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WSO2 App Manager provides secure and self-service access to Web and mobile applications through a single-stop app store. It helps IT teams to effectively manage, deploy, and secure business apps, and it helps CIOs, and administrators to measure usage, productivity, and business statistics. The App Store facilitates single sign-on (SSO) to create a seamless user experience (single login to all apps), which reduces help desk and administrative costs.

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  1. Download WSO2 App Manager. For more  information on downloading WSO2 AppM, see Downloading the Product.
  2. Install Oracle Java SE Development Kit (JDK) version 1.6.24 or later or 1.7.*. For more information on other required prerequisites for WSO2 AppM, see Installation Prerequisites.

  3. Set the JAVA_HOME environment variable. For more information on installing WSO2 AppM, see Installing the Product.
  4. Using the command line, navigate to the <APPM_HOME>/bin/ directory, and execute the command for your operating system as follows.
    • wso2server.bat (for Windows)
    • wso2server.sh (for Linux)

When the App Manger server is started, you see the message "WSO2 Carbon started in 'n' seconds." It indicates that the server started successfully. To stop the App Manager, simply hit Ctrl-C in the command window. For more information on running WSO2 AppM, see Running the Product.

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Creating users
Creating users
Creating users

In addition to the common users in enterprises such as the publisher and subscriber, you can create custom users. Given below is the list of users and their roles which you need to create to use this guide. 

UsernameRoleDescription
creatorinternal/creator

This provides access to:

  • create apps and to submit them for reviewing before they are published into the App Store.
  • add documentation to apps, version apps, delete apps, and manage app security.
publisherinternal/publisher

This provides access to:

  • manage and maintain the life cycle of an application by approving/rejecting, publishing/unpublishing, and deprecating/deleting them. 
  • app statistics and usage patterns.
subscriberinternal/subscriber  This provides access to the App Store to subscribe to published applications, view the documentation, and rate/comment on the apps. 

 Follow the steps below to create the above users, and assign user roles to them. For more information on users and roles, see User Management.

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In this guide, you work with a sample Web application (e.g. Plan Your Trip), which you need to host in Apache Tomcat, WSO2 Application Server, or any other app server. Follow the steps below to create a new Web application in the App Publisher.

  1. Access the App Publisher using a Web browser (https://<IP_ADDRESS>:9443/publisher).
  2. Log in as the creator user you created above, or as the administrator using admin/admin credentials. 
  3. Click Add New Web Application.

    Info

    Alternatively, you can click the Click Here link to deploy the sample Web apps that are shipped with WSO2 App Manager. For more information on deploying sample Web apps, see Deploying Sample Web Applications.

  4. In the Overview screen, enter information as follows. For more information on this section, see Step 1 - Overview.
    overview section of creating a new Web app

    The descriptions of the fields in the above screen are as follows.

    FieldDescriptionSample value
    AuthorThe user who creates the application. The logged in user is automatically applied as the author.admin
    NameThe name that appears when the app is published.Plan Your Trip
    Display NameName of the app, which is displayed in the App Store.Plan Your Trip
    ContextSub context of the Web application. Gateway URL of the Web application will contain this context./plan-your-trip
    Version Version of the Web application. Users can have multiple versions of the same Web application. The version appears in the gateway URL.1.0.0
    TransportsThe transport protocol used. Select http or https.https
    Web App URL

    URL of the Web application. This URL is considered as the landing page of the Web application.

    Tip

    Deploy a Web application in Tomcat or any other App Server, start the server, and provide the link of the deployed Web application as the Web app URL.

    https://tomcat.apps:8080/plan-your-trip
    Description A short description, which will be displayed when the app is published.The Web app for all your travel needs.
    Thumbnail A thumbnail image for the Web app.thumbnail.jpg
    Banner A banner image for the Web app.banner.jpg
    Tags Related tags of the Web app. travel
    Info

    When creating a new Web application, you can also add policies, Web application resources, and advanced configurations to it.

  5. Click Create. The created Web app will appear in the Web Applications list as follows. 

    list of added Web apps

  6. Click Submit for Review as shown below, to change the status of the Web app from CREATED to IN-REVIEW

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  1. Access the App Store using a Web browser (https://<hostname>:9443/store), and click Sign In.
  2. Enter the username of any user with 'internal/subscriber' role and a password (you can use the subscriber user you created above), and click Sign In, to log in to the App Store.

    Info

    If you are not an already registered user access the App Store, and click Register to use the self sign-up option to register yourself, and then sign in to the App Store as the registered user.

  3. Click on an application to subscribe to it. 
  4. Click Subscribe Me. You see a pop-up message if the subscription is successful. Now, you can access and use the app by invoking it as described in the next section.
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Invoking a Web application
Invoking a Web application
Step 4 - Invoking a Web application

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  1. Log in to the App Publisher Web interface as the publisher user you created above, if you are not already logged in.
  2. Click the Web app to which you want to add documentation.
  3. Click Documentation, and then click Add New Document to create the new document.

  4. Enter information to create a document for the Web app as shown below.
    add document to Web app

    The descriptions of the field names in the above screen are as follows.

    Field nameDescription
    NameName of the document. This is mandatory.
    SummaryA short description of the document, which will appear in the App store.
    Document TypeThe type of the document. In addition to the available types, you can add a new type. Select Other (specify), and enter the new type.
    Document SourceWhether the document is stored in-line or provided via a URL or a file. The available options are as follows.
    • In-line: documentation is hosted in the App Manager itself. With in-line documentation, you can edit the content directly from the App Publisher interface.

    • URL: if you already have comprehensive documentation managed by an external configuration management system, simply link to those file references (URLs) through the App Manager rather than importing them to the server.

    • File: select and upload a document, which is stored locally on the server.

  5. Click Save New Document.  The added document is displayed in the Documentation window of the Web app. If the source type of the document is in-line, click Edit Content to change the content using the embedded editor.

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  1. Log in to the App Publisher (https:/ /<hostname>:9443/publisher) as the creator user you created above.
  2. Click Mobile Applications, and click Add New Mobile Application.
  3. Select Android for Platform as shown below.
    create new mobile app
  4. Select Enterprise for Store Type. The following are the available store types.
    • Enterprise - this refers to all apps that have been created by the organization.
    • Public - this refers to publicly available apps (for example, free apps available online).
  5. Select the APK file, and click Next. (The APK file size should not exceed 200MB).

    Tip

    You can download and use the CleanCalc.apk file as an example. (Click View Raw, to download the file.) For more information on the sample which uses this file, see Clean Calc - A Simple Calculator for Android Devices.

  6. In the Give application details screen, enter the app details as shown in the example below.

    add mobile app details
    The descriptions of the fields in the above screen are as follows.

    FieldDescription
    TitleThe name of the app (CleanCalc).
    DescriptionA summarized description of the app.
    Recent ChangesA summarized description of what is new in this app when compared to its previous version. This is optional.
    VersionVersion of the public application. If you have previously entered a different version of this app, enter a unique version number.
    BannerImage that will appear as the banner of the app.
    ScreenshotsScreenshots of the app for users to get an understanding on what the app offers. You can include a maximum of four screenshots.
    Icon fileImage that will be used as the app icon in the App Store. When the App Manager installs a mobile app on a device, the default icon will be used instead of the uploaded icon.
    Info

    The recommended image extension for the above images you upload is .png, and the recommended dimensions are as follows:

    • icons: 124px x 124px
    • screenshots: 288px x 512px (landscape), and 512px x 288px (portrait)
    • banners: 705px x 344px
  7. Click Create. The created app will appear in the created list of apps as shown below.
    created mobile app

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  1. Access the App Manager store using the following URL: https://localhost:9443/store/
  2. Log in to the store with admin/admin as username and password.
  3. Click on the published app to view it in the catalogue mode as shown below.
    view the app on the store
Step 4 - Integrating a Mobile Device Manager (MDM)

After publishing the mobile app, you need to integrate a Mobile Device Manager (MDM) with WSO2 App Manager to install the published mobile application in your mobile device. Follow the steps below to integrate WSO2 App Manager with a MDM.

  1. Integrate a mobile device manager with WSO2 AppM. For instructions, see Integrating a Mobile Device Manager.

  2. Restart WSO2 App Manager.
Step 5 - Installing a mobile application

 Follow the steps below to install the CleanCalc app you published above on your mobile device.

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