Getting Started

If you're setting your Alokai application from scratch, you'll need to configure a type-safe SDK that communicates with your Server Middleware.

There are various ways to configure the SDK, depending on your chosen framework. For Next.js and Nuxt, you can use the @vue-storefront/next and @vue-storefront/nuxt packages respectively. These packages also provide tools for handling the global state management.

If you're looking for framework agnostic experience, you can use the @alokai/connect package. The sdk package is a part of the @alokai/connect package and provides the core functionality of the SDK.

Installation

To get started with the SDK within Next.js, first you have to install the @vue-storefront/next package. In the root of your Storefront project run:

# Using yarn
yarn add --dev @vue-storefront/next

# Using pnpm
pnpm add -D @vue-storefront/next

# Using npm
npm install --save-dev @vue-storefront/next

Initializing the SDK

To use SDK in our application, we need to initialize it first. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Create an sdk directory in the root of your project.
2. Create the SDK Options file — sdk.options.ts in the sdk directory. In this file, we create a configuration object used to pass information to the SDK Factory about the address of the middleware, both in client and SSR mode, the identifier for cache busting, etc.

import { resolveSdkOptions } from "@vue-storefront/next";
import { env } from "next-runtime-env";

export function getSdkOptions() {
  const apiUrl = env("NEXT_PUBLIC_ALOKAI_MIDDLEWARE_API_URL") ?? "";
  const ssrApiUrl = env("NEXT_PUBLIC_ALOKAI_MIDDLEWARE_SSR_API_URL");
  const cdnCacheBustingId =
    env("NEXT_PUBLIC_ALOKAI_MIDDLEWARE_CDN_CACHE_BUSTING_ID") ??
    "no-cache-busting-id-set";
  const isMultiStoreEnabled =
    env("NEXT_PUBLIC_ALOKAI_MULTISTORE_ENABLED") === "true";

  if (!apiUrl) {
    throw new Error(
      "NEXT_PUBLIC_ALOKAI_MIDDLEWARE_API_URL is required to run the app"
    );
  }

  if (!ssrApiUrl) {
    throw new Error(
      "NEXT_PUBLIC_ALOKAI_MIDDLEWARE_SSR_API_URL is required to run the app"
    );
  }

  const options = resolveSdkOptions({
    middleware: {
      apiUrl,
      cdnCacheBustingId,
      ssrApiUrl,
    },
    multistore: {
      enabled: isMultiStoreEnabled,
    },
  });

  return options;
}

3. Create SDK Config file - config.ts. In this file, we define the configuration of different modules. We are making it a separate file to easily import it both on the server and the client. Create the SDK configuration by importing the defineSdkConfig function from the Next.js SDK and importing modules from a dedicated modules directory.

import { defineSdkConfig } from "@vue-storefront/next";

import * as modules from './modules';

export function getSdkConfig() {
  return defineSdkConfig(modules);
}

Each module should be defined in a separate file under the sdk/modules directory. Here's an example of how you can structure your modules:

import { defineSdkModule } from '@vue-storefront/next';
import type { CommerceEndpoints } from "storefront-middleware/types";

export const commerce = defineSdkModule(({ buildModule, config, getRequestHeaders, middlewareModule }) =>
  buildModule(middlewareModule<CommerceEndpoints>, {
    apiUrl: `${config.apiUrl}/commerce`,
    cdnCacheBustingId: config.cdnCacheBustingId,
    defaultRequestConfig: {
      headers: getRequestHeaders(),
    },
    ssrApiUrl: `${config.ssrApiUrl}/commerce`,
  }),
);

import { defineSdkModule } from '@vue-storefront/next';
import { contentfulModule } from "@vsf-enterprise/contentful-sdk";

export const cms = defineSdkModule(({ buildModule, config }) => 
  buildModule(contentfulModule, {
    apiUrl: `${config.apiUrl}/cms`,
    cdnCacheBustingId: config.cdnCacheBustingId,
    defaultRequestConfig: {
      headers: getRequestHeaders(),
    },
    ssrApiUrl: `${config.ssrApiUrl}/cms`,
  }),
);

export * from './commerce';
export * from './cms';

Let's break down the key concepts used in the module configuration:

• The defineSdkModule function is a utility that helps define type-safe SDK modules. It takes a factory function that receives the SDK context and returns a module configuration. This ensures proper typing and provides better development experience.
• The buildModule function is used to build the module. It expects the module and the module configuration as arguments.
• The config is object containing data that is needed in module configuration such as:
  • apiUrl: The URL of the middleware instance for client-side requests
  • ssrApiUrl: The URL of the middleware instance for server-side requests
  • cdnCacheBustingId: The identifier for cache busting
• The middlewareModule is an SDK module that ensures communication with the Server Middleware. It takes the UnifiedEndpoints type as a generic parameter. The UnifiedEndpoints type is a type that represents the endpoints of the Server Middleware.
• The getRequestHeaders function is used to provide the incoming headers within your requests. You can use getRequestHeaders to access and proxy the initial cookie headers to SDK requests during SSR. Initial headers could be provided by the getSdk method. Check out examples there:
  • Next Pages Router link
  • Next App Router link
  • Nuxt app link

• The defineSdkConfig function returns the factory function for the SDK configuration as a second argument in createSdk. This factory function receives context, which is useful for creating the SDK configuration.

4. Create SDK instance for server components. Let's do it in the sdk.server.ts in the sdk directory.

import { createSdk } from "@vue-storefront/next";
import { getSdkOptions } from "./options";
import { getSdkConfig } from "./config";

export const { getSdk } = createSdk(getSdkOptions(), getSdkConfig());

export type Sdk = ReturnType<typeof getSdk>;

Let's break down the code above:

• The createSdk function expects
  • base SDK options including the middleware and (optionally) the multistore configuration as a first argument,
  • and a factory function for the SDK configuration as a second argument. Those factory function receives a context, useful for creating the SDK configuration.
• The createSdk function returns the getSdk function, which is used to retreive the new SDK instance.

Registering the SDK

Once you have initialized the SDK, you can register it in your application.

Alokai SDK can be used in two ways:

• getSdk - returns the SDK instance, which can be used to call the SDK methods directly. This is useful for server-side rendering, as it allows you to call the SDK methods directly in your application.
• createSdkContext - returns the SDK context, which can be used to share the same SDK instance on the Client side. This is useful for client-side rendering, as it allows you to share the same SDK instance across your application.

getSdk

getSdk is used to create the new SDK instance. This is especially useful for server-side fetching, as it returns a new SDK instance that can be used to call the SDK methods directly in your application.

Below is an example of how you can use getSdk in your application:

import { getSdk } from "@/sdk/sdk.server";

const sdk = await getSdk();

createAlokaiContext

For client-side rendering, you can use createAlokaiContext. This function serves for two purposes:

• providing the SDK context
• providing the global state management context and hooks for handling the state of the application

To use it, you'll need to create a new file in your application, for example sdk/alokai-context.tsx:

"use client";

import { createAlokaiContext } from "@vue-storefront/next/client";
import type { SfContract } from "storefront-middleware/types";

import type { Sdk } from "./sdk.server";

export const {
  AlokaiProvider,
  useSdk,
  useSfCartState,
  useSfCurrenciesState,
  useSfCurrencyState,
  useSfCustomerState,
  useSfLocaleState,
  useSfLocalesState,
} = createAlokaiContext<Sdk, SfContract>();

The SfContract interface is used to define the contract between the SDK and the state management. It contains the types for:

• cart (SfCart type)
• customer (SfCurrency type)
• currency (SfCurrency type)
• locale (SfLocale type)

This is needed to ensure that the state management is aware of the types that you have within the middleware, as those types can be changed within the middleware.

You can read more about the state management in the State Management page.

Once you have created the Alokai context, you can create client-side SDK instance and register it in your application.

You can do it in two steps:

1. Retrieve the SDK config in the server component in app/[locale]/layout.tsx:

// app/[locale]/layout.tsx

import { ReactNode } from "react";
import { PublicEnvProvider } from "next-runtime-env";
import { Providers } from "./providers";
import { getSdkOptions } from "@/sdk/options";

export default function RootLayout({ children }: { children: ReactNode }) {
  const sdkOptions = getSdkOptions();

  return (
    <html lang="en">
      <body>
        <PublicEnvProvider>
          <Providers sdkOptions={sdkOptions}>{children}</Providers>
        </PublicEnvProvider>
      </body>
    </html>
  );
}

2. Pass the SDK options to the Providers client component and initialize the SDK instance along with the AlokaiProvider:

// components/providers.tsx

"use client";

import { ReactNode } from "react";
import type { CreateSdkOptions } from "@vue-storefront/next";
import { SdkProvider } from "@/sdk";
import { getSdkOptions } from "@/sdk/options";
import { getSdkConfig } from "@/sdk/config";

export function Providers({
  children,
  sdkOptions,
}: {
  children: ReactNode;
  sdkOptions: CreateSdkOptions;
}) {
  const { getSdk } = createSdk(sdkOptions, getSdkConfig());
  return <AlokaiProvider sdk={getSdk()}>{children}</AlokaiProvider>;
}

Usage

Once you have registered the SDK in your application, you can start using it. Here's an example of how you can use the SAP Commerce Cloud SDK module in your application:

import { getSdk } from "@/sdk";
import { getLocale } from 'next-intl/server';

export async function getServersideProps() {
  const sdk = await getSdk();
  const { products } = await sdk.commerce.searchProduct();

  return {
    props: {
      products,
    },
  };
}

Code above is just an example of how you can use the SDK in your application. For more information about the available methods, please refer to the respective Integration's documentation.

That's it! You can now use VueStorefront SDK Module in your Next.js app ✨

Next Steps