About App Builder and the App Hub

App Builder

App Builder is a set of application design tools that are incorporated in and can be run from within Infor Mongoose. As part of the Infor Technology Suite, it is designed primarily to run within Infor Ming.le® and in the cloud as part of a multi-tenant offering.

App Builder allows you to reuse existing business logic across Infor products and to build composite applications that use that business logic. This alows you to create custom-built and highly specialized apps to boost your productivity.

App Builder is designed to build basic apps using an intuitive WYSIWYG user interface. App Builder offers click-and-drop of UI components, a data service layer to connect with APIs, and an interaction wizard to set up how the components of your app interact with each other.

App Builder also includes responsive-design mechanisms that enable you to easily design apps for optimal operation and display, regardless of what device the end user is using.

Apps can be built, exported, and published from and into different environments. This means you can develop and test in your test environment, and then later deploy it in your production environment. Optionally, you can begin the creation of an app with App Builder and then convert it to be a Mongoose form for further development. It also means that you can receive and incorporate apps from other Infor or third-party sources.

Apps built in App Builder are client-side applications that use ION API and/or Mongoose IDO backend services. Because many Infor products are already ION API-certified, you can use them when building apps with App Builder. It is also possible to manually attach your own APIs behind the ION API gateway, and that way, you can use any REST-based API as part of your apps. In addition, you can use Mongoose IDOs (Intelligent Data Objects) in your App Builder apps.

App Hub

The App Hub is a repository where published and activated App Builder apps are stored and made available to users. This is the main user interface for the end user of your apps. The App Hub offers a list of all apps the user has access to.

Authorized administrators can administer their companys' apps within the App Hub. This includes exercising control over which apps are available, in what versions, and who can access them.

Mongoose as host for App Builder and App Hub

When used within Infor Mongoose, App Builder and App Hub are both hosted within Mongoose forms that have the same names. In fact, with the incorporation of App Builder and App Hub into Mongoose, these apps can now operate as FormOnly-mode Mongoose forms. This means that, if you are using Infor Ming.le to access App Builder and App Hub, you must be a licensed Mongoose user operating in Infor Ming.le. And if, for some reason, you are attempting to access App Builder or the App Hub from a URL, you are prompted to sign in to Mongoose before the form opens.

Note: Although App Builder/App Hub can run within a Mongoose environment, it is designed primarily to work within an Infor Ming.le environment.

Complementary design and storage of App Builder apps

App Builder and Mongoose can be considered complementary design tools. By this, we mean that what you do in App Builder can be converted to work within Mongoose, as Mongoose forms.

For example, suppose you create an app in App Builder. When you do, App Builder can convert and store the app as a Mongoose form.

Note: This does not necessarily imply that all content in one can transfer to the other. There are limitations, in that the metadata from an App Builder project must have an analogous concept or component in Mongoose, or Mongoose does not recognize and use it.

Interactions created in App Builder projects are generally created and stored in their corresponding Mongoose forms as form event handlers.

When an App Builder project is "copied to" (and converted to be) a Mongoose form, data services created from ION APIs in App Builder projects are created in Mongoose as IDOs (Intelligent Data Objects). Collections created with/for those IDOs are then added to the Mongoose form, and Mongoose components are bound to those collections.

Of course, data services that were created from Mongoose IDOs, retain and reuse those IDOs when the project is converted to be a Mongoose form.