Univention App-CenterSince May 2014, four new apps (Kaspersky Mail Server Security, Mandriva Pulse, Dokuwiki and WordPress) have been released and 12 apps have received updates from their vendors. I’m delighted about those numbers. But it definitely was some work on either side: phone calls, e-mails, technical discussions in the Univention forum and feedback during the approval process.

Something had to be done to optimize the whole process and reduce the communication efforts. But what measures would be suitable and would they really help? For this reason, I contacted some of the app developers directly, some with App Center experience and those who have just made their first app available. Where did they have difficulties during the whole app creation process and what would help them? At this point, I’d like to thank the app developers for their open feedback.

Of the numerous feedback I received, almost everybody mentioned the following:

  1. How do I start with the app creation?
  2. The philosophy behind UCS is hard to understand.
  3. The collaboration with Univention works very well.

This feedback was highly valuable to us. Although there is a developer reference and an administration manual online available, those documents may not be sufficient for app developers. Therefore we decided to create a tutorial to guide through the process, i.e. how to prepare the UCS environment for app development, how to package the solution and how to choose the best way of integration including upload of the app to Univention. The tutorial will guide with examples and will also introduce the UCS philosophy. The first sections have already been written. It will become available during the next couple of weeks.

Did you face any challenges during the app creation that should be addressed? Please let us know in the comments below!

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Nico Gulden

Nico Gulden studied applied computer science and works for Univention since 2010. As technical editor he is responsible for maintenance and expansion of the product documentation. His spare time is dedicated to his family, reading, outdoor activities like cycling, photography, Geocaching and voluntary work with children and young people.

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