<notice translate="true">Allowed file types: ico, png, gif,

jpg, jpeg, apng.</notice>

<label translate="true">Favicon Icon</label>

<componentType>fileUploader</componentType>

</settings>

<formElements>

<fileUploader>

<settings>

<allowedExtensions>jpg jpeg gif png ico apng

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</allowedExtensions>

<maxFileSize>2097152</maxFileSize>

<uploaderConfig>

<param xsi:type="string" name="url">theme/

design_config_fileUploader/save</param>

</uploaderConfig>

</settings>

</fileUploader>

</formElements>

</field>

For custom fields, define a elementTmpl which references a .html file that
contains the field you desire. This could be a completely custom field that you
built, or, like our recent case, a different core field. For instance, we recently used
Magento’s fancy select field (with filterable results and the like) in place of the
default select by simply setting the elementTmpl and component.

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 Swift Otter's Javascript Study Guide

5.
CHECKOUT
 Checkout 

5.1 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

CHECKOUT ARCHITECTURE
The Magento checkout is built with UI Components but differs from the admin side
in some of the implementation details. For instance, the configuration is handled
via nested nodes in layout XML, the like of which many have never seen before.
Just wait until you want to customize something: it’s jaw dropping. Fortunately,
even though it is verbose and remarkable, it is not especially difficult, and it is very
extensible (despite its infamous reputation).

FURTHER RESOURCES:
We will once again recommend the terrific DevDocs which contain
a list of common customizations.

Describe key classes in checkout JavaScript: Actions, models,

and views

What are actions, models, and views used for in checkout?

Navigate to the vendor/magento/module-checkout/view/frontend/

js folder to see three primary subfolders: actions, models, and views. This
web/‌
seems to follow the MVC pattern that many developers are familiar with.

How does Magento store checkout data?

Temporary data is stored in localStorage, or in the cookies if localStorage is not

supported. At the root, the Magento_Customer/js/customer-data module
persists and loads the data. The Magento_Checkout/js/checkout-data

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module provides a layer on top of that to allow a consistent interface to interact

with data via methods. Beyond that, the Magento_Checkout/js/model/
checkout-data-resolver handles a number of setup and other tasks related to
the data. For example, when checkout starts, it creates a new shipping address, or
loads the existing state if the user has already started. All of this is stored with the
mage-cache-storage key in Local Storage. To see, open the Application tab in
Chrome’s DevTools. Open the Local Storage menu on the left sidebar and select the
current domain. Select the mage-cache-storage item for a preview of the JSON.

What type of classes are used for loading/posting data to

the server?

The Rest API provides the integration with the checkout front end and server.
Model classes (Javascript modules) are primarily relegated the task of handling this
transfer of data. However, a few action modules also perform similar functions.

How does a view file update current information?

Updated information is persisted through the checkout-data module.

Demonstrate the ability to use the checkout steps for debugging

and customization

How do you add a new checkout step?

FURTHER RESOURCES:
Refer to the DevDocs topic.

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How do you modify the order of steps?

Change the sort order of the children of the steps node.

<item name="steps" xsi:type="array">

<item name="displayArea" xsi:type="string">steps</item>

<item name="children" xsi:type="array">

<item name="shipping-step" xsi:type="array">

<item name="sortOrder" xsi:type="string">1</item>

<!-- ... -->

</item>

<item name="billing-step" xsi:type="array">

<item name="sortOrder" xsi:type="string">2</item>

<!-- ... -->

</item>

</item>

</item>

Debug the data flow of each step.

There is no substitute for you getting in there and stepping through the Javascript
modules in the checkout.

There are multiple places to find the applicable module to start with, but one way
is to start at the request and work backward. In the Chrome DevTools Network tab,
one column is the Initiator (don’t see it? right-click the column headers). Hover over
the initiator to see a stack trace of the code that led up to the request. We triggered
the following requests by simply completing the first step of the checkout:

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This provides a jumping-off point: set-shipping-information.js. The

next call (shipping-save-processor) determines what processor to use for
handling the address. Finally, extension attributes are added to the payload, and the
appropriate URL is determined for sending the data, before it is sent to the Rest API.

How do you customize a step's logic?

This is a broad question. Depending on the logic you need to alter, you can
either use a mixin for the Javascript component or XML (or a PHP Interceptor) for
configuration. Read this DevDocs article.

Customize the shipping step rendering and saving

How does Magento save information about the shipping address

for different types of checkout (logged in with default address,
without default address, not logged in)?

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The persistence (POST request to the API) process is essentially the same
across the various types with a utility looking up the applicable URL based on
the quote (customer or guest). If the user is logged in, their addresses are part of
the configuration embedded in the page (see \Magento\Checkout\Model\
DefaultConfigProvider::getCustomerData() for the injection point). Each
of them has a key which is used to communicate with the server which of those
addresses was selected. If a new address was added, it is treated similar to the
guest’s address.

How does Magento obtain the list of available shipping methods?

It makes an API call to one of two endpoints: estimate-shipping-methods

or estimate-shipping-methods-by-address-id. The first is expected to
provide an address to base the lookup off of. The second sends an address key to
use for getting the list of options.

Which events can trigger this process?

Any change to the shipping address.

HINT
It is possible to trick it to update as well.

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How does Magento save a selected address and

shipping method?

When the customer moves to the second step, an API call is made to save the
shipping-information. The chosen carrier and address information is sent and
saved into the customer’s quote.

5.2 DEMONSTRATE UNDERSTANDING OF

PAYMENTS

Describe the architecture of JavaScript payment modules

Add new payment method and payment methods renderers.

• Create a UI Component for the new payment method. This is a Javascript
module that serves as a renderer and should extend Magento_Checkout/js/
view/payment/default.js.

• Create a PHP ConfigProvider to obtain information from system config.

• Create another Javascript module to register the renderer.

• Create a .html template to display the new payment method.

• Integrate the new payment method’s UI Component with the checkout by setting
them to display in the afterMethods display area.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
For more information and a clear, step-by-step guide, refer to this
resource.

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Modify an existing payment method.

Depending on the nature of the modification, it may be necessary to create a

mixin. Some things can be done by hooking into existing architecture as shown in
this guide.

Demonstrate the ability to use the payment data flow for

debugging and customizations

How does a payment method send its data to the server?

It is assembled through a number of Javascript modules and sent via a POST

request to the server when the order is placed. There are a wide range of specific
implementation aspects, but most of them provide some data to link the payment to
the order (often a token).

What is the correct approach to deal with sensitive data?

It is important not to store sensitive data on your server. As a result, the best way to
handle this payment data is to integrate with a provider such as Braintree. Payment
tokens or nonces can be used to reference the payment type or transaction.
Further, it is not safe to store sensitive info in localStorage.

RELATED READING
Check out this article.

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 Checkout 

Demonstrate the ability to customize and debug the order

placement process in JavaScript

Describe the data flow during order placement

The basis for this is: Magento_Checkout/js/view/payment/default. Its

placeOrder() method initiates the process of transmitting the order information
to the server. The getData() method is called and should return payment
information. There is an additional_data key in the object that provides a good
way to send additional payment information details to the server. The Magento_
Checkout/js/action/place-order module takes that data, combines it and
the cart ID and the billing address into an object and sends that to the server.

The Magento_Checkout/js/view/payment/default module is a good one to

extend when you implement a custom payment method.

Braintree contains an example of integration. It extends the base Magento_

Checkout/js/view/payment/default class. It has a getData() method that
returns an object with the payment method code and the payment method nonce.

There are a number of methods that facilitate extension as well. For instance,
after the order is placed, an afterPlaceOrder() method is called. It doesn’t do
anything in the core but is a good place to extend via a new module or mixin.

Which modules are involved?

We recommend reviewing these modules:

• Payment provider integration modules such as: Magento_Braintree/web/

js/view/payment/method-renderer/cc-form.js

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• Magento_Checkout/js/view/payment/cc-form.js

• Magento_Checkout/js/view/payment/default.js

• Magento_Checkout/js/action/place-order

• Magento_Checkout/js/model/place-order.js

How can the payment step be separated from the

order placement?

The new step should have a higher sort order value than the payment step. It is
then necessary to change the submit payment API call to use set-payment-
information, instead of payment-information. The latter will submit the
order, while set-payment-information saves it to be used later.

FURTHER RESOURCES:
DevDocs has a topic regarding adding a step.

Found a typo or error in this guide? We want to hear: [email protected]

EXAM NOTES:
Like Magento’s other exams, there is no substitute for experience. We have
provided you with a thorough overview of Magento’s Javascript framework, but
there were many concepts that we simply touched on without giving the detail that
they may deserve. Magento recommends at least 1 year of experience, but due
to the fact that many developers who work with Javascript do not solely develop

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 Checkout 

with it, it may take several years for the average front-end developer to reach
the equivalent.

This exam had a number of questions that had specific nuances in the question
that were important given the available answers. While that may seem normal for
an exam, we encourage you to carefully consider all the details offered in each
question and then choose the best question.

GLOSSARY

Terms:
• UI Component: an entire system comprised of XML, PHP, and Javascript. May be
used to generally refer to one of those aspects.

• Javascript module: a Javascript file that contains a define() function and returns
a function - of which a jQuery widget would qualify.

All examples based on Magento 2.2 or higher.

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