Share App Store Content

Last update: Edit

1 Introduction

The App Store is driven by contributions from members of the Mendix community who share the connectors, modules, and apps they have built. This how-to shows how to add and update App Store content.

This how-to will teach you how to do the following:

  • Add new content and promotions to share in the App Store
  • Update existing App Store content

2 Prerequisites

Before starting this how-to, make sure you have completed the following prerequisites:

3 App Store Content Development Guidelines

This section presents guidelines for developing content that you will submit to the Mendix App Store.

3.1 General Guidelines

These are some general guidelines for creating new App Store content :

  • Set up a separate project to build and maintain your App Store component
  • Use a relatively recent Mendix version when creating the item, not only the latest Mendix version
  • Create multiple versions of your App Store component (for example, for Studio Pro 8 and Desktop Modeler 7)

Any information the end-user should know about your content can be written on the Documentation tab when you are adding the content to the App Store.

3.2 Widget Guidelines

To develop widgets and submit them to the App Store, follow these guidelines:

  • The widget must be based on the AppStoreBoilerplate
  • When writing variable and function names, use lowerCamelCase (for example, mySecondVariable)
  • Add code comments
  • Use descriptive variable and function names in both XML and JavaScript
  • Always add "use strict"; to functions
  • A function may not be larger than 200 lines of code
  • A function may only do one thing, and it should do it properly
  • Internal variables should start with an underscore (_)
  • Using the Dojo Toolkit and its functionalities is preferred, but for external plugins you can use jQuery
  • Create a test project based on the AppStoreBoilerplate
  • Create test pages for mobile when content is mobile-supported

3.3 Module Guidelines

To develop modules and submit them to the App Store, follow these guidelines:

  • Create a folder named USE_ME and add the microflows and pages that are relevant for the user
  • Create an empty folder with the version number as its name, which will appear in Studio Pro’s Project Explorer
  • If you add any userlib jar files, make sure they are accompanied by a MyModule.RequiredLib file so that users know where the jar files come from
  • Verify that the module’s Java actions compile correctly (the easiest way to check is to create a deployment package, as it will clean the deployment folder and rebuild the app; for more information, see Create Deployment Package Dialog and Environments)
  • Reduce the use of layouts – using snippets will result in fewer module dependencies and will reduce the number of potential errors (for example, missing layouts)
  • User roles and security should be implemented
  • Creating a new release or module export should be done while the security level of the project containing the module is set to Production
  • The module security status (in the Project Security) must be complete for the following:
    • Page access
    • Microflow access
    • OData access
    • Entity access
    • Dataset access
  • For example pages and microflows to be copied to another module, they should be “excluded from project” in order to encourage duplication and reduce dependency errors
  • Do not rename entities and attributes when creating new versions, as data in these entities will get lost (replacing an existing module is based on the entity names)
  • The module should include the English language

4 Adding New App Store Content

To add content to the App Store, follow these steps:

  1. Click Add content in the top-right corner of the App Store home screen:

  2. The DRAFT page will open, where you need to select the purpose of your contribution:

    • Share – components that can be downloaded using Studio Pro – if you select this option, continue to step #3 below
    • Promote – a way to advertise a component or solution while not making it downloadable – if you select this option, continue to step #4 below

  3. When adding Studio Pro content, select your content source:

    • If you select Select from GitHub, follow these steps:
      a. Select the type of GitHub profile (Organisation or User) where the content is stored.
      b. Enter the GitHub profile name.
      c. Click Check to confirm that this profile is publicly available in GitHub.
      d. Select the GitHub repo from which the content will be uploaded by clicking Select. The system will crawl all of the projects for that GitHub profile and present the Mendix package file (.mpk) options to you in a pop-up window.
      e. Click Select on this window when you find the correct .mpk file name.
      f. Select the release by clicking Select. If there are various releases of the .mpk file available, the system will present them to you in a pop-up window. When you find the correct release, click Select on this window.
      g. Check the Use GitHub README for documentation check box if you want the repo’s README.md file to be included on the App Store component’s Documentation tab. This is useful for including nicely formatted documentation with screenshots for your App Store component.


    • If you select Manual upload, follow these steps:
      a. Select the Source file by clicking Upload.
      b. On the Upload source file pop-up window, click Browse to browse the source files on your computer.
      c. Select your source file, and click Save.
      d. Enter the Release notes that describe your manually uploaded content.

  4. In the Publish to drop-down menu, select the location where you want to publish your content:

    • Public App Store (visible for anyone) – your content will be available to every developer in the Mendix community (this content will have to be reviewed and approved by Mendix before it is available)
    • Private App Store (visible for your company) – your content will receive the Company only label and be available only to the developers in your company; selected private content of a user group can also be made available to user group guests for download; this content will not be reviewed by Mendix

  5. In the bottom half of the DRAFT screen, do the following:
    a. Enter a Name for your content.
    b. Select a category for your content from the Category drop-down menu (for example, Connectors).
    c. If you have published a demo using your content, enter the Demo URL.
    d. Click Upload Image to upload an image for your app.

  6. On the Overview tab in the bottom half of the Share your content screen, you can do the following:

    • Enter an overview Description of your content (for example, “Node control is an native Android app that gives a system administrator access to the Mendix Cloud nodes being administered. From the app, the status of the different environments within a node can be monitored and an environment can be started or stopped.”)
    • Upload screenshots by clicking Add screenshots and selecting images of the content from your computer
    • Upload a video by clicking Add video and selecting a video that demonstrates using the content from your computer

  7. On the Documentation tab, you can write or edit the documentation that should accompany your app in the editor. You are only able to edit the documentation of your own and your company’s content. Note that this is only applicable when the Use GitHub README for documentation check box is not checked.

    • The documentation template includes the following sections that you must fill out in order to submit your content:
      • An extended Description of the content
      • The Typical usage scenario for the content
      • The Features and limitations for the content
    • These sections are optional:
      • Any Dependencies (for example, the required Studio Pro version, modules, images, and styles)
      • The Installation steps and details
      • The Configuration steps and details
      • Any Known bugs
      • Any Frequently Asked Questions

    The editor comes with a set of basic formatting tools, such as bold, bullet lists, and URL links.

    You can attach images to your documentation in one of two ways:

    • Drag the image from file explorer to the editor (this will upload your image)
    • Click the Image button in the editor tools and enter a URL which points to an image

    Uploaded images cannot be resized, but linked images can.

  8. Note that there is nothing for you to do on the Statistics and All versions tabs. The Statistics tab will chart the downloads of your content over time. The All versions tab will list the various versions of your content that have been updated.

  9. In the Version Details section on the bottom-right of the screen, do the following:

    a. Check the Beta version check-box if the content is in beta.
    b. Select the Mendix Studio Pro version on which you built the content.
    c. Select the type of License you want applied to your app (if applicable):

    You can request other license types to be added as License options by clicking the Feedback button on the right side of the App Store screen.

  10. After entering the information for your content, you can click one of these buttons in the middle of the screen:

    • Click Cancel to cancel your changes to the content information
    • Click Delete Draft to delete the draft of the content information you are working on
    • Click Save draft to save the draft of the content information, which will open the Draft version section at the top of the screen:

    In this section, you can do the following:

    • In the Status section, if applicable, click the error(s) link bring up the Warning pop-up window that lists the information you need enter or fix before you submit the content
    • Click Back to go to the list of content drafts in the My App Store tab
    • Click Edit to continue editing the content information
    • Click Submit for approval to submit your App Store content for approval at Mendix

5 Updating Existing App Store Content

To update content that has already been published, follow these steps:

  1. Go to the information page for the content you want to update (for example, by selecting My Content in My App Store and finding the component you want to update).

  2. Click Create new draft version:

  3. On the DRAFT page, you can edit the content details (as described in the Adding New App Store Content section above).

  4. In the Version Details section, you must select the Update type so that the content is saved as a new version:

    • Major update – a large change (which will save the content from version 5.0 to version 6.0, for example)
    • Minor update – a medium-sized change (which will save the content from version 6.0 to version 6.1.0, for example)
    • Patch – a small change (which will save the content from 6.1.0 to 6.1.1, for example)
    • Custom – your own version number (which allows you to add minor or patch updates to previous major versions, or to skip versions rather than having to increment by 1; note that custom versioning is only available if there has been a version 1.0.0)

    For descriptions of the other fields, see the version details step above.

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