Development Tools

The Essentials setup application includes several tools that automate or accelerate common development tasks in Bloomreach Content projects:

Selections: Configure Selection widgets in document types.
Gallery Manager: Define custom image set types.
Beanwriter: Generate content bean classes.
REST Services Setup: Set up RESTful services.
Template Query Generator: Generate template queries for custom document types.

Access these tools from the Tools tab:

Essentials Tools tab showing Bean Writer and other tools

Selections

Use the Selections tool to configure value list-based Selection fields for existing document types. The tool provides a user interface for adding selection fields directly to your document types.

Selections Configuration form for adding selection fields to document types

Note: For detailed configuration steps, see Selections Plugin Configuration.

Gallery Manager

The Gallery Manager tool allows you to define custom image sets by specifying dimensions, labels, and configuration properties for each image variant. The form-based interface streamlines the process of managing image set variants.

Gallery Manager image set definition with productimage variants table

Gallery Manager edit variant form with translations and compression settings

After you create or update an image set, use the Beanwriter tool to (re-)generate the corresponding content bean.

Beanwriter

Note: Starting with version 13.2.0, content bean classes are generated dynamically at runtime by default. Use the Beanwriter tool if you need to customize content bean classes, such as adding custom methods or logic.

The Beanwriter tool generates content bean classes for all content types in your project. If your project includes multiple image set types, you can select which image set to use for bean generation and update existing beans accordingly.

Generate HST Content Beans form with image set options

After generation, the setup application's feedback panel displays all generated classes and methods:

Setup application feedback panel listing generated bean methods

Rebuild and redeploy your project to make the updated beans available.

REST Services Setup

The REST Services Setup tool helps you create basic RESTful services using Bloomreach Content's JAX-RS support.

Content REST API

Enable the generic Content REST API by selecting Enable generic REST resources and specifying the URL where the REST services will be accessible.

Custom Plain JAX-RS Services

You can also generate custom JAX-RS resources using the setup tool. Select Enable manual REST resources, specify the REST endpoint URL, and choose the document types for which to generate services.

REST resources setup screen with manual API options

The tool generates the required HST configuration, Java classes, and Spring configuration. It also updates your content bean classes so they can serve as JAXB models.

The generated services are functional but intended as a starting point. You will likely need to customize or extend them to meet your project requirements.

Note: The tool currently supports only "plain" JAX-RS services.

Template Query Generator

Note: This feature is available starting with brXM 12.3.

The Template Query Generator tool creates template queries for your custom document types. Template queries control which document types are allowed in specific folders. For each document type, you can generate both document and folder template queries.

Template Query Generator table with document and folder buttons