Introducing the Open With UI Element
Earlier this summer, we introduced the Box UI Elements: a collection of modular Javascript UI libraries to create user experiences with content in your apps. Box UI Elements let you take parts of the Box web application’s user experience and bring it to your own apps with just a few lines of code.
With Box UI Elements, you can power user experiences with content in your own application such as uploading and previewing files, browsing or searching through a list of files and folders, selecting files from a Box account and more. Since our GA announcement, we’ve received a lot of amazing feedback from our customers and partners on the Box UI Elements and we’ve seen companies of all sizes leverage our Box UI Elements in their own software products, creating amazing experiences with content in their apps completely powered by Box. But for many business processes and workflows, the work doesn’t always end with simply uploading, accessing, and viewing a file: editing or modifying content is a key part of the process.
That’s why today, we’re excited to introduce the newest Box UI Element: Open With. Just like the Open With feature in the Box application, the Open With UI Element will allow your users to open a file from within your application, edit or modify it with a third-party application, and save it right back. The Open With UI Element will be available in early 2018. You can sign up to receive updates and be notified when our beta is available here.
For example, if one of your users is viewing a contract agreement in your own application, the Open With UI Element will allow them to open that file using an integrated eSignature provider, add an eSignature to the contract, and save it directly back to your app. Or, if they’re working on a project plan in a spreadsheet, they will be able to open the spreadsheet in an integrated service, edit and collaborate on the project plan with their team, and save it directly back to your app — all without having to download and re-upload multiple versions. With the Open With UI Element, your users can get even more accomplished in your apps.
Using Open With will give you the ability to leverage the ecosystem of partners that we’ve built in your own application development to create a more end-to-end experience for your users with content. The Open With UI Element will allow users to open and edit files offline using any application on their desktop using the Box Edit feature and will allow for online, real-time editing and modifying with integrated partners. Right now, we’re collaborating with Adobe Sign to provide e-signature capabilities for documents and with G Suite to provide real-time edit and collaboration capabilities for documents, spreadsheets and presentations.
The Open With UI Element is slated to be available next year for all developers building and integrating with Box Platform. To receive updates and early access to the Open With UI Element, sign up for early access here.
We’re really excited about the possibilities of how you can build smarter on the Box Platform with Box Elements. Stay tuned for more!
