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My First App

Let's create your first app to get started with DynaMaker!

In this tutorial, you will learn the basics of creating an app in DynaMaker and deploying it so anyone can use it! Although we recommend reading the good-to-know section for having an overview of how DynaMaker is structured and other programming tips, here you will see how easy is to deploy an app even without knowing the background.

For this we will follow 4 simple steps:

  1. Create app
  2. Create component
  3. UI
  4. Deploy your app

Don't forget to check the common mistakes if you get stuck. Good luck!

1. Create App

Once you have created your own team in your team dashboard, create your own app and name it MyFirstApp (spaces are allowed too).

If you open your project, you will see the app dashboard that contains everything related to the application, components, drawings, deployment and more.

In this tutorial we will start by creating a component and modifying its default geometry. Then we will connect this component to the UI, modify it and finally deploy the app.

2. Create Component

To start with the component:

  • Create a new one and name it e.g. Cube:

  • Go into the component by clicking on its thumbnail or name.
  • You will see the Component Editor in two sections: the code (right) that generates the preview (left):

To start with the geometry, let's change the color of the component. For this:

  • See that in COMPONENT there is a function called generateGeometry()

  • In here you can see that we define some materials, which contains color. You could simply replace it with the color you like in the RGB standard. Try dark yellow as RGB (255, 191, 0):

    generateGeometry() {
    // properties and model

    const color = new SKYCAD.RgbColor(255, 191, 0)
    const material = new SKYCAD.Material({ color })
    const materials = [
    material,
    ]

    const geometryGroup = new SKYCAD.GeometryGroup()
    geometryGroup.addGeometry(model, { materials })

    // dimension in layout

    return geometryGroup
    }
  • Save and apply your changes with Save & Update, so you see the cube as yellow:

  • In order to make these new change available in other parts of the app dashboard (UI, other components, drawings, app, etc), click onPublish.

Now that we have published it, we can connect this component to the UI. In order to return to the app dashboard, you can simply click on the top-right icon with the house.

3. UI

To start with the UI, let's change the title of the UI tab and then connect the component.

A. Modify UI

Let's start by changing the title of the tab:

  • Back in your app dashboard, go into the application by clicking on UI Studio, thumbnail or title of the app.
  • Again you will see the UI Editor: the code (right) creates the preview (left), which is in the end how the app would exactly look to the end user:

  • In UI, see the function onInit() with tab tab1.
  • Change the title of the tab, from the current Configure to e.g. Cube.
  • Save & Update to apply this change, so you see the UI updated:

Great! Let's connect the component with the UI.

B. Import Component

First off, we need to import the component into the UI, so it's available to use in the UI Editor.

In order to import a component in the UI:

  • Click on edit imports... at the top of the code editor
  • If you published the component correctly, you will see Cube in the list of available imports. If you don't see it refresh the available imports with the spinning arrow icon next to it.
  • Finally, import the component by clicking on its name.

C. Connect Component

Once the component is imported, we can connect the current default Width parameter. Notice that in onInit() of UI, there are some lines commented. These are the ones that we will enable again so that we use the component Cube. For this:

  • Add the component Cube to the UI, through the componentHandler, so like:

    export function onInit() {
    const componentHandler = Studio.getComponentHandler()
    const cubeComponent = new CUBE.Component()
    componentHandler.add(cubeComponent)

    // rest (tab1 and more)
    }
  • If you Save & Update you will see the yellow cube on the preview (left):

Great. As a final step, let's connect the default Width parameter with the component. For this make sure:

  • the default value of the parameter defaultWidth comes from the property of cubeComponent.
  • the value of the parameter widthInput is passed to the property width of cubeComponent with cubeComponent.setProperties()
  • with these changes, tab1 should look like:
export function onInit() {
// component

const tab1 = new SKYUI.Tab({
title: 'Cube',
icon: 'cog',
onInit: () => {
const defaultWidth = cubeComponent.getProperty('width')
const widthInput = SKYPARAM.generateInputParameter('width', 'Width', {
defaultValue: defaultWidth,
})

const updateButton = new SKYUI.Button('Update', () => {
const validWidth = widthInput.isValid()
if (validWidth) {
const width = widthInput.getValue()
cubeComponent.setProperties({ width })
Studio.requestGeometryUpdate()
}
})

const tabContent = [widthInput, updateButton]

Studio.setTabContent(tabContent)
Studio.requestGeometryUpdate()
},
})

const tabs = [tab1]
Studio.setTabs(tabs)
}
  • Save & Update to apply changes and be able to update the width of the cube.

In this case as you see, there's no need to publish, because the project always uses the latest version of the application. When we are done with the changes and make sure everything works as intended, it's time to deploy this application, so you can share it with anyone in a link!

4. Deployment

As the final step of a project, we deploy an application when it is ready to be used by the end user. For this:

  • Back in your app dashboard, click on Deployment Wizard at the top-right.
  • You can skip the tests for now to jump directly to final step of deployment.

For those who don't have a subscription plan in DynaMaker, you will see that you won't have any available slots. For that you need to upgrade your plan first. Until then, you can keep developing your apps (or doing the tutorials) and upgrade your license when you are ready to deploy your apps.

For those who do have a subscription, projects will be deployed as private, protecting the source code. You can read more about the 2 available deployment environments here.


Congratulations! You have finished the first tutorial. This is how the app would look like in a iframe with this link: https://deployed.dynamaker.com/applications/iqKro4BqBgJ/


Now that we know the very basics of a project and deployment, let's go deeper in the component in the next tutorial My First Component.