Building a Sample Topping

Like many other CRMs, Bigin also allows you to extend the functionality of existing system by installing toppings. This section lets you get started with Bigin's Topping development and walks you through creating your first topping for Bigin.

Before you create a topping for Bigin, it's always recommended to think about what you are trying to achieve. After you gather your requirements, you can search for a topping with the similar requirements in the Bigin Marketplace ↗ that might save you time. If you are unable to find one, you can develop and publish a new topping, which might help you and thousands of Bigin customers around the globe.

Sign Up for Bigin Developer Account

The first step for getting started is to sign up to become a Bigin Developer. For this, you can create an account with Bigin ↗.

After you sign up with Bigin Developer Account, a verification email is sent to your specified email address, you can check and confirm your account and then update your profile.

The Bigin Developer center is a developer space where you can build and manage your toppings. Before you build out your first topping, you need to complete the initial setup that includes the following steps:

Step 1: Go to developer.bigin.com ↗ and then sign in using your Bigin developer account credentials. The Bigin Developer Center appears.

Step 2: On the Bigin Developer Center, create a new workspace for your first topping.

Step 3: On the new workspace instance, create a new topping draft.

Step 4: Once the topping draft is created, hover over the topping and then click Edit Topping. The Bigin Developer console of your new topping draft appears.

You can now use the features and services of your developer console to build your topping.

Build Your First Topping

A topping is built by adding custom components, automating processes, writing and invoking functions within your developer console. As per your business requirements, you must tailor your topping using the available features and services.

As you have already completed setting up the developer console, you can now take your first step by creating a basic topping.

Let's start building your first topping with the following example:

Example: Create your first topping - Hello Bigin!

Let's create a basic topping, which adds a Hello Bigin! button to the Utility Menu of Deals module. When you click the button, Bigin's official product page appears.

For example, after installing the topping, the Utility Menu of Deals module looks like this:

To create, follow these steps:

  1. To create a Hello Bigin! button, on the developer console, go to Components > Links & Buttons.
  2. In the Customization Links and Button section, select Create New Button.
  3. In the Create Your Button section, do the following:

    1. In which module would you like to create a new button? - From the drop-down, select the Deals module.
    2. What would you like to name the button? - Type the name of the button. In this case, type Hello Bigin!
    3. (Optional) Description - Type the description of the button.
    4. Where would you like to place the button? - From the drop-down, select the List View - Utility Menu option.
    5. What action would you like the button to perform? - From the drop-down, select the Invoke a URL option.
    6. Construct Your URL - Type the URL as needed. In this case, type https://www.bigin.com.
    7. Where do you want to show the content of the button action? - From the drop-down, select the New Tab option.
  1. Click Save.

The Hello Bigin! button is created and listed in the Customization Links and Buttons section.

Your first topping is set and ready to get installed and now you can review and publish it.

After you create your first topping, you can learn more about components at Overview of Components.

Publish Your Topping

After you have constructed your topping with the custom button, it's time to publish your topping. When you publish your topping, you are making it available for Bigin customers.

The Bigin Developer console provides two ways to publish your topping:

If you choose to publish your topping on the marketplace, it must undergo the review process. In order to make the quality toppings and clear the approval process, you must follow the general specification and requirement guidelines. Also, before you submit for review process, you can test your topping in the developer console to make sure everything works fine.

For this guide, let's publish the newly created topping in private and generate a URL to see the button on Bigin.

To publish and generate a private URL, follow these steps:

  1. On the left-pane of the developer console, select Publish.
  2. On the Topping Details page, click the Publish button.
  3. When a window to confirm the publishing of your topping appears, type release notes details as needed, and then click Confirm.

The topping is published and a private URL is generated for users to install the topping on Bigin.

  1. Copy the private URL and then click OK.

Now, it's time to install and view your topping on Bigin.

Install the Topping and See Changes on Bigin UI

The final step of this guide is to install the topping using the private URL and see the changes on Bigin UI. In this case, you can view the Hello Bigin! button on the Utility menu of the Deals module.

Before you install the topping, make sure to set up your Bigin account ↗.

To run the installation process, paste the private URL you have copied earlier on the browser, and then press the Enter key. When your Bigin account opens with the topping installation details, follow the prompts to complete the installations steps.

You first topping is now installed into your Bigin CRM. The Hello Bigin! button should display on the Utility menu of the Deals module like shown below, and when you click the button, it takes you to the Bigin's product webpage.