Use app lifecycle methods

App lifecycle events are events that mark the state changes of your app - such as,

  • Being initialized for the first time
  • Being activated
  • Being deactivated

App lifecycle methods are the methods that the Freshworks developer platform provides, to enable the app to react to the lifecycle events and accordingly refresh its app data.

The Freshworks products are built as single-page web applications. In this document, we call this single-page application a parent application. If your app is deployed on the common placeholders, when the parent application is initialized, it initializes the app and passes a client object to your app. Your front-end app communicates with the parent app (the product on which the app is deployed) by using the client reference.

To enable your app to react to lifecycle events, in the app.js file,

  1. Subscribe to the app.initialized event. When the app is successfully initialized, the parent application passes a client reference to the app.
  2. After app initialization, to enable your app to react to app activation,
    1. Use the client reference, subscribe to the app.activated event, and register a callback method to be executed when the event occurs.
    2. Define the callback method.
  3. After app initialization, to enable your app to react to app deactivation,
    1. Use the client reference, subscribe to the app.deactivated event, and register a callback method to be executed when the event occurs.
    2. Define the callback method.

Subscribe to app.initialized

Use the sample code shown on the right pane, to listen to the app.initialized event.

App initialization occurs when the product where your app is deployed is loaded for the first time.

If app initialization is successful, the parent application (the product on which the app is deployed) passes a client reference to the app. You can use the client reference to,

  • Include the app.activated and app.deactivated listeners in your app code.
  • Include any front-end methods (data methods, events methods, and interface methods) to your app code. Front-end methods help in communication between your app and the parent app.

Unless you are building an app that is completely isolated (independent of the data on the page), ensure that the core logic of the app is not placed within the app.initialized() method. Place the logic within the app.activated() method.

Use app.activated

The app.activated event occurs based on certain actions on the Freshworks product UI that activate the app.

An app deployed at a common placeholder is activated when the app icon on the left-navigation pane is clicked and the app is brought into scope (displayed on the product UI).

To subscribe to the event, register the callback method, and define the callback method, use the sample code on the right pane.

Use app.deactivated

The app.deactivated event occurs when the app goes out of scope, that is, when the parent application is closed.

You can use app.deactivated to clean stale data, whenever your app is not in scope.

To subscribe to the event, register the callback method, and define the callback method, use the sample code on the right pane.