Manage applications

Create an application when you want to customize and deploy from a template. For example, you might create an application that you plan to deploy for testing purposes. You might create another application for production use.

When you create an application, you specify information the helps you categorize based on the application's intended usage. This information helps you filter and find a specific application.

Before you begin

You must have one of the following roles on the app-enabled folder or management project:

• Application Design Center Admin (roles/designcenter.admin)
• Application Admin (roles/designcenter.applicationAdmin)
• Application Editor(roles/designcenter.applicationEditor)

Create an application draft

Create an application draft from a template by specifying details and optionally overriding component configurations. You can then deploy the draft to create an application.

1. From the navigation menu, click Templates.

   Go to Templates

2. Click the Template ID that you want to use.

3. From the design canvas, click Configure an app. Then click Create new application.

4. In the Application name area, do the following to name and describe your application:

   1. In the Name field, enter a unique identifier in this space. For example, use a unique name and environment combination like web-app-staging. This is a required field.

      You can use up to 63 characters, including lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens. The name must start with a lowercase letter and can't end with a hyphen. Names can't be changed.

   2. In the Display name field, enter a name to display in the Google Cloud console.

   3. In the Description field, enter the purpose of this application.

5. To set a default project for any components with an empty Project ID field, select a project from the Deployment project list. The project must have the following qualifications:

   • The project must be a descendant of the selected app-enabled folder.
   • The project must not be a management project.

   If a component already has a project specified in its Project ID field, that project is used instead of this setting.

6. From the Region list, select the region where components are deployed. The component region is applied based on the following:

   • If the application scope is Global (default), the region is applied to components that don't already have a configured region.

   • If the application scope is Regional, the region is applied to all components.

7. From the Environment list, select the environment where you want to deploy this application. For example, you might want to verify that your deployment works as expected in TEST.

8. From the Criticality list, select the degree of impact on your business. For example, LOW or HIGH.

9. To specify owners, in the Owners area, click Add owner and enter a Display name and email for the following:

   • In the Business owners area, enter an owner who is responsible for quality and user expectations.

   • In the Developer owners area, enter an owner who is responsible for development and coding.

   • In the Operator owners area, enter an owner who is responsible for operating the application.

10. From the Scope list, select one of the following:

    • Global (default): The application contains a global resource, or resources are in multiple regions.

    • Regional: All resources are in a single region.

    This is a required field. For more information, see Compare global and regional applications.

11. Click Create Application. The application details are displayed.

12. To modify a component in the application, click the component in the design canvas and modify its parameters. For links to configuration documentation for each component, see Supported resources.

13. For deployment steps, see Deploy an application from the console.

View Terraform code

Your application generates Terraform code to reflect design and configuration details.

The following files are generated:

• main.tf: Infrastructure code that includes a module for each component in the template.
• outputs.tf: Exposes information about infrastructure components that are deployed.
• variables.tf: Declares name, type, and description for variables used in the main.tf file.
• input.tfvars: Defines values for variables used in the main.tf file.
• providers.tf: Defines labels that help Terraform interact with Google Cloud APIs and resources.

For background information, see Overview of Terraform on Google Cloud.

To view the Terraform code, do the following:

1. From the navigation menu, click Applications.

   Go to Applications

2. From the table, click the Application name that you want to view.

3. Click Code. The generated Terraform files are displayed.

4. Click main.tf. The Terraform module for each component is displayed.

Create an application revision

Create an application revision to modify details or components. If you modify application components outside of App Design Center, those changes are not retained when you redeploy.

To create an application revision:

1. From the navigation menu, click Applications.

   Go to Applications

2. From the table, click the Application name that you want to revise.

3. To modify application details, do the following:

   1. Click Edit and modify the details.
   2. Click Save to save your changes.

4. To modify a component in this application, do the following:

   1. Click the component in the design canvas and edit the details in the Configuration area.

   2. Click Save to save your changes.

5. For deployment steps, see Deploy an application from the console.

Delete an application

If you no longer need an application, you can delete it. For example, you might deploy an application to verify your template in the TEST environment, and then delete the application.

You can delete the following applications:

• An application that has not been deployed. On the Applications page, the Status is listed as Draft.
• An application that was deployed to the TEST, DEVELOPMENT, or STAGING Environment.

When you delete an application, the following occurs:

• The application details are removed from Application Design Center.
• The underlying App Hub application is deleted.
• If you deployed, resources are deleted.

To delete an application:

1. From the navigation menu, click Applications.

   Go to Applications

2. From the table, click the Application name.

3. Click more_vert Actions and select Delete Application.

4. In the Delete field, enter the application name.

5. Click Delete.

What's next

Deploy your application using one of the following:

• Deploy from the Google Cloud console
• Download and deploy