Fabric Projects in App Factory

In App Factory, you can enable CI/CD for the source code of a Quantum Fabric app by creating a Fabric app project. You can then use appropriate Fabric related Jobs to trigger builds that can generate the final app, Import the app to a Fabric cloud, and Publish the app to a Fabric environment.

From V9 ServicePack 1, App Factory supports the import, build, and export of Java assets of a Fabric app. For more information, refer to Building Java Dependencies.

For more information about the import flow and the export flow, you can refer to the following diagrams:

Fabric project folder

The following section contains information about how to run, build, and deploy a Fabric app by using the App Factory CI/CD process. After the build is completed, an email notification is sent about the build result with information about the build artifacts, changelog from the Git tool, and build settings.

To run jobs for a Fabric app, open the project folder from the App Factory console, and then open the Fabric folder. The Fabric folder contains three nested folders.

  • Builds
  • CustomHooks
  • Tests
  • Triggers

Builds

The Builds folder contains the buildFabricApp job, which orchestrates the build and publish logic of a Fabric app to the Quantum Fabric environment.

The buildFabricApp job initiates the Fabric project build stage, which depends on (but is not limited to) the following parameters:

  • The Quantum Fabric App Config Environment that is used to build a Fabric app and then publish the app. You can use different Fabric environments to split the release stages into three phases: Development, Staging, and Production.
    • Developers or testers use a development environment to test the features that are developed in a specific branch
    • Developers or testers use a staging environment to test features that are developed in a sprint or a release
    • An administrator uses a production environment to deploy the features that are developed in a sprint or a release

The buildFabricApp job is divided into the following steps that the build pipeline performs during the build process.

  • Source Checkout: The pipeline starts with the code checkout from the repository. It can be done by using a branch, a tag, or a commit-id from the source code repository.
  • Build Java Assets: An optional stage in which the pipeline builds the java assets (pre-processors, post-processors or custom service java code) of the Fabric app. Based on the JAVA_BASE_DIR parameter and the Maven POM files in the source code, the pipeline runs all Maven commands.
  • Bundle Fabric App: The pipeline generates the final Fabric App package that can be used in later stages for the Import and Publish to a Fabric environment. The package also given to the user as an artefact that is available for download.
  • Import and Publish App: An optional stage in which the pipeline Imports and Publishes the app to the selected Fabric Environment. Based on the choices that are selected at the build screen, the pipeline automatically completes this activity.
  • Archive Build Artifacts: The pipeline archives the Fabric App package and the binaries of the Java assets that are generated during the pipeline build process and stores it on S3 bucket.
  • Notify: The pipeline sends the build status by e-mail to all the recipients. The email contains the build information, links to download the build artifacts, and the Git changelog details.

For more information, refer to Building a Fabric app.

Custom Hooks

Custom Hooks are custom pipelines that consist of a Java source code and a build script, which is either an ANT script or a MAVEN script. The hooks can be set to run at certain stages of the build flow, such as pre-build and post-build.

For more information, refer to Custom Hooks for Fabric jobs.

Tests

The Tests folder contains jobs to create and run tests. It also contains sub-folders that store the created tests based on the trigger mechanism.

For more information, refer to Testing a Fabric app with the Cucumber Framework.

Triggers

The Triggers folder contains the createFabricAppTrigger job, which creates a trigger to perform a build based on a schedule or based on a push to the source code. There are two sub-folders that store the created triggers based on the trigger mechanism.

For more information, refer to the following sections:

Build Results Notification

After a build job is completed, members that are added to the Recipients project setting receive an email that contains generic information about the build. The email also contains the a list of artifacts with corresponding links to an S3 bucket.