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Workspaces and apps

This page explains the concepts of workspaces and apps, shows their location in the interface and explains what can be configured.

Workspaces

A VIKTOR environment may consist of multiple workspaces which are shown on the landing page when logging in. Each card represents a workspace and consists of a brief description of the functionalities together with an image. Users enter a workspace to perform calculations, export reports and do other work.

Workspace vs. app

A normal user mainly interacts with workspaces: this is where calculations can be performed. Inside the app store, the user can also find "apps", which are produced by developers. This section explains the difference between them.

What makes this a bit difficult is that the term "app" is also used for fully functional applications on your phone. Within VIKTOR an app itself is not yet usable for an end-user as will be explained below (this is a workspace).

App

An app contains your logic and all the code that the programmer wrote: how the app is structured, how the input is organized, what the output looks like and what calculations should be performed (the entity types and their structure).

As an example, you could have an app for calculating the volume of a beam. The app defines:

  • input: length, width, height
  • output: 3d model of beam, calculated volume
  • calculation: vol = length * width * height

This app cannot yet be used by users. It misses the data: which users have access and the actual values that they inserted and stored.

Workspace

A workspace is the actual place where a user can perform calculations. In short, it's an app + data: both user and calculation data. If the app is a .exe, the workspace corresponds to the fully installed version of the simulation software on a particular computer.

You can have multiple workspaces of the same app with different data. For instance, you can create workspaces for different projects or split users between two different workspaces to separate the data and make sure that they cannot see each other's work:

Apps in the interface

Apps can be found in the app store page of the environment. All users (except for external users/developers) have access to this page, allowing easy discovery and seeing what's available.

On the details page of the app the user can find images, a description and the maintainers of the app, which they might contact if they don't have a workspace they can use.

overview of apps

App version history

All the versions of the app can be seen on a separate tab, accompanied by the publication date and developer that published this version:

app versions page

App environment variables

App maintainers and admins can access the variables tab on the app. On this tab, environment variables can be created, adjusted, or deleted. For more information please refer to using environment variables.

app variables page

Creating an app

Apps can be created by administrators and developers. Developers are automatically assigned as the first maintainer on the app. In the "App Store" menu, click on the "Create app" button in the top-right corner to create a new app.

Creating a workspace

Workspaces always have an app assigned to it. You can either click "Create workspace" on an existing app card, or navigate to the "Workspaces" menu and click on the "Create workspace" button in the top-right corner to create a new workspace.

Editing an existing workspace

An administrator can edit a workspace by clicking on the three dots on the corresponding card in the workspaces panel. A modal opens in which you will be guided through the same steps as during the creation process.

Labels

An admin can add labels to workspaces and apps. This enables users to filter and quickly find the tools relevant for them. For instance the labels can be used to distinguish between industry disciplines, such that a newly registered GIS user can quickly find the relevant workspaces for him/her. Besides filtering on labels, a user can also filter on workspace visibility and app name.

workspaces with GIS label

Labels on apps

Besides labels on workspaces, labels can also be added to apps. These labels are pre-selected when a new workspace is created from this app. Besides filtering on these labels, users can also filter on the maintainer(s) of the app.

Label admin

Admins can manage the labels by visiting a dedicated page in the interface. The environment will be filled with a starting list. In the enterprise tier these labels can be edited, removed and new labels can be created.

managing labels page

Label inspiration

In the enterprise tier labels can freely be generated and changed to cater to the specific needs of your company. To give some inspiration on potential use cases:

  • industry (in the starting list)
  • discipline (in the starting list)
  • integration/software package (in the starting list)
  • project name (on workspace)
  • development status (on app)