App Store#

Overview#

Almost everything in EDA is considered an Application (App), including all the Apps that were installed during the Getting Started - Install step. Apps extend the functionality of EDA by exposing custom resources to the EDA API and MicroPython code that will be executed by EDA whenever such a custom resource is manipulated either by a user or another App.

The EDA App Store is used to manage the Applications inside EDA. It can be accessed through the UI which provides 3 different views:

All Packages List

The initial page when opening the App Store in the UI will show all the packages known to the App Store. Clicking the "All Packages" dropdown at the top allows the selection of "My Packages". Clicking an App from the list will open the App specific page.

My Packages List

This view shows all the installed Apps in the current EDA deployment. Clicking on an App from the list will open the App specific page.

App Page

After clicking on an App in either of the list views, a page will open with specific details from the App. It will show a set of details of the App, and if it has not been installed yet, it will show an install button. If the App has an update available (a new version), an update button will appear. In the future, more details about Apps will become available as the Overview, Documentation and License pages are added to Apps.

Resources#

The App Store relies on two different resources in the EDA environment:

Catalog

A catalog is a git repository that contains the manifests of Apps. A manifest contains all the details of an App and will be discussed further in the Development section. Using the manifests of all the Catalogs registered in EDA, the App Store can build a list of all available Apps.

Registry

While a manifest of an App contains all the details of an App, the actual code and resources of an App are stored in an OCI compliant image. This image needs to be stored in a container registry. This registry must be known to the EDA deployment so the App Store can pull the image and use the data in the image to deploy the App. This information is given to EDA in the form of a Registry custom resource.

Installing an App#

To install an App, you can use the App Store UI, select the App from the list and click the "Install" button. In the background, this will create a Workflow custom resource in the EDA environment. The App Store backend takes this resource and takes the appropriate actions to read the information of the App from its manifest, and make sure the appropriate data is available to EDA, which can include the code of the App, custom resource definitions and more.

You can also install an App using kubectl and giving it the correct Workflow custom resource. Here's an example to install the Cloud Connect App:

apiVersion: core.eda.nokia.com/v1
kind: Workflow
metadata:
  name: connect-nokia
  namespace: eda-system
spec:
  input:
    app: connect
    catalog: eda-catalog-builtin-apps
    operation: install
    vendor: nokia
    version:
      type: semver
      value: v2.0.0
  type: app-installer

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: core.eda.nokia.com/v1
kind: Workflow
metadata:
  name: connect-nokia
  namespace: eda-system
spec:
  input:
    app: connect
    catalog: eda-catalog-builtin-apps
    operation: install
    vendor: nokia
    version:
      type: semver
      value: v2.0.0
  type: app-installer
EOF

The status of the Workflow shows the progress of the installation. This Workflow resource initiates an app installer job. Once installed, a Manifest resource will be created and the Workflow is done (and the object may be deleted). To see the installed apps using kubectl, you can check their manifests:

kubectl get manifests

Uninstalling an App#

To uninstall an App, you can use the UI. Open the App page and it will say the currently installed version and to the right, under the general information block, there is a link to "Uninstall package". This will remove the App.

Alternatively, you can use kubectl commands to delete an app. Creating a new Workflow with a delete operation, will start uninstalling an application. Here's an example to delete the previously created Cloud Connect App.

apiVersion: core.eda.nokia.com/v1
kind: Workflow
metadata:
  name: connect-nokia
  namespace: eda-system
spec:
  input:
    app: connect
    catalog: eda-catalog-builtin-apps
    operation: delete
    vendor: nokia
    version:
      type: semver
      value: v2.0.0
  type: app-installer

kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
apiVersion: core.eda.nokia.com/v1
kind: Workflow
metadata:
  name: connect-nokia
  namespace: eda-system
spec:
  input:
    app: connect
    catalog: eda-catalog-builtin-apps
    operation: delete
    vendor: nokia
    version:
      type: semver
      value: v2.0.0
  type: app-installer
EOF

Note the difference between installing and uninstalling by the operation field. Changing an already existing Workflow by updating its operation field from install to delete will not trigger a new (un)install job. A new Workflow needs to be created instead.