Single Action Example

Example: Create and deploy a project with a single action

Let’s start with a really simple example that shows the basics of creating the source code for an action, placing it in a directory structure for a project, and deploying the project. This project needs no configuration and creates actions automatically based on the project directory structure.

In the simplest implementation of a project, each action corresponds to a single source file. In this example:

  • A Hello World print function is placed in a file named hello.js.
  • A project named example1 is created and deployed to your namespace.

To create and deploy a project to print Hello World (simplest form):

> nim project create example1
> nim project deploy example1
Deploying project '/path/to/example1'
to namespace '...'
on host 'https://...nimbella.io'
Deployment status recorded in 'example1/.nimbella'
Deployed actions:
- hello
> nim action invoke hello
{
"greeting": "Hello stranger!"
}

So, what just happened? As a result, of nim project create, nim generated a project and added a sample to it called hello.js. Specifically, in your current directory, it created

example1/packages/default/hello.js
example1/web

We address the purpose of the web directory in Adding static web content and the packages directory later in this section.

As a result of nim project deploy, the project was deployed to your namespace and the result was an action called hello. To record the status of that deployment, nim created

example1/.nimbella/...

The nim action invoke step invoked the just-deployed action.

THe nim project create command has some other features that will come up in other examples. But, nim project create is only a convenience.

To make the process less magical and more hands-on, remove the entire example1 from your local filesystem and let's start over, without using nim project create, emphasizing that a Nimbella project, no matter how it is created and modified, is just an area in your local file system.

Create and deploy a project to print Hello World (more manually):

(1) Create hello.js with the following code:

function main(args) { return { msg: 'Hello World' } }

(2) Create a project directory with the following command:

> mkdir -p example1/packages/demo

The project directory structure sets the name of the project (example1), a packages directory, and the package qualifier (demo). There is no web directory this time; web is not required if you aren't adding web content.

(3) Copy the JavaScript file into the demo directory with the following command.

> cp hello.js example1/packages/demo

(4) Deploy the project.

> nim project deploy example1
Deploying project '/path/to/example1'
to namespace '...'
on host 'https://...nimbella.io'
Deployed actions:
- demo/hello

(5) Invoke the deployed action.

> nim action invoke demo/hello
{
"msg": "Hello World"
}

Here’s a diagram of the project structure that was created in this procedure.

Figure 1: Directory structure of the example1 project

Notes:

  • The project deploy command activates the deployer, which names the action automatically based on the source code file (hello), prepended by the package qualifier (demo).
  • If you want an action to have a simple name (no package qualification), put it in a package directory called default. In that case, no package qualifier is prepended. See Project Directory Structure. When nim generates a sample in nim project create it uses this feature.
  • The correct runtime for the source code file is determined according to the file suffix. The command nim info --runtimes will list the supported runtimes. At this time, the list does not include file suffixes. See Nimbella Deployer Supported Runtimes for Actions for a list that includes suffixes.
  • Project configuration occurs automatically when it can, but see Adding Project Configuration for complex projects.

Next steps:

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