Configuring Add-on and Solution Modules for Publishing

Last modified: November 5, 2024

In Studio Pro 9, add-on modules and solution modules were previously available in preview for select customers and partners as part of an early access program. In Studio Pro 10, this functionality is generally available for all users. For more information, see this page in the Studio Pro 10 Guide.

Introduction

Add-on and solution modules are special types of modules that are developed to add functionality to an app. They have intellectual property (IP) protection enabled and have the .mxmodule extension. For more information on IP protection, see IP Protection.

The main difference between an add-on and a solution module is their purpose. An add-on module is developed to be a standalone functionality that other users can consume in the their apps, for example, an add-on can be a connector.

Solution modules are always part of a solution (any Mendix app that is suitable to be sold to multiple different customers). Solution modules are dependent on each other and are inseparable. Solutions modules form the solution core of the solution.

Configuring Add-on and Solution Modules

You can mark a standard module (app module) as an add-on or solution module at any time, but Mendix recommends doing so right as you start developing. We also recommend changing the module version for add-on and solution modules every time you make changes to them.

All content of add-on and solution modules is set to be hidden from consumers by default (modules have IP protection enabled). You can then decide what parts of the module you would like to make as usable, if any. For example, you can allow consumers to use certain entities and attributes.

Changing Export Level of a Document/Element

Documents and some elements in the add-on and solution modules have the Export level property. This property defines whether the consumers will be able to use a certain document/element in their app. For more information on what documents and elements are supported for add-on and solution modules, see the Supported Documents section below.

The Export level has two values:

Hidden – the document/element content is hidden from a consumer
Usable – consumers are able to use the document/element in their apps; for example, you can mark some entities and their attributes as usable

To change the Export level and mark documents/elements as Usable, do the following:

In the App Explorer, double-click Settings of the module that you would like to set as an add-on or solution module.
In the Module settings dialog box, select the type of the module and click OK.
Open the document/element that you would like to mark as Usable.
Navigate to its properties.
Set the Export level property to Usable:

You can see that documents/elements that are marked as usable have an eye icon (). This means the document is a part of the API. The domain model gets an eye icon if any entity is usable.

Supported Documents

Not all documents/elements can be marked as Usable in add-on and solution modules, some – can be Hidden only.

Below is the list of documents and elements that can be mark as Usable:

Domain Model:
- Entity and attributes (including external entities)
- Association
Microflow
Rules
Enumeration
Constants (when a constant is hidden, a consumer will not be able to configure its value in the App settings)
Java Action
Regular expressions
Image collections
Custom widgets

Exporting Add-on Modules and Solutions

Before exporting an add-on module or a solution to customers, note that for Studio Pro 9.22 and below, English (US) and Dutch language translations are shipped with it by default, and for Studio Pro 9.23 and above, only English (US) is shipped by default (for more information, see the Internationalization Improvements section of 9.23 Studio Pro release notes). This may be important if your app is in another language (not English (US) or Dutch) and your customers decide to translate the consumed solution or add-on to other languages. To avoid confusion, open Language > Language Operations and select the Delete operation for English (US) and/or Dutch. For more information on how to perform a certain operation, see Language Operations.

Exporting Add-on Module Package

To export the add-on module, right-click it in the App Explorer and select Export add-on module package:

It is possible to add files in an add-on module package, you can select them during export and they will be imported.

Selection made above is not saved when exporting the module again, you need to select files for every subsequent export.

The add-on module gets an .mxmodule extension.

Exporting Solution Package

Solution package is an app package that will be sold as an out-of-the-box solution and can be used by multiple customers. It has a solution core that consists of solution modules. It can also consist of app modules and add-on modules. For more information on solutions, see Create Solutions in the Marketplace Guide.

To export the solution package, right-click the name of the app in the App Explorer and select Export app package or open the File menu > Export App Package. For more information on exporting, see Export App Package.

The solution package gets an .mxsolution extension.

Updating Add-on and Solution Modules

When you update an individual add-on or a solution module to another version, you can export this module and distribute the new module package to your consumers.

If, for some reason, you switch the add-on and solution module to an app module, for example, to provide source code to customers, their module data is lost once they upload a new version of this module to their app.