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Getting Started

Welcome to the INVENT Platform! In this documentation, you will find the resources to successfully create and customize your micro applications (Widgets).

Main Sections​

Overview​

This section describes the main concept of the INVENT Cloud Platform.

Enviroment Setup​

This section describes the prepararion steps for the development proccess.

BfF​

This section describes what is BfF (Backend for Frontend), the BfF Spec and the BfF Core which is a library that implements the basic functionality of customizing BfFs and building your BfF on them, and the basic concept of dashboards and the placing of widgets on the dashboard.

Enviromental variables​

This section describes main enviromental variables of the Widgets.

Widgets​

This section describes the development process of Dashboard and Platform widgets and their specifications.

Extensions​

This section describes the special form of modules for extended abilities of the Platform.

Technologies​

This section describes the Module Federation, which is used to build a micro-frontend architecture in React applications, the version naming convention we use for npm packages, and how to make releases for frontend part of projects.

UI-kit​

This section describes the UI-kit platform info and testing process of the UI-kit components.

Themes​

This section describes the theming of the different components of the widgets.

Widget Store API​

This section describes the Widget Store API, which provides a SaaS interface for widgets. It will help you to add new widgets without rebuilding the Platform.

A11y Support​

This section describes what technology the Platform supports and what is planned to be added.

Main Terminology​

  • Invent Cloud Platform - aggregation of Frontend and Backend technologies summary, so sometimes it is hard to separate one from another. So when we say Platform this could mean any part related to technical implementation depending on context.
  • Host application - Frontend application that handles orchestration of microapps in the browser.
  • BfF - Backend for Frontend. In the Platform ecosystem, BfF works as a customization actor. Also, it handles some validation and storing sensitive data, which you probably don't want to expose and don't want to put in API or dedicated server.
  • Microapp - any modular entity exposed in the platform. We have some specific terminology for them to define precisely:
  • Microapp/app - Frontend+Backend. Complete application but started and exposed via invent platform.
  • Widget - Frontend app without the dedicated backend, or when you mean to say only frontend part of code.
  • Extension - like a widget but without GUI. It could be some kind of app to extend the platform's API or populate the platform and widget API with something. A good example of it could be bringing WebSocket support and API to subscribe on the WebSocket channel.
  • Service - backend part. It could be a third-party API, your API, microservice, or whatever on the backend.