Apps and Workspaces
Apps allow you to display or work with information from MashZone NextGen mashups or mashable information sources in many different destinations and devices. You can work with apps in the AppDepot or the MashZone NextGen Mobile apps, in MashZone NextGen Hub or in other destinations such as portals.
The types of apps that you may create or work with include:
Basic Apps and GadgetsYou create basic apps from one
MashZone NextGen mashup or mashable using one or more views that have been created for that mashup or mashable. Based on their views, basic apps can be used in desktop or mobile destinations. See
Create a Basic App for instructions.
In most cases, basic apps display information in fairly common views such as a table, maps or charts. For apps with multiple views, events in one view also update the other views. For example, selecting a row in a table may highlight the corresponding point on a map. Basic apps can also be added to workspaces in Mashboard.
Workspace Apps You can also collect apps into workspaces with a particular focus or simply organize apps in a useful way. Workspaces contain one or more apps organized in a particular layout, such as a grid or separate tabs. Workspaces can also contain gadgets which wrap apps or other content from external sites such as videos or other types of media in your organization.
You can also wire interactions between apps in workspaces so that they work together, as a composition.
Note: Wiring interactions is also known as inter-App communication. It allows events in one app, such as clicking something, to send information to other apps in the workspace that they use to update their data or perform some further action.
Workspaces are also apps. You can publish workspaces and then find or use them in the AppDepot, the MashZone NextGen Mobile apps or other destinations, just as you do with individual apps.
Custom Apps MashZone NextGen developers or administrators can also create custom apps that use MashZone NextGen mashups or mashables in custom or more complex views. They can start from basic apps and then extend them for a customized look or feel. Or they can create custom apps from scratch.
Common examples of custom apps include apps that require additional interaction, such as forms, or mashup/mashable responses that need a unique or custom look and feel.
For custom apps based on a basic app, developers create a basic app and then extend it in the
App Editor.
See Customize a Basic App or View for instructions. Once you or other users have created apps, you can work them much as you do with other MashZone NextGen artifacts. You can embed them or publish them to other destinations. Or publish them to the AppDepot, for desktop access. For instructions, see