Developing codeless applications

BMC Helix Platform enables you to create codeless applications and libraries in both a development (Developer Sandbox) and a pre-production (Tailoring) environment. As an administrator, you can create a new codeless application or library bundle within BMC Helix Innovation Studio. Codeless bundles consist of definitions and data only, and do not include any Java or JavaScript code. 

The following video (8:01) demonstrates how a small codeless application can be rapidly developed by using BMC Helix Platform.

The video shows an older version of BMC Helix Platform. The previous product name was BMC Helix Innovation Suite. Although there might be minor changes in the UI, the overall functionality remains the same.

 https://youtu.be/T2C7h3NdejA

Benefits of codeless bundles

• Develop applications and libraries without having to know or learn a programming language.
• Eliminate the dependency on a procode developer to build an application or library.
• Minimize the complexity of initially setting up an environment to build applications and libraries since a codeless bundle does not require setting up a full IDE, build tool, and source control system. Please note that you will need some technology to manage versions of your changes of a codeless bundle. For instance you can export and save copies of your bundle to a file system that is backed up on a regular basis or if you prefer, you can leverage a source control system to check in versions of your bundle.
• Construct applications quickly by using drag and drop visual designers to define the structure of your application.
• Easily maintain and modify your applications and libraries since the structure of your application is visually represented in the visual designers. 

Custom codeless applications contain a universal entry point that is shared by all applications and includes an index.html file. Developers are not required to include framework functionality that maintains a custom entry point in their coded applications.

The universal entry URL is formatted like this:

http://<host>:<port>/innovationsuite/index.html#/<applicationId> 

Process for creating codeless applications

The following image shows the workflow for creating and promoting a codeless bundle from one environment to the next:

Before you begin 

Ensure that your Developer ID is set correctly in the Developer Sandbox or a Tailoring environment. 
A Developer ID uniquely identifies an organization creating the smart bundle. Each organization developing a Digital Service application must have a Developer ID. For more information about Developer ID, see Glossary.

To create a codeless application bundle

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.

2. Click New > Application.
   The New Application dialog box is displayed.

3. Specify the following information: 

   Field name	Description
   Application Name	Enter the display name of your application. For example, Work Order.
   Application Short Name	Enter the name of your application that will be used for unique namespacing of objects. Additionally, the short name is prefixed with a Developer ID to create the Application ID. For example, workorder. Important: Do not use any special characters or spaces in the application short name.
   Developer ID, Application ID	The Developer ID is already configured in your environment and is displayed for your reference. The Application ID is constructed based on your Developer ID and your Application Short Name and displayed for your reference. Warning: The com.bmc namespace is reserved for BMC-specific bundles. Make sure that you do not use this namespace in your group id.

4. Click Create.

A new application called Work Order with a default version of 1.0.0 is created in BMC Helix Innovation Studio and appears in the Workspace tab as shown in the following image:

If your application fails to be created, see Troubleshooting application deployment issues for information about the errors and workarounds.

To create a codeless library bundle

1. Log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio and navigate to the Workspace tab.

2. Click New > Library.
   The New Library dialog box is displayed.

3. Specify the following information: 

   Field name	Description
   Library Name	Enter the display name of your library. For example, Work Order Library.
   Library Short Name	Enter the name of your application that will be used for unique namespacing of objects. Additionally, the short name is prefixed with a Developer ID to create the Application ID. For example, workorder-lib. Important: Do not use any special characters or spaces in the application short name.
   Developer ID, Library ID	The Developer ID is already configured in your environment and is displayed for your reference. The Library ID is constructed based on your Developer ID and your Library Short Name and displayed for your reference.

4. Click Create.

A new library called Work Order Library with a default version of 1.0.0 is created in BMC Helix Innovation Studio appears in the Workspace tab. 

If your Library fails to be created, see Troubleshooting application deployment issues for information about the errors and workarounds.

Approaches for extending codeless applications with custom coded components

When the out of the box components aren't enough to build your codeless application in the way you want, you can extend your application with custom coded components. There are two approaches to extend your application. 

Approach 1: Build the custom coded components in a separate, coded library

1. Create a new coded library in which to build the custom coded components. For more information, see Developing and deploying code-based applications.  
2. Add the custom coded component from your new coded library to your codeless application. For example if the custom coded component is a Process Action, it will appear in the Process designer palette that you can drag and drop into your process in your codeless application.
   

Approach 2: Convert your codeless bundle to a coded bundle.

1. If you created your codeless bundle in your Tailoring environment, you need to move your bundle to your Developer Sandbox. Create an install package for your codeless bundle in your Tailoring environment. Then install the newly created package in your Developer Sandbox.

2. Create a new project using Maven in your IDE. When using Maven to create the project, set the property values (groupID, artifactID, version, name) in Maven to match the property values of the codeless bundle. This step presumes you have already setup your IDE. If you haven't, then follow these instructions to set up your IDE.

   Important

   • Do not run the Maven command: mvn clean install -Pdeploy as this could clobber over your codeless definitions in the Developer Sandbox.
   • Don't forget to configure your pom.xml file in your project folder to point to your Developer Sandbox server with your developer credentials.

3. In your project directory, run this Maven commend to export the definitions of your bundle from your Developer Sandbox and store them in the project repository in your IDE.

   mvn install -Pexport

4. Add the custom coded components to your application.
5. When you are done developing the code and are ready to promote the new custom coded bundle to QA and Production environments, create a deployment package and deploy the custom code-based application to your Tailoring or QA environments in BMC Helix Innovation Studio.

Where to go from here