Developing with Axeda Artisan 

While we think the power of scripting applications in the Axeda platform delivers a great way to build M2M solutions, we also understand the rigors of professional software development. That's why we've created Axeda Artisan, a system for developing Axeda Custom Objects and RIA applications in the familiar, robust environment you are used to and for publishing directly to the Axeda Platform.

Artisan Goals

·       Provide a project structure for keeping Custom Object scripts and RIA code together in a cohesive project

·       Layout a project in a file system structure that is natural for SCM tools like Subversion and GIT, so developers can maintain source code control over their projects

·       Provide a deployment system so that a project's scripts and RIA apps can be uploaded to the Axeda Platform in a single command, without needing to log into the Platform Administration UI

·       Use a modern IDE with superior Groovy language support, and access to the Axeda SDK class stubs for code-completion

·       One-command deployment of code to Axeda Platform – no need to log into Axeda Administration UI to deploy and test code.

·       Automatic distribution of Axeda SDK stub classes via Apache Maven – no need to go looking for the latest SDK and documentation.

Highlights

Edit Axeda Custom Objects for Rules or Scripto in an advanced, modern IDE with Groovy language support and the Axeda SDK classes available for quick documentation lookup and code-completion.

A thoughtful project structure to keep your UI code and Custom Objects together in one place.

You can use an IDE, but there’s no need to. Artisan uses Apache Maven to maintain dependencies and to impose project structure. You can do it all from a command line if you like.

Single command to push your custom objects and RIA to your Axeda Platform account.

 First Steps

(note, all tools mentioned below are cross platform and should work great on Windows, Mac, and Linux. Screenshots below are from Mac OSX, but apply for Windows and Linux)

Prerequisites

1. Register an account on developer.axeda.com if you haven't already done so. http://developer.axeda.com/user/register
   
2. Download and install the Java 6 Development Kit from http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk6-jsp-136632.html .
   
3. *NOTE: Make sure your JAVA_HOME environment variable set correctly. The JDK installer should do this but you can verify by following these steps: http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E19182-01/820-7851/inst_cli_jdk_javah.... Also make sure JAVA_HOME is on your PATH. 
4. Install and configure Maven 2.2.1: http://maven.apache.org/download.html , http://maven.apache.org/run-maven/index.html
   
5. *NOTE: Make sure the M2 and M2_HOME environment variables are set up correctly, as per the install instructions for Maven. Also make sure Maven is on your PATH.
   
6. Install IntelliJ IDEA 10 community Edition: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/download/
   or Eclipse: http://www.eclipse.org/
   
7. Download Axeda Artisan Starter project at http://developer.axeda.com/artisan-starter-1-download or the Artisan SDKv2 project (works with Axeda 6.5 and above) artisan_sdkv2.zip  .  If you are converting a pre-SDKv2 project to work with Axeda 6.5, please see the instructions at the end of the article.
   

 Your First Artisan Project

Unzip the artisan-starter.zip to your local development system. You should end up with the following directory structure

artisan-starter/

├── artisan-starter-html

│   └── src

│       └── main

│           ├── assembly

│           └── webapp

│               ├── images

│               ├── scripts

│               └── styles

└── artisan-starter-scripts

    └── src

        ├── main

        │   ├── groovy

        │   └── resources

        └── test

            ├── groovy

            └── resources

 Open IntelliJ and select File->Open Project. Browse to your artisan-starter directory and select the file pom.xml which is at the root of the project directory. The IntelliJ screen will look blank, but you can now expand the Project pane at the top left of the window.

 At this point, IntelliJ has read the Maven project structure and automatically downloaded the dependent libraries, including the Axeda SDK, to your local Maven repository, and made them part of your IntelliJ project. You may now begin editing Groovy scripts with code-completion.

Please note: If you are an Axeda customer and have your own instance of the Axeda Platform, please follow these steps so that Artisan project is using the correct Axeda SDK.

1.  Click on the pom.xml under artisan-starter-scripts

2. You will need to replace the version parameter with your Axeda Platform version    

    You can find your version of the Axeda Platform by logging into the platform UI, and clicking on the About link

Find the following section and replace the version

Please note :

Axeda ServiceLink Summer '11 Release -> 6.1.3
Axeda ServiceLink Fall '11 Release   -> 6.1.4

Axeda ServiceLink Winter '12 Release   -> 6.1.5

Axeda ServiceLink Spring '12 Release  -> 6.1.6

Please note that IntelliJ does not always resolve the classes after this change, so a restart of the IDE will fix it.

 Let’s try that out.

 Editing Groovy

Using the IntelliJ project explorer, navigate to /artisan-starter-scripts/src/main/groovy/GetChartData.groovy and double-click to open.

 Try changing some code and notice that the Axeda SDK classes show code completion. Nice, eh?  Be sure to undo any edits.

 Axeda Platform Javadocs are also available. In IntelliJ, click on the Maven Projects tab and expand Axeda Artisan Starter Scripts/Dependencies. Right-click com.axeda:platform-sdk:6.1.2W and select Download Documentation.

Now, back in GetChartData.groovy, place your cursor within the class identifier HistoricalDataFinder on line 38, and press CTRL+Q (CTRL+J on Mac) for Quick Documentation Lookup. You may also press SHIFT+F1 to instruct IntelliJ to open the Javadocs in a full web browser view.

apc-metadata.xml

Now open the file apc-metadata.xml. This file tells the Artisan installer which Groovy files to upload, and how to configure them in the Axeda platform. Notice the section that describes GetChartData.

To create more Custom Objects, just add Groovy Script files to artisan-starter-scripts/src/main/groovy/ and then add some XML in apc-metadata.xml to describe it.

HTML app

Also included in the starter is a sample HTML application. Note that the Web project’s files are all under artisan-starter-html/src/main/webapp. Also note that apc-metadata.xml contains a section to describe applications such as this one.

Upload Project to Axeda

Now that you’ve explored a bit, let’s publish the entire app as a Custom Object and an HTML frontend on the Axeda Platform.  This app will be immediately accessible via your web browser.

Expand the project folder view and locate the file artisan.properties. This file is used for artisan to upload your project to the Axeda Platform. Edit your username and password (and host if you are not working against dev6.axeda.com). Other properties can remain unmodified.

Configuring Proxy Settings for the Artisan:

# For local Http proxy. Leave commented if you don't use a proxy
#proxyHost = someHost
#proxyPort =  somePort

# leave proxy authentication details commented if you don't require authentication
#proxyUsername = someone
#proxyPassword = something

Go to a command prompt and cd to your artisan-starter directory. Type

 chart example deployed at http://dev6.axeda.com:80/apps/~john_doe_axeda_com/chartexample

    mvn package –f upload.xml

And sit back while Maven downloads the artisan installer from our Maven repository servers (one time only) and then uploads this project. In the end, you will see a message of this form:

You may browse to this URL and check out what you’ve deployed. It is a simple example that retrieves data from your account via JavaScript/Scripto, and renders a bar chart using the Google Chart API.