How to publish a forge app in JIRA?

[Surya A]

Hai all,
    I have three questions.
1. If i created one forge app, How can i publish that app in JIRA atlassian marketplace?
2. If publish a forge app in JIRA atlassian marketplace is possible then how can i install the app in my JIRA instance?
3. Is there any way to create custom installation page for an app? For example while installing i need to get some input from the user and i need to do validation. After enter the right details only the user can install an application in their instance. Is it possible?

 Thanks in advance..

[Daniel Eads]

Hi Surya, let's take a look at your questions!

1. If i created one forge app, How can i publish that app in JIRA atlassian marketplace?
   
   Instructions for listing a Forge app in the Atlassian Marketplace are available at this link - please note that as of this answer's publishing, this functionality is only available through an Early Access Program you must apply for.
   
   
   
2. If publish a forge app in JIRA atlassian marketplace is possible then how can i install the app in my JIRA instance?
   
   For apps listed on the Marketplace, you can install them in-product from the "Find Apps" page, or from Marketplace by clicking "Try it free" / "Get it now" on the app's Marketplace listing page. Note that if your app isn't published on the Marketplace yet, you can still provide it to sites through the longer process of manually installing from the Developer Console.
   
   
   
3. Is there any way to create custom installation page for an app?
   
   No, there aren't provisions for validating input before a user installs the app. You can have configuration pages in the app that do functions after installation. However, I would suggest not listing the app on Marketplace and instead distribute the app via the Developer Console as linked in Step 2 if you need to keep the app private somehow. If the app should be public and you're just uncertain about how to handle a particular settings implementation, the Forge section on the Developer Community is a good place to ask for additional help in that area.

Cheers,
Daniel | Atlassian Community

[Surya A]

Hai Daniel Eads,
    Thanks for your reply. Due to slightly delay for your reply, I just go through some documents and decided to go with connect apps.
Everything is okay for me in connect apps except to store the username and password functionality.
It's a third party configuration details. So we like to store it with secure for future purposes[ make API calls, etc].
So it's really needed to store them with secure. Is there any possibility to store them and retrieve them whenever i want? If any possibilities there can you please share it with me?

[Daniel Eads]

Hi Surya,

For storing configuration details, the typical pattern is to put this information on a settings page. Once the app is installed, the user would put the information on the settings page - and this also allows them to change the configuration in the future if needed. Just bringing that up as a little more insight to your question #3 above.

On the security side of things in storing information: first I'll answer that app deployments are sandboxed in Forge. This solves the data isolation issue you're referring to , and that's just something you get built-in as part of the Forge framework.

For Connect, the application developer is responsible for handling data security. More information is available in Security requirements for cloud applications - but generally we're only able to offer guidance on the requirements at a high level. The actual implementation details depend on a variety of factors, including your Connect application's service architecture and what languages you're using. For this reason, I might suggest re-evaluating the Forge platform to see if it fits your purposes. The Forge platform itself handles many security concerns that are expected to be the "app developer's responsibility" when developing with Connect.

Cheers,
Daniel

[Surya A]

Hai Daniel Eads, 
    Really thanks for your suggestion. My only concern to build forge app is publish this app in atlassian marketplace and app needs to be available whenever i want. You mention about the Early Access Program. It's not completed yet right?
You mention that we can store data in settings page. If it's possible can you share any document to do that?

Thanks in advance..

[Daniel Eads]

The Early Access Program for Forge marketplace listings is still active as of this moment. However, according to the What's Next section of the Forge announcement post , it's expected to move into general availability very soon. The process to submit an app for approval under the EAP is really not significantly different than doing it for production purposes. Details are here.

For data storage, check out the concepts in the documentation. The Forge Issue Alerting app is a reference app you can use to see the App Storage API in action.

[Surya A]

Hai Daniel Eads,
    I can get your point. But only problem for my organisation is EAP still in progress only. I need a valid point if i go with forge app.