Scenario: publishing a MARS app

This scenario includes the context and approach for publishing a MARS app on MARS.

Context

Maggie, a support engineer at Future Software has created some approval workflows for one of her customers, Dunder Mifflin Prepress. In combination with a customized HTML page for Dunder Mifflin Prepress, these workflows can be used as a portal. The workflows and the HTML page will be very useful for other CLOUDFLOW users as well, so Maggie wants to add the workflows and the HTML page to a MARS app and make it publicly available on MARS.

This means that the MARS app, including the approval workflows and the HTML page will be available for all CLOUDFLOW users that have a MARS license.

Approach

First, Maggie makes sure that the location of the assets, the workflow names and documentation comply to the guidelines regarding public MARS apps. See MARS app design guidelines for more information. She has been proactive and has decided that she will name the MARS app approvalportaldmf. Consequently:
  • She has stored all the assets in a subfolder in the root of PP_FILE_STORE with an identical name as the MARS app, so PP_FILE_STORE/approvalportaldmf/....
  • She has created a Markdown file readme.md that contains clear and extensive documentation on the use and functionality of the MARS app. The path of the documentation file is PP_FILE_STORE/approvalportaldmf/documentation/readme.md.
  • All the workflow names start with the MARS app name, so approvalportaldmf-workflow-xxx .
Next, Maggie creates the MARS app:
  1. She logs in to CLOUDFLOW with her username and password.
  2. She opens MARS.
  3. She selects New....
  4. She enters the following parameters:
    • The Name of the MARS app: approvalportaldmf.
    • The Description of the MARS app. She chooses Approval Portal for Dunder Mifflin Prepress.
  5. She selects Create New.
The MARS app is now created on Maggie's local system and is in the list in MARS > My Apps > Installed. The MARS app does not contain any content yet.
Maggie takes the following steps to add content:
  1. In MARS > My Apps > Installed, she selects Edit next to the MARS app approvalportaldmf.
  2. She selects the version number of the MARS app. Since this is the first version of the MARS app, Maggie chooses 0.0.1.
  3. She browses to the path where the documentation file is located: PP_FILE_STORE/approvalportaldmf/documentation/.
  4. She adds the assets, which are located in PP_FILE_STORE/approvalportaldmf/.
  5. She adds the workflows.
  6. She saves.

The MARS app approvalportaldmf now contains documentation, the assets and the workflows, but it is not yet available on MARS.

Maggie takes the following steps to upload the MARS app to MARS:
  1. In MARS > My Apps > Installed, she selects Upload to MARS next to the MARS app approvalportaldmf.
  2. She selects Push to MARS.
The MARS app is now uploaded to MARS, but because it is not publicly available, only Maggie can access it. To make it available for all MARS users, the application needs to be published on MARS.
Maggie takes the following steps to publish the MARS app so it becomes publicly available:
  1. In MARS > My Apps > Available, she selects Request to publish next to the MARS app approvalportaldmf..

Maggie's mail client automatically opens a template mail that contains a request to publish message. The person who is responsible for the QA of the MARS app receives this message with the necessary information and makes sure the MARS app is tested against predefined MARS app design guidelines. See MARS app design guidelines for more information. Only if the MARS app passes the QA tests, it will be published on MARS and made publicly available on MARS > Public Apps > Available.