Delivering Ease of Automation with Google Address Auto-Complete API as Pega UI Control Components

Organizations across industries are doubling down on their digital transformation efforts.?Emerging technologies, constant changes in user expectations,?and much-awaited changes in?the legacy business processes are pushing industry leaders towards embracing more streamlined digital solutions.??

Pegasystems is popular for being one of the biggest partners in digital transformation for organizations that are trying to keep up with the volatile digital landscape. Through?a?low-code development ecosystem, the platform helps organizations to achieve their business automation goals in a faster and more affordable manner.??

However, the seemingly limitless ease and scalability of the platform do have some limitations. There are still?several?features that are?unavailable?OOTB (Out of The Box)?for Pega users. Google?Address?Auto complete API as Pega UI control happens to be one of them.????

What?is?Google Place Auto complete API as Pega UI Control Component??

?The address?Auto Complete?feature?on apps such as Google Maps or Uber is familiar among the users. The autocomplete functionality allows the application to offer on-the-fly place predictions based on text inputs. The small UI?component?has become a big part of?the?customer experience enhancement strategy for applications that use address/location data to function.???

Pega platform does not offer the OOTB feature for locations/address suggestions that also works as a UI control component. Due to this, the developers?have to?either manually write code or repetitively integrate with Google API.?This?manual process causes a significant slowdown in development.??

Combined, the API works as a Pega UI Control Component. This way the developers?can?implement address autocomplete functionality easily, without any extra coding or repetitive API integration.?

How the?Component?Works &?Why is?it?Necessary??

?Similar to?the predictive address suggestion feature, the control offers the application end-users with?address?matches to their text inputs. The?component?supports both numeric and alphabetical inputs, ensuring enhanced usability.?

Digital transformation efforts across industries such as Insurance, Healthcare,?Finance,?and banking have made location?features?mandatory. Not only does it offer a more personalized customer experience to the end-users, but it also?provides?valuable location data to the organizations. This data can later be used to enhance products,?services,?and marketing efforts significantly.?

Due to different use cases, the location feature in software/applications is in high demand. But the lack of a dedicated control?component?makes the feature hard to integrate for the Pega developers.?Google?Places API as Pega UI Control Component can be used as a plug-and-play feature, using less effort and time.?

Google Address Auto Complete API as Pega UI?Control?Component:?The?Implementation?Process?

Google Places API integration as the Pega UI Control Component can be divided into three stages-?

Integrating with Google Places API?

• Create an account at https://developers.google.com/??
• Select the API to be used and have the Key??
• Rest integration to get results from Google Place Auto Complete API?

Adding the UI Control in Pega UI??

• Create a data page (here?D_Googleadress) to view results????
• Use Auto complete control in Pega to show the predictions based on the user input??
• Create?an?instance of a Pega control, and save it as the Auto Complete??
• Add the Auto Complete in Control options in Pega Section.??
• Then, drag and drop to use????

Making Component Reusable?

• Pass the value as a parameter to incorporate with the Pega Map feature??
• Package it and use it as component??
• Download, then import in different applications to use the features.?

Along with this, combining the Pega map feature with the control?component?allows the users to view & match the exact location in 2D and 3D mode,?through simple?parameters?passing.?

Here is how the control will be visible from Data capture after successfully implementing the component.?

A Brief Look at the Benefits??

The integration of Google places API as Pega UI Control Component comes with both benefits & limitations.??

1. Reusability of the?component?ensures?there is?no need to integrate with Google API and create Rest connections as well as create any UI control.?
2. Enhancing customer experience becomes easier.??
3. Pega users with limited technical knowledge and guidance can use this?component?and integrate Google Places Auto Complete feature effortlessly.?
4. Streamlined feature integration accelerates the development process, reducing?resource?wastage.?

Currently,?the component considers only US addresses.?The?future plans?are?to improve the?component?further include combining Pega Map and Google autocomplete in one control, to completely avoid the parameter value passing between two interfaces.?

How?Exavalu?can help as Pegasystems Business Associate?Partner??

At Exavalu, we understand the challenges our clients face when it comes to digital transformation.?This is the reason why as?Pegasystems partner, we offer specialized advisory & technical delivery services to ease your digital transformation?journey. Our teams of consultants offer expert assessment of digital strategy, review & implements best practices as well as help with digital innovation to enhance business functionality.??

Let us discuss the digital possibilities for your organization.?