Cloud Development - a Lower Cost Nail Application Development Method

(1) About the cloud development platform
The cloud development platform is an integrated R&D environment for cloud-native applications. In WebIDE, the basic services of the cloud are integrated into the application development process to achieve the same development experience as PC applications. Support team collaborative R&D, multi-environment deployment, lightweight CI/CD. Using Alibaba Cloud's serverless computing services, it has the advantages of elastic expansion and free operation and maintenance across generations.
Cloud development platform address: http://workbench.aliyun.com
Alibaba Cloud Development Platform

(2) One-stop nail application development
Develop nail applications through the cloud development platform, with high efficiency and low cost.
1. The learning path is open:
2. Creation and configuration of nail applications;
3. Out-of-the-box examples of the rich DingTalk capability library;
4. Breakpoint debugging, API immersive learning environment;
5. Open the R&D path:
6. One-click binding to Alibaba Cloud account;
7. Free to jump to the cloud development platform;
8. Nail application configuration postback;
3. Demonstration: How to efficiently open up the integrated R&D link of cloud nails
• Step 1: Enter the DingTalk open capability library of the DingTalk open platform, select a capability, such as learning training and task management, and click "Experience sample code";
DingTalk Open Platform DingTalk Open Capability Library: https://open.dingtalk.com/list/
• Step 2: One-click jump to WebIDE, the right side of the page is the DingTalk capability demo experience wizard, follow the prompts step by step, you can quickly open the link, start the service, and finally generate a QR code, which can be experienced by scanning the code on your mobile phone .
(3) Advantages and characteristics of cloud development nail applications
Advantage:
• Lower the threshold
1. Cloud development includes five business scenarios, various templates in 4 programming languages, and a total of 50+ application templates;
2. Each application template comes with its own cloud environment architecture, which can be used out of the box;
3. The platform provides free generation of test domain names and domain name certificates;
• Improve performance
1. One-stop cloud application R&D service, integrating a variety of common cloud services, configuration-free; DingTalk application development mode;
2. Integrate cloud efficiency pipeline to provide lightweight CI/CD functions;
3. Support online collaborative programming to improve communication efficiency;
• Reduced fees
1. Integrate serverless computing services, elastically expand capacity, and charge by volume;
2. Free operation and maintenance, make it possible for front-end developers to become full-stack engineers, and reduce the investment of resources and positions;
• Stability
1. The application template architecture is the best practice precipitation, and the scalability and stability have been tempered and polished;
2. Serverless computing service, easy to deal with pulse traffic, to ensure the stable operation of the service.
Four basic characteristics
1. Zero threshold start
• The tool itself is free, with a free quota during development, and Serverless is billed by the amount;
• Provide a wealth of free application templates and engineering scaffolding;
2. Team collaborative R&D
• The team is online, so that every new person can immediately invest in new business development;
• All-cloud development environment realizes what you measure is what you get;
3. Cloud IDE environment
• WebIDE supports code highlighting, auto-completion, full-featured terminal and other features that are close to local IDE experience;
• The combination of WebIDE and local IDE, adapting to various programming habits, provides cloud code hosting services, users can also clone the code repository to the local, continue to use the local IDE development habits;
4. Severless deployment
• No need to purchase and deploy traditional servers, provide 3 serverless computing methods: FC, SAE, ASK;
• Pre-set daily, pre-release, and online environments to support a consistent serverless environment to develop, debug, and run cloud applications;
• Realize free operation and maintenance and pay-per-call, which greatly saves the comprehensive cost of users;
(4) WebIDE practical demonstration
This article demonstrates from two aspects: 1. API capability learning; 2. DingTalk application development and deployment.
1. Learning API capabilities
a. First, enter the competence center of the DingTalk development platform;
DingTalk Open Platform DingTalk Open Capability Library: https://open.dingtalk.com/list/
b. Select a capability, such as "Own OA Approval Assistance Fee Control Reimbursement", and click "Experience Sample Code" (red box);
c. One-click to enter WebIDE, the left is the code project, the middle is the project description, and the right is the experience wizard;
d. Follow the steps of the experience wizard step by step:
Initialize the DevStudio IDE environment → start the service → update the application configuration (execution) → access the page experience function (scan code experience), experience the application on the mobile phone, you can view the code in the middle part of the WebIDE synchronously, and you can view the line number of each line in the sample code Click on the left and create a breakpoint, learn the API calling ability and apply it to your own code project.
2. Development and deployment of DingTalk applications
a. First enter the "Developer Console";
b. Create an application and enter "Development Management";
c. Preconditions:
• Bind the organization's Alibaba Cloud account to activate cloud development services;
• Bind personal Alibaba Cloud account to complete cloud development account association;
d. Click the cloud development application to enter the cloud development platform to develop the application;
e. Synchronize cloud development application information to the current page, and update the "development management" IP and domain name information to take effect;
f. Click online development and deployment to develop, debug, deploy, and iterate in WebIDE;
g. On the DingTalk open platform, set the OA approval authority, and activate the member authority in the address book management;
h. Click the Version Management and Release menu to confirm the release.
(5) Prospects for the development of complex nail applications
1. Support the development of DingTalk applet;
2. Support low-code custom logic implementation;
3. Scenario-based BFF installation, allowing front-end students to become nail application full-stack engineers;
(6) Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can cloud applications call existing services?
A: Yes, because the cloud application developed and deployed by the cloud runs in the user's account space, when deploying the cloud application, configure the VPC into a VPC with the same stock service, and the cloud application can be interconnected with the stock service.
Q: I am not used to writing code in WebIDE. Is it supported to write in the local IDE?
A: Yes, WebIDE actually corresponds to a GitLab code repository, which is a Codeup product released by Cloud Effects. Developers can check the code locally through the Git client command, develop the code in the local IDE, and then push it to the Codeup code repository. There are corresponding pull and push functions in WebIDE, which can be fully linked with local IDE development.
Q: Can cloud development applications be deployed in all regions of Alibaba Cloud?
A: Yes. When the application is created, configure the product line in the corresponding area. If there is no product line in the corresponding area, you can specify the corresponding area when creating a new product line.
Q: What programming languages ​​are supported in the development environment?
A: Support mainstream server development languages: Java, Nodejs, Python, php. Now cloud development also supports the development of Alipay applet, and will support the development and release of DingTalk applet in the near future.
Q: Are the resources involved in Alibaba Cloud free during the development process?
The resources on Alibaba Cloud are generally not free, but specific cloud products generally have a free quota. For example, Function Compute is free for the first 1 million function calls per month, so there is generally "zero" cost in the development and testing phases. of.
Q: Are there any restrictions on calling external databases or APIs?
A: There are no restrictions. The strategy of cloud development is to deploy the application to the user's account space, not the platform hosting method. As long as the deployment is configured as the same VPC, it is interconnected with the existing cloud services. Cloud applications call databases and APIs outside of Alibaba Cloud, as long as the network is connected, they are also interconnected.
Q: Can custom service providers use this kind of cloud development to develop applications for customers?
A: Yes, at the implementation level, just like ordinary custom development, if it is a SaaS method, the service provider needs to do tenant isolation. If it is privatized deployment, it is a question of whose cloud account is deployed. If it is fully managed, the cloud application can be deployed in the service provider's Alibaba Cloud account. If it is a buyout, the ISV can deploy the service in the customer's Alibaba Cloud account, and the customer will settle the fees incurred in the later operation in the Alibaba Cloud console.
Q: How to manage the database in the cloud development process?
A: Cloud development is not a platform hosting method. It deploys cloud applications in the user's account space. Therefore, there is no database hosted by cloud development. The database used by cloud applications is the user's own database. If you need to manage the database, you can use DMS on Alibaba Cloud.
Q: Does the cloud development environment support the installation of third-party libraries? For example, can the Python environment install third-party libraries by itself?
A: Yes, but the requirements for developers are relatively high, because you need to define your own dockerfile, users can refer to the help documentation on the official website of Function Compute to configure.