matrix-dimension/docs/reference/element_widget_api.md

Element's Widget API

Widgets and Element communicate using cross-origin messages in a defined format (described in this document). Widgets have access to the entire Scalar Client API, but generally do not need any of the endpoints there. Element provides additional APIs available to particular widgets for which the integrations manager can not access. The full source for the widget messaging layer in Element can be seen here. The API is restricted to ensure rogue widgets cannot take over the Element instance.

Note: This is largely out of date and better documented in the Matrix spec nowadays. See https://github.com/matrix-org/matrix-doc/issues/1236 for more information.

Setting up communications

Element will automatically open a channel for receiving messages. The widget needs to do the same so it can speak to Element. Here's some sample JavaScript that will do this for us:

window.addEventListener("message", function(event) {
  if (!event.data || !event.data.response) return; // invalid
  if (event.data.error) throw new Error(event.data.error); // TODO: Better error handling

  // TODO: Process response
});

function sendMessage(action, widgetId, otherFields) {
  if (!otherFields) otherFields = {};

  var request = otherFields;
  request["widgetId"] = widgetId;
  request["action"] = action;
  request["api"] = "widget";

  window.opener.postMessage(request, "*"); // "*" posts to all origins
}

Response format

For all requests, the request is returned with the response. As an example, if we made a request like this:

{
  "api": "widget",
  "action": "api_version",
  "widgetId": "dimension-my-cool-widget"
}

then we can expect a response object that looks like this:

{
  "api": "widget",
  "action": "api_version",
  "widgetId": "dimension-my-cool-widget"
  "response": {
    "version": "0.0.1"
  }
}

Errors

An error response will always have the following structure under response:

{
  "error": {
    "message": "Something went wrong",
    "_error": <original Error object>
  }
}

Versions / Changelog

All versions use a semantic versioning scheme. The actions recorded in this document include which version they were implemented in. The changelog here is for convience.

v0.0.1

• Initial release
• Added api_version action
• Added supported_api_versions action
• Added content_loaded action

Actions

The examples in this section assume the helper function in "Setting up communication" is present.

Getting the current API version

Action: "api_version" Introduced in version: 0.0.1 Required params:

• widgetId - the widget performing the request

Sample call:

sendMessage("api_version", "dimension-my-cool-widget");

Success Response:

{
  "api": "widget",
  "action": "api_version",
  "widgetId": "dimension-my-cool-widget",
  "response": {
    "version": "0.0.1"
  }
}

Getting the supported API versions

Action: "supported_api_versions" Introduced in version: 0.0.1 Required params:

• widgetId - the widget performing the request

Sample call:

sendMessage("supported_api_versions", "dimension-my-cool-widget");

Success Response:

{
  "api": "widget",
  "action": "supported_api_versions",
  "widgetId": "dimension-my-cool-widget",
  "response": {
    "supported_versions": ["0.0.1"]
  }
}

Indicating that the widget content has been loaded

Action: "content_loaded" Introduced in version: 0.0.1 Required params:

• widgetId - the widget performing the request

Sample call:

sendMessage("content_loaded", "dimension-my-cool-widget");

Success Response:

{
  "api": "widget",
  "action": "content_loaded",
  "widgetId": "dimension-my-cool-widget",
  "response": {
    "success": true
  }
}