Sitecore JSS with Next.js - Adding a Placeholder

In this article, I will explain step-by-step how to add a placeholder to a component in a Sitecore JSS with Next.js solution.

Create and configure the Placeholder Settings

1. Under /sitecore/layout/Placeholder Settings/Project/<project-name>, Add a Placeholder Settings Item with the Placeholder Key as the name of the placeholder. You can add the required components to the Allowed Controls.

   

2. Now, go to the rendering item of the component where you need this placeholder and add the placeholder to the Layout Service Placeholders field.

   

3. Open the page with your component in Experience Editor to observe the changes made in your front-end.

Add the Placeholder in the Next.js solution

1. Open your project in Visual Studio Code.

2. Go to the component definition in the Next.js solution, at path src\rendering\src\components\<component-name>.tsx.

3. Import the Placeholder component from @sitecore-jss/sitecore-jss-nextjs, if not already imported.

4. Add the below line to your component definition with the Placeholder name as the key used earlier.

   <Placeholder name="jss-sample-placeholder" rendering={props.rendering} />

5. Your component definition should look somewhat like below:

   import { Text, Field, withDatasourceCheck, RichText, Placeholder } from '@sitecore-jss/sitecore-jss-nextjs';
   import { ComponentProps } from 'lib/component-props';
   
   type SampleComponentProps = ComponentProps & {
     fields: {
       title: Field<string>;
       description: Field<string>;
     };
   };
   
   const SampleComponent = (props: SampleComponentProps): JSX.Element => (
     <div>
       <Text field={props.fields.title} />
       <RichText field={props.fields.description} />
         // Below is the added Placeholder
       <Placeholder name="jss-sample-placeholder" rendering={props.rendering} />
     </div>
   );
   
   export default withDatasourceCheck()<SampleComponentProps>(SampleComponent);
   

6. Your Experience Editor should now refresh and load the added placeholder.

   

7. Ensure that the Placeholder Key used earlier and the name attribute of the Placeholder component is exactly the same. Otherwise, you may see an error in the Experience Editor.

8. Now, we need to add the placeholder to the component definition for the disconnected manifest. So, open the <component-name>.sitecore.ts file, and add the placeholder attribute. The file should look as below now.

   // eslint-disable-next-line no-unused-vars
   import { CommonFieldTypes, SitecoreIcon, Manifest } from '@sitecore-jss/sitecore-jss-dev-tools';
   
   /**
    * Adds the SampleComponent component to the disconnected manifest.
    * This function is invoked by convention (*.sitecore.ts) when 'jss manifest' is run.
    * @param {Manifest} manifest Manifest instance to add components to
    */
   export default function SampleComponent(manifest: Manifest): void {
     manifest.addComponent({
       name: 'Sample-Component',
       icon: SitecoreIcon.DocumentTag,
       fields: [
         { name: 'title', type: CommonFieldTypes.SingleLineText },
         { name: 'description', type: CommonFieldTypes.RichText },
       ],
       // Below is the placeholder added to the component
       placeholders: ["jss-sample-placeholder"]
       /*
       If the component implementation uses <Placeholder> or withPlaceholder to expose a placeholder,
       register it here, or components added to that placeholder will not be returned by Sitecore:
       placeholders: ['exposed-placeholder-name']
       */
     });
   }
   

9. The Placeholder is now successfully configured.

Happy Sitecoring!