Progressive Web App

OX App Suite can be configured to provide an app-like experience for the user. As a Progressive Web App the user can install OX App Suite on the desktop and mobile devices and interact with it like a native app.

Configuration

In order to deliver OX App Suite as a Progressive Web App, the UI middleware can be configured to serve host specific web app manifest files. Currently this can be achieved using as-config.yml on the Java Middleware component. A working example that is used for the preview stack looks like this:

main:
  host: core-ui-main.dev.oxui.de
  pwa:
    enabled: true
    shortName: UI main Preview

The following table shortly explains the most important properties:

Name	Description
enabled	Defaults to `false`, needs to be `true` to generate a manifest.
name	Optional. The name displayed to the user is used as a label for the app icon on the homescreen. Defaults to `shortName` if not set.
shortName	Optional. A fallback name, when there is not enough space for `name` like on a phone homescreen. A maximum of 12 characters is recommended. Defaults to `OX App Suite`
backgroundColor	Optional. Sets the color of the background when opening the PWA and the color of OS-dependent features (Android task switcher, MacOS title bar, etc.) before a user chooses a theme. Defaults to white.
icon	Optional. An app icon. It requires a minimum resolution of 144x144 or higher. It is recommended to use opaque icons without transparency.
iconWidthHeight	Optional. As the icon needs to be square, this is the width and height of `icon`.

This leads to a minimal configuration:

main:
    host: all
    pwa:
        enabled: true

If pwa.enabled field is set to true, the pwa.raw_manifest field is sent to the client as is. Content of this field must be a valid web application manifest in YAML format, which is plainly transformed to JSON before being sent to the client.