Introduction to Apps

In many cases, a user who runs a workflow is only concerned with a small number of the workflow’s components: its input parameters and the dataset that provides the workflow’s results. Apps provide a simplified user interface for workflows, which allows the relevant input parameters for a workflow to be set using a simple form, and a workflow’s result to be accessed using a link to a URL.

LiveCompare includes a number of predefined Apps. The Apps that are available to the current user are displayed in the LiveCompare Consumer interface. This interface is displayed when a user logs in with Consumer privileges, and may also be accessed from the LiveCompare main screen. The Apps available to a user may be controlled by their project assignments, and the display of Apps in the Consumer interface may also be filtered by the DevOps teams to which the user has been assigned.

In the Consumer interface, Apps may be run by executing App variants. A variant is an instance of an App with a particular set of saved parameter values. When a variant is executed, its associated workflows are copied to an App workspace and run using the variant’s parameter values. Apps normally produce a String dataset as a result, which is the URL of a generated report.

If you have LiveCompare Editor or Administrator privileges, the Studio interface for Apps may be accessed by selecting the App Store folder in the LiveCompare hierarchy. The Studio interface displays the Apps that have been registered in your current project, and allows you to monitor the execution of Apps and access their results.

In the Studio interface, users with LiveCompare Editor privileges may view details of the variants that have been created for an App, and modify an App’s title and associated image. They may also copy an App’s workflow to a workspace, replace an App’s workflow, and export and import Apps. Users with LiveCompare Administrator privileges may also export and import Apps.

If you have LiveCompare Editor privileges, an App may be created for a workflow using the Register Workflow as App Wizard. The Wizard allows you to select the input parameters to be displayed by the App, and a single String dataset that is returned by the workflow as the App’s result. Normally this will be the URL of a generated report.

The definition of an App stores an embedded copy of the workflow for which the App was created, as copies of any called workflows or shared templates. This means that any changes made to these workflows or templates in the LiveCompare Studio will not affect the functioning of the App. LiveCompare allows an App’s workflows to be copied to a workspace in the LiveCompare hierarchy. It also allows an App’s top-level workflow to be replaced with a new workflow, or with an updated version of the same workflow.

Note that Data Stores are not recommended for use in workflows registered as Apps.

Registering Workflows as Apps

Editing App Details

Running Variants

Viewing Results

Deleting Apps

Purging App Results

Consumer Interface

Studio Interface

Standard Apps