Building Single Page Applications (SPA) with AEM

In the age of dynamic web experiences, Single Page Applications (SPAs) have become a dominant architecture choice for building fast, seamless, and engaging user interfaces. At the same time, enterprises rely on robust content management systems (CMS) like Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) to deliver personalized content at scale. To bridge the gap between content authoring and dynamic frontend frameworks, AEM offers native support for SPAs through its SPA Editor framework.

In this blog, we'll explore how to build SPAs using AEM, the benefits of this approach, and best practices for implementation.


What is a Single Page Application (SPA)?

An SPA is a web application that loads a single HTML page and dynamically updates content without requiring full page reloads. It provides a faster and more fluid user experience, similar to desktop applications. Popular frameworks used for building SPAs include React, Angular, and Vue.js.


Why Combine AEM with SPAs?

While SPAs offer superior performance and UX, they often lack built-in capabilities for content authorship, localization, and digital asset management. AEM, on the other hand, excels in content delivery but traditionally focused on multi-page applications (MPAs).

By integrating SPAs with AEM, organizations get the best of both worlds:

Seamless authoring through AEM’s page editor

Dynamic, modern frontends powered by JavaScript frameworks

Centralized control over content, media, and personalization


Introduction to AEM SPA Editor

The AEM SPA Editor is Adobe’s solution to enable in-context editing of SPA-based components within the AEM interface. It allows content authors to use the familiar drag-and-drop UI even when the frontend is built with React or Angular.


Key Features:

Component-based architecture aligned with SPA frameworks

Real-time preview and in-context editing

Integration with AEM’s content and experience fragments

Language and site structure support

Dynamic routing and model-based JSON API


How to Build an SPA with AEM

1. Set Up AEM Project

Start by creating an AEM project using Adobe’s AEM Project Archetype with SPA support:


bash


mvn archetype:generate \

-DarchetypeGroupId=com.adobe.granite.archetypes \

-DarchetypeArtifactId=aem-project-archetype \

-DfrontendModule=react

This will scaffold a project with a Java backend and a React frontend.


2. Develop Components in React/Angular

Your SPA components live in the ui.frontend module and communicate with AEM via the AEM Content Services JSON API. You create components in your JavaScript framework of choice and map them to AEM components.


3. Map Components with Sling Models

Each frontend component should have a corresponding Sling Model on the backend to provide structured content via the JSON API.


4. Enable the SPA Editor

Use the Page Model Manager and include the spa-page-model-manager.js script to connect your frontend app to AEM’s SPA editor for live editing.


5. Deploy and Test

Build and deploy your application. Open a page in AEM’s editor to test drag-and-drop editing, live previews, and content updates.


Best Practices

Component Reusability: Design modular components for flexibility and maintenance.

Content-Driven Routing: Use AEM’s site structure to drive SPA routes.

Performance Optimization: Use lazy loading and caching to enhance SPA speed.

Security: Sanitize and validate JSON content from AEM.


Conclusion

Building SPAs with Adobe Experience Manager empowers organizations to create modern, fast, and personalized digital experiences while retaining the robust content management capabilities of AEM. By using the SPA Editor and integrating AEM with frameworks like React or Angular, teams can build scalable, editable SPAs that satisfy both developers and content authors. This hybrid approach is quickly becoming a standard in enterprise web development.


Learn AEM(Adobe Experience Manager) Training

Read More:  How to Use the AEM Content Fragment Model
Read More:  Introduction to HTL (HTML Template Language) in AEM
Read More:  What is Apache Sling and How Does it Power AEM?

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