Create Custom Apps from the Base App Package
The base MashZone NextGen app package includes simple stubs of all the required resources for an app.
1. Select Visualize > App Editor from the MashZone NextGen Hub menu.
2. Click Create New App in the Open App window to start a new app:
a. Enter a Name for the app.
Note: MashZone NextGen uses the app name to assign a unique identifier to the app. App names can contain characters from the character sets supported by theMashZone NextGen repository, numbers, spaces, tabs, line ends and these common symbols: _ ~ - * ' .
c. Click Create New App.
The App Editor opens a new App Specification plus stubs for the other resources in the base app package.
3. Click Save all and run to test this app template.
This initial template is a simple Hello World app that displays a message like this:
4. Use the pull-down list to open and update the HTML, JavaScript, CSS and App Spec files, as needed, to create the app. Add images or other CSS or JavaScript libraries as needed. See the links to examples and techniques at the beginning of this topic for more information.
Files you add to the app are located within the folder tree for the app and must be referenced with relative URLs. Relative URLs cannot redirect to folders outside of the app's root folder.
Files can also be included using absolute URLs from external or internal sites.
You can also use any of the common JavaScript frameworks and plug-ins that are hosted in MashZone NextGen. Common examples include prototype, jQuery and many others. To see the list of hosted libraries, open the App Editor and click Add. You identify hosted libraries by name.
Note: The libraries for Prototype and jQuery are always available for all apps.
5. Test the app using the Save all and run button.
6. Once the app is working, or at any time during development, click Download to zip up all the resources and folders in the app package and download this to your computer. You can then extract the files and folders to check this into your source control system.
