PyCon Canada 2012

Prototyping with App Engine

Transcript

1. Web app prototypes with the App Engine Python SDK Vlad Filippov - PyCon Canada 2012
2. @vladikoff github.com/vladikoff
3. The Goals • Build unique applications and features • Quickly create experiences • Well-defined and structured data store • Epic test coverage The Problem • Development time • Repetitive tasks • User experience, interface and interaction • Setting up datastores, local development • Developer teams, different projects
4. Prototype an application - gather.at example From https://gather.at • Adding Entities • Layout Views • Filters • Refresh UI • ...
5. What is App Engine? How can it help?
6. Google App Engine and the Python SDK • Ability to build and host web applications • Preview in 2008, out of preview 2011 ◦ latest release v. 1.7.3 - October 23, 2012 • Supports Python (2.5, 2.7) • Usage: ◦ Pay for instance hours, bandwidth, storage, etc ◦ Free quotas (usage limits per day) • Over 20 built-in APIs ◦ Channel (Sockets), Blobstore, Memcache .... • Datastore ◦ App Engine Datastore - NoSQL schema-less object store ◦ Google Cloud SQL - relational SQL DB ◦ Google Cloud Storage - storage for large objects
7. Prototyping with App Engine • Try out application ideas • Prepare for large projects • Benefits of App Engine: ◦ Datastore ◦ Deployment - local test server & deployment server ◦ User API - use Google Accounts as login ◦ Saves time during setup and development • Testing - get a head start! • Give more time and realistic scenarios for UX
11. Basic Datastore db.get([...]) db.delete([...]) db.put_async([...]) db.get_async([...])
13. Things that will help you • webapp2 ◦ routing, controllers, templating ( jinja2 support ) • appengine-rest-server • Google Cloud Endpoints • Import bulk data (CSV, based on your models) • Use Google Accounts / OAuth2 • Task Queues (background tasks) • Appstats • Development server ◦ simulates App Engine ◦ development console
14. appengine-rest-server • Exposes your data model via a REST API • Supports: ◦ JSON (JSONP) & XML ◦ individual properties /entity/<key>/property ) ◦ basic filtering ◦ limits results ◦ metadata browsing ( /metadata/entity/ ) • Open source! • Great starting point
17. appengine-rest-server
18. Cloud Endpoints • Allows you to build REST and RPC APIs • Same infrastructure as Google APIs ◦ Translate, Places, goo.gl and other APIs • Supports OAuth2 • Includes an API explorer • * Ability to generate client libraries ◦ JavaScript, iOS & Android • * Tester only preview at the moment
20. Cloud Endpoints - Define an API Server Define API Handlers / URLs (app.yaml)
23. Prototype - Tests
24. Prototype - Sample Data
25. To conclude... • Invest time into unique features • Choose a workflow, optimize it • Record the time you spend on repetitive tasks • Reuse as much as possible in future projects • App Engine ◦ Easy to setup, great for exploring ideas! ◦ Write API & UI tests, re-use ◦ Basic data models, populate sample data ◦ Gives the front-end team more time ◦ * Helps you get into web apps & services
26. Thank you! git.io/dCeP9w @vladikoff github.com/vladikoff