Shopify has rolled out significant updates to its Point of Sale (POS) UI extensions, focusing on streamlining the development process and boosting efficiency for merchants and developers. These enhancements aim to reduce friction and accelerate workflows, making it easier to build and deploy custom POS experiences.
Key Takeaways
- Faster and smoother hot reloading for instant code changes.
- A dedicated POS developer console for centralized app and extension management.
- Quick target previews to easily navigate to extension rendering points.
- In-app error reporting for immediate debugging on the POS device.
- App persistence to maintain connections after POS restarts.
- In-app reset functionality for quick testing of new deep links.
Enhanced Hot Reloading
Developers can now experience faster and more fluid hot reloading. Code modifications appear instantaneously on the POS test device without any flickering. This update also introduces support for reloading entire navigation screens, eliminating the need to exit and re-enter a screen to view changes.
Introducing the POS Dev Console
A new POS dev console provides immediate access upon scanning a deeplink. This centralized hub displays app and extension information, offering easy access to targets and configurations. It's designed to be the go-to place for efficiently building and managing POS extensions.
Quick Target Previews
With the "Preview" feature within the dev console, developers can instantly jump to the specific screen in the POS app where their extension is rendered. This significantly speeds up the process of visualizing and testing extensions in their intended context.
Improved Build Error Reporting
When extension code encounters an error, an error UI now appears directly on the POS device. Tapping on the affected component opens the dev console, providing detailed information about the extension and the specific error, facilitating quicker debugging.
App Persistence and In-App Reset
To further enhance the developer experience, extensions can now be configured to automatically reconnect after a POS restart, removing the repetitive need for deep linking. Additionally, an in-app reset feature allows developers to remove their extension without restarting the POS or their dev server, enabling rapid testing of new deep links.
These improvements are available for users with POS v10.13+ and Shopify CLI v3.85+. Shopify encourages developers to explore the updated documentation and share their feedback through the developer community.
