Managing applications¶

In the IoT Extension platform we distinguish between two kinds of applications:

• Subscribed applications - all applications subscribed to the environment (either provided by the platform or a service provider) but not owned
• Own applications - all applications owned by the environment

Both applications are available through the "Applications" menu in the navigator:

Subscribed applications may not be added, modified or removed by the user, while users can add custom applications in various ways as own applications.

Application properties¶

Click on an application card to view the application properties.

Each application will show the following properties, depending on the application type:

Monitoring microservices¶

You can monitor microservices hosted by IoT Extension in two ways:

Status information:

The status of the microservice can be checked on the status tab of the respective application.

The following information is provided on the Status tab:

The status information is available for subscribed applications as well as for own applications. Information on subscribed subtenants is only visible for the application owner.

To view the status you need the following permissions: ROLE_APPLICATION_MANAGEMENT_READ & ROLE_INVENTORY_READ

Log files:

You may view logs to get more details on the status of microservices.

To view logs, open the Log tab of the respective microservice.

At the top of the page, the instance of the microservice, for which you want to view the logs, can be selected. Moreover you can adjust the font size and the theme at the right.

Initially, the Log tab shows the logs of the microservice instance for the last 10 minutes. The exact time range for which the logs are displayed is shown below the logs.

Click "Next" or "Previous" to increase or reduce the time range in 10 minutes steps.

If there have not been any logs in the selected time range, a message is shown.

To view the logs you need the permission EVENT_READ.

Own applications¶

Own applications may be:

• Duplicates of subscribed applications (in order to be able to customize them)
• Web-based UI applications, either deployed as standalone applications or as plugins deployed into a specific application (e.g. a widget to the Cockpit dashboard)
• Server-side business logic deployed through microservices

Your applications are available through the application switcher in the top bar which allows to easily switch between applications.

You manage your applications under "Own applications", accessible through the "Applications" menu.

In the "Own applications" page you will find a list of the applications available in your account.

To display further information on the application, simply click its card. For details on the fields, refer to "Application properties" below.

To directly open an application from here, click "Open" on the respective application card.

Click "Add application" in the Own applications page, to add an application to your account.

Click the menu icon at the top right of an application to open a context menu from where you can "Edit" or "Remove" an application.

Adding own applications:

To add an application, click "Add application" in the "Own applications" page. In the upcoming dialog choose one of the following methods:

• uploading a web application - by dropping a ZIP file or browsing for it on your computer
• uploading a microservice - by dropping a ZIP file or browsing for it on your computer
• using an external application - by linking to an application running elsewhere
• duplicating an existing application - by creating a copy of an existing application

Uploading web applications:

In order to upload a web application, follow these steps:

1. Click "Add application" in the "Own applications" page.
2. In the upcoming dialog, select "Upload zip file"".
3. Simply drop a zip file or browse for it on your computer.

After successfully uploading the zip file to the platform the application is being created.

Linking to external applications:

In order to add an application which links to an external application, follow these steps:

1. Click "Add application" in the "Own applications" page.

2. In the upcoming dialog, select "External application".

   

3. In the next window, enter the name of the application. The name will be shown as title of the application.

4. Enter an application key, used to identify this application.
5. Enter the external URL where the application can be reached.
6. Finally, click "Save" to create the application.

For details on the fields, see also "Application properties" below.

Duplicating applications:

Duplicating an application might be useful if you want to customize a subscribed application according to your needs.

Duplicating a subscribed application creates a copy of the application as an own application, with a link to the original application.

In order to duplicate an application, follow these steps:

1. Click "Add application" in the "Own applications" page.
2. In the upcoming dialog, select "Duplicate existing application".

3. Select the desired application from the dropdown list.

   

4. In the next window, provide a name for the application. By default, the name of the original application is provided, extended by a number.

5. Provide an application key, used to identify this application. By default, the key of the original application is provided, extended by a number.
6. Provide the application path as part of the URL to invoke the application. By default, the path of the original application is provided, extended by a number. If you set it to the path of the original subscribed application, your own application will overrule the subscribed application.
7. Finally, click "Duplicate" to create the application.

For details on the fields, see also "Application properties" below.

Editing and removing own applications:

Edit:

To edit an application, simply click the application or click "Edit" in its context menu, accessible through the menu icon.

In the "Properties" tab, several fields can be modified, depending on the application type (see "Application properties").

Remove:

To remove an application, click the menu icon and from the context menu select "Remove".

If you remove an application that overwrites a subscribed application, the currently subscribed application becomes available to all users. Additionally, the users will then also benefit from future upgrades of the subscribed application.

It is not possible to remove subscribed applications. This can only be done by the owner of the subscribed application.

Adding and removing plugins:

In order to configure and extend the functions provided with an application, you can add plugins to it.

To add additional plugins, click "Add Plugin" on the card of the desired application in the "Own applications" page.

The "Plugin" tab for the application will open up, showing all existing plugins and allowing to add plugins by simply dropping the respective ZIP file or browsing for it on your computer.

To remove a plugin, hover over it and click "Remove" at the right.

The following tables list the navigator and menu items with their respective plugins.

Be aware of the "UI" at the end of the plugin names.

Restoring to a previous application version:

Users can restore previous versions of an application from an archive:

1. Open the application by clicking on it.
2. Switch to the Archives tab.
3. Open the context menu for the desired version by clicking the menu icon and select "Set as active" to make it the active version.
4. Click "Remove" to remove the version from the archive.

Uploading archives:

Multiple archive file versions can be stored in IoT Extension when they were created by uploading either a zip file or a mon file. Each version is called an archive. You can upload different versions at the same time and switch between these versions.

To upload an archive, follow these steps:

1. Open the application by clicking on it.
2. Switch to the "Archives" tab.
3. Click "Upload archive" and browse for the archive on your computer or simply drop the archive file.
4. Click "Upload" to upload the archive to your IoT Extension account.

Once uploaded, the recently uploaded version is automatically the active version, i.e. the version of the application that is currently being served to the users of your account. This version cannot be deleted.

To change the active version, open the context menu in the version you want to activate and select "Set as active".