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Publish Data to Other Mendix Apps Using an App Service (Deprecated)

Last modified: August 19, 2024

Introduction

In this how-to, you will create an app in which you keep track of the inventory of a shop. This app makes the inventory available for use in other Mendix apps via an app service.

Creating the Domain Model

The domain model defines the products that you want the save and how you want to expose them.

To create the domain model, follow these steps:

  1. In the domain model, create a persistable entity called Product with two attributes: Name (String) and Stock (Integer).

  2. Create a non-persistable entity called PublishedProduct with the same attributes.

Creating Pages

To create pages that allows users to create, edit, and delete products, follow these steps:

  1. Add a new page called EditUser.

  2. Add a data view.

  3. From the Connector, drag the Product entity onto to yellow [Unknown] bar.

  4. On the dialog box that appears, click OK.

  5. Open the Home page and add a data grid.

  6. From the Connector, drag the Product entity onto to yellow [Unknown] bar.

  7. On the dialog box that appears, click OK.

  8. From the Project Explorer, drag the EditUser page onto the New button.

  9. From the Project Explorer, drag the EditUser page onto the Edit [default] button.

Creating a Microflow

We will now create a microflow that retrieves all the products from the database and converts them to published products.

To create this microflow, follow these steps:

  1. Add a microflow called PublishProducts.

  2. From the Toolbox, drag a Retrieve activity into the microflow.

  3. Double-click the Retrieve activity and select From database.

  4. For Entity, select Product, then click OK.

  5. From the Toolbox, drag a Create list activity into the microflow.

  6. Double-click the Create list activity.

  7. For Entity, select PublishedProduct, then click OK.

  8. From the Toolbox (under Other), drag a Loop activity into the microflow.

  9. Double-click the loop and for Iterate over, select ProductList, then click OK.

  10. From the Toolbox, drag a Create activity onto the loop.

  11. Double-click the Create activity and for Entity, select PublishedProduct.

  12. Click New, and for Member, select Name.

  13. For Value, enter $IteratorProduct/Name, then click OK.

  14. Click New, and for Member, choose Stock.

  15. For Value, enter $IteratorProduct/Stock, then click OK.

  16. From the Toolbox, drag a Change list activity onto the loop

  17. Connect the Create PublishedProduct activity to the Add to list activity.

  18. Double-click the Add to list activity and for List, select PublishedProductList.

  19. For Value, enter $NewPublishedProduct, then click OK.

  20. Double-click the red end event and for Type, select List.

  21. For Entity, select PublishedProduct.

  22. For Return value, enter $PublishedProductList, then click OK.

Creating an App Service

You will use the microflow to create an app service that exposes the products to other apps. To accomplish this, follow these steps:

  1. In Project Explorer, right-click a module and choose Add > Published services > Published app service.
  2. For Name, enter Shop.
  3. Click Create version.
  4. Go to the Actions tab and click New.
  5. For Name, enter Products.
  6. For Microflow, select PublishProducts, then click OK.
  7. Go to the Settings tab and for Authentication, select Username and password.
  8. Go to the General tab and for Status, select Consumable, then click OK.
  9. A dialog box will ask whether you want to make this version available. Click OK.

Securing the App

Before you publish our app, you need to make sure it is protected with a username and password. To accomplish this, follow these steps:

  1. In Project explorer, double-click Project > Security.
  2. For Security level, select Prototype/demo.
  3. Click Edit module security.
  4. Go to the Page access tab and check all the checkboxes.
  5. Go to the Microflow access tab and check all the checkboxes, then click OK.
  6. Go to the Administrator tab.
  7. Type a password, and then click OK.

Publishing the App Service

You can now go ahead and deploy the app. This will publish your app service.

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