Publish to the Stage environment | Zoho Creator Developer Console Help

Publishing to the Stage environment

Notes
This help page is for users in Developer Console version 6. If you are in the older version (Developer Console 5), click here. Know your Developer Console version.

1. What does this page cover?

Learn about publishing your applications from the Development to the Stage environment, so it can then be distributed to your clients. Before you proceed, you can learn more about environments.
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2. Availability

The super admin can create the applications and assign developers to edit and test them using environments.

3. Steps to publish to the Stage environment

After developing the app, the next step is to test the application or the changes made to it. This testing is performed in the Stage environment. To publish the app to Stage:
  1. Navigate to the Environments section under Deploy.
  2. Click Publish to Stage in the top-right corner.


  3. On the Select Apps page, select the app that needs to be published to Stage and click Proceed. Once you select the app, the Staging page will list all the changes that have been made to the app.


  1. Select the components that should be published to the Stage environment, then click Proceed.
     

Notes
Note:
- Only the selected components' changes will be published. If a component has changes but is not selected, those changes will not be published. Use the search bar to find required components if the list is long.
- Clicking on a component displays the changes along with the type of change. Added means a new component has been added, Modified means an existing component has been modified, and Deleted means a component has been deleted.
  • Some changes might involve dependencies. A dependency is a relationship where one or more components must exist for another component to function properly, like with Lookup fields. If the components you selected have dependencies, then the dependent components will be automatically selected as well. 

    For example, if a Submit New Complaint form in a vendor management app contains a lookup field linking to the Add Vendor form within the same app, a dependency exists between the two. If Submit New Complaint is selected, then Add Vendor will be auto-selected and should be published for the component to work properly.

  1. Specify the details for the version on the Version Details page.


    The application changes, which are being published in one instance, are called a version. On this page:

  • Specify a Title and Description for the version.
  • Select a Version typeMajor changes (like from version 1 to 2) or Minor changes (meaning version 1 to 1.1). Minor versions, like 1.2, when pushed to a Major type are rounded up—in this case, to 2.
  • Select super admins or developers to send email notifications to. The super admins and developers of the application are listed here, and a maximum of three can be selected.

Before the changes are published, a few validations are performed to ensure the publishing process is successful:
  • Data Loss: This warning appears when a component is deleted, and this change is published to Stage. It alerts the super admins and developers that this will also remove any related data when the change is published. For example, if an application is published to Stage and entries are added to a form during testing in the Stage environment, and the form is later deleted and this change is published again, all the entries made to the form in the Stage environment during the earlier testing will be deleted.
  • Permission: This warning appears when a permission or a role has been deleted, and this deletion action is published to Stage. It informs the super admins and developers that the deleted profile or role is mapped to the new one, as specified during deletion.
  • Post Publish: This informs the super admin and developers that the publishing process may take additional time when encryption or formula field changes are made, in addition to the normal publishing time.

  1. Click Publish. The publishing process will be initiated.


  • On the Environments page, the status of the application under the Stage section will be Publish in progress.
  • Once the publishing process is complete, the Stage version of the app will be listed.



You can then proceed to test your application to ensure there are no issues. After testing, distribute the application on the Marketplace or share it privately with your clients.

4. Steps to publish connections

Publishing connections in the Developer Console makes them available for clients, enabling secure and functional communication between their apps and external services or Zoho products. Once published, these connections can be used by the app's clients, streamlining access to external systems or Zoho services.
The process includes creating a connection, testing it in a staging environment, and then making it accessible to users. After installing an app, clients must authorize the connection to enable its functionality.
 

Follow these steps to publish a connection to the Stage environment:

  1. Create a connection for your application in your Developer Console account.
  2. Configure the connection details, such as the service name, connection type, and permissions.
  3. Navigate to the Environments tab and choose the app you want to publish the connections with, from the Select Apps page.
    InfoInfo: Connections linked to an app are considered in the publishing lifecycle when added to environments.
  4. Select the components associated with the app to be published. Also, choose the connections under the Microservices tab and click Proceed.
  5. Specify the details for the version on the Version Details page and click Publish. The publishing process will be initiated.
Once published, the connections can be authorized and tested in the development or stage environment's live mode. You can then distribute the app to Zoho Marketplace or privately share it with your users after the testing.

4.1 Behavior of connections in Developer Console

Connections are integral to linking apps with external services, ensuring seamless communication and data flow. When managing the publishing lifecycle, connections follow these:
  • Before publishing an app to the Marketplace or clients, all the connections included must be published to the Stage environment.
  • For any new added connection or modification, the new version of the selected connection will be displayed in the right pane of the Staging page.
  • When publishing a new connection, it has to be published along with one dependent component.
  • Any modification or changes made to the connection, like connection name, link name, and scope additions/deletions, can be published as an update without any references. It can be published independently without any dependencies.
  • When a deprecated connection is in use, the clients cannot use the connection and will receive a warning. The connection has to be updated if its a soft deprecation else an alternate connection has to be used.

 4.2 Points to note 

  • Connections can only be associated with one application at a time. Once enabled and published, this configuration cannot be changed.
  • Only system connections allow multiple apps to access them without being tied to the publish cycle.
  • When distributing the app, client-side super admins must authorize the connection to enable its usage.
  • Updates to the connection can be published in the same manner to Stage and distributed further to clients or published to Marketplace.

5. Publish operations

5.1 Locking mechanism during publishing

Use cases

Development - Edit mode

Stage - Live mode

When you select an app during publishing and click Next

Selected app will be locked

No changes occur

Publish to Stage initiated

Selected app will be locked

Selected app will be locked

 

When publishing to Stage is completed or has failed

Selected app will be unlocked

 

Selected app will be unlocked


5.2 
User collision scenarios 

When two developers or the super admin are publishing the same application to Stage:

Super admin or developers

Another developer

 

Trying to publish to Stage

On app selection screen

When selecting an app during publishing and clicking Next

When selecting an app during publishing and clicking Next
 

No changes occur

Info banner appears with a message that another user is trying to publish changes


The user can still proceed to the next screen
 

Alert pop-up appears that another user is trying to publish a change

 

The user cannot proceed further
 


5.3 Publishing to Stage status messages

App number and action

Scenario

App publish status message

App 1 is published to Stage


Publishing in progress

V1.0 is in progress

Some error during publishing

Error in publish

Publishing successful

V1.0

Notes
Note: Error details can be viewed by clicking the error status messages.

What's next
Previous step
What's next
The next step after publishing changes to the Stage environment is to test the application and distribute it either using Marketplace or privately to your clients.
Previous step
Understanding the need for and use of environments when creating an application is essential. To deepen your knowledge, start by learning about environments.
 

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