Packaging and deploying a custom application

Application object definition in Deployment Application

An application object is a collection of data in a set of forms that jointly represent a certain entity of a service management application; for example, a contract or a template.

When you transfer such an entity from one AR System instance (for example, development) to another AR System instance (for example, test or production), you must also package all the related data from the different forms, transfer it to the target environment, and then deploy it.

BMC provides the following sample forms available to integrate the custom application. You can use these sample forms while integrating a custom application with an application object:

Before you begin

• The custom application that you want to integrate with an application object must have a primary form. Use the primary form to export data.
• Related secondary forms, if any, must be identified. 

• On the primary form, secondary forms, and on the staging forms, the following fields are mandatory in addition to the out-of-the-box fields:

  Field Name	Field ID
  Parent_job_GUID	304287140
  z1D Action	1000000076

To package and deploy a custom application

You must integrate your custom application with the application object so that you can promote the custom application by using Deployment Application. The following graphic illustrates the different stages involved in packaging and deploying a custom application:

To register the custom application object

In order to integrate the custom application with an application object, you must first register your custom application on the AR System Application Object:Control form.

When you register your custom application on the AR System Application Object:Control form, you must identify the secondary forms where you are going to export the data.

1. In the AR System Application Object:Control form, complete the following information:
   
   
   
   

   Field	Description
   Application Name	Name of the custom application
   Type	Name of the object that identifies the application For example, if the Application Name is RDCSampleApplicaton, the Type can be Sample Application Object.
   Production Form Name	Primary form name For example, RDA:SampleApplicationObject_Primary
   Staging Form Name	Name of the first staging form For example, RDA:SampleApplicationObject_Primary_Staging
   Unique Identifier	Field ID of a field that uniquely identifies records on the primary or secondary form For example, Instance ID
   Sequence	Number to set the sequence for the main form so that the child forms follow the dependency For example, set 1 for the primary form and follow the numbering for the secondary forms.
   Menu Name	Name of the menu that is created in the primary form

2. In the Mark Record for Delete field, select Never Delete Records.
3. In the Primary Form field, select Yes to identify the primary form.
4. In the Record Access field, select appropriate permission for the custom application. 
   For example, select Public if you want to allow everyone to access the custom application while creating a deployable package.
5. Click Save.
   Your custom application is now registered as an application object. 
6. After you register your custom application, use Developer Studio to create an active link on the RDA:DeploymentDataDetails form.
    This active link sets the Unique Identifier field. See the following example:

To add a workflow to stage data

Move data from the primary form to the corresponding staging form so that you can perform validations on the staging form before promoting the custom application to the production environment.

Create a filter on the primary form by using Developer Studio. This filter is used when you build the package from the AR System Deployment Management console. One filter is sufficient if you use only the primary form. However, if you want to export data from dependent secondary forms, you must create a filter for each secondary form. See the following examples:

Data in the custom application is on the staging form and is ready to export.

To add validation workflow 

Add validation workflows to validate your custom application. Prior to importing the custom application to the production environment, we recommend that you add the validation workflows on the staging form. 

1. In Developer Studio, create a validation filter on the primary staging form and optionally on the secondary staging form. 
   
2. Create a filter to handle errors during validation. 
   This filter sets an error message and error flag on the staging form. See the following example:
   
   

The custom application is validated and is available to promote across environments.

To add workflows to promote the custom application

Write workflows to promote the custom application to the production environment. Use Developer Studio to create a promotion filter on the primary staging and secondary staging forms. 

To register validation errors

Set error filters to show validation or promotion errors on the AR System Deployment Management console. See the following examples: