Git for Visualizer Projects

This article is a spin-off of the homonymous webinar held on 5th April 2018, where we explored a powerful combination of Git features and best practices which are particularly helpful in getting around the key challenges of versioning Kony Visualizer projects, avoiding merge conflicts and improving productivity.

As you surely know by now, the cross-platform nature of Kony Visualizer makes for a complex project structure in which many different tech stacks coexist. A single Visualizer project will contain Java, Javascript, Ant, Gradle, Objective-C, Cordova, Android, Node, XML, JSON and more. Hiding away this maze of technologies and offering instead such an easy to use UI with so many low-code features is of course one of Visualizer's greatest strengths, but this underlying complexity still poses several questions for those of us aiming to effectively and efficiently version a Visualizer project.

Git on its part is not free of complexities. Since being created back in 2005 it has quickly become the most widely adopted modern SCM in the industry. It's probably fair to say that the Git command line is an intimidating tool, but it's equally fair to say that this is only the natural consequence of the amazing power and flexibility it brings to the table.

Many people already use Git to version their Visualizer projects. If you're reading this, odds are you're one of them. But basic knowledge of Git can only take you so far. More often than not you'll run into issues where just knowing how to add, commit and push won't be enough. This article aims to arm you with powerful "Gitjutsu" techniques to take your Visualizer versioning skills to the next level.

illed with useful scripts, screenshots, productivity tips and proposed .gitignore file for Visualizer project, this article covers:

• How to Launch Git Clients from Visualizer
• Ground Rules: Do's and Don'ts
• What to Version and what to .gitignore in a Visualizer Project
• The Empty Directory Problem
• Considerations when Cloning an Existing Project
• Versioning the Changes of Upgrading a Project
• How to Version Project Settings
• How to Version FlexForm's and Image Widgets
• Useful Git Aliases

For the full article posted to Kony BaseCamp click here.