Deploy Application to Cloud Foundry with SAP Cloud SDK for JavaScript

Before we can deploy our application, we first need to transpile our TypeScript to JavaScript and assemble our artifact for deployment. The package.json already defines two scripts for this purpose: ci-build and ci-package. ci-build takes care of compilation and ci-package takes care of assembly.

In your command line, run:

npm run ci-build && npm run ci-package

Note: We are aware, that the ci-package script currently does not work when executed in Windows’ CMD. Currently, the easiest workaround is to install a bash on your system (by default, git for Windows comes with Git Bash) and configure npm to execute scripts in that bash. This can be done by executing npm config script-shell <P:\ath\to\your\bash.exe>.

In order to deploy our application, we first need to login to Cloud Foundry in SAP Cloud Platform using the cf CLI. First we need to set an API endpoint. Depending on the region in which you have created your account, choose one of the following API endpoints:

• EU: https://api.cf.eu10.hana.ondemand.com
• US EAST: https://api.cf.us10.hana.ondemand.com

For the rest of this tutorial, we will assume the region to be EU. Enter the following commands in your command line:

cf api https://api.cf.eu10.hana.ondemand.com
cf login

cf login will prompt you for your username and your password. Should you have more then one organization or space, you will also have to select those.

Finally, if you have logged in successfully, you can call cf push from the root folder of the project. cf CLI will automatically pick up the manifest.yml of the project.

The file should look like this:

applications:
  - name: <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>
    path: deployment/
    buildpacks:
      - nodejs_buildpack
    memory: 256M
    command: cd cloud-sdk-starter-app/dist/ && node index.js
    random-route: true

Note: If the value for name is cloud-sdk-starter-app, you probably forgot to call npm run init -- <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>. This might cause your deployment to fail.

Take a look at the path and the command attributes. The specified path instructs cf CLI to upload all the files from the deployment/ folder. The command specified under the command attribute tells the buildpack what command to issue to start the application.

When everything works as expected, you should get output that looks something like this:

Waiting for app to start...

name:              <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>
requested state:   started
routes:            <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com
last uploaded:     Thu 21 Mar 14:05:32 CET 2019
stack:             cflinuxfs3
buildpacks:        nodejs

type:            web
instances:       1/1
memory usage:    256M
start command:   node index.js
     state     since                  cpu    memory        disk           details
#0   running   2019-03-21T13:05:47Z   0.0%   16M of 256M   126.8M of 1G

Make sure that the application works correctly by calling the index route or the hello route. Should the application not work for whatever reason, you can call the following command to access the logs:

cf logs <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME> --recent

In order to allow the application to use the destination you have just configured, you will need to bind an instance of the destination service and an instance of the XSUAA service to your application.

To create an instance of the destination service, execute the following command in your terminal:

cf create-service destination lite my-destination

This tells Cloud Foundry in SAP Cloud Platform to create an instance of the destination service with service plan lite and make it accessible under the name my-destination. We can now use the name to bind this service to our application. To do this, open your manifest.yml and add a section called services, under which you can then add the name of the just created service.

The resulting manifest.yml should look like this:

applications:
  - name: <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>
    path: deployment/
    buildpacks:
      - nodejs_buildpack
    memory: 256M
    command: node index.js
    random-route: true
    services:
      - my-destination

Secondly, we need an instance of the XSUAA service. The XSUAA service is responsible for issuing access tokens that are necessary to talk to other services, like the destination service. For this service, we will need a bit of extra configuration in the form of a configuration file. Create a file called xs-security.json with the following content:

{
  "xsappname": "<YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>",
  "tenant-mode": "shared"
}

The value for xsappname again has to be unique across the whole of Cloud Foundry in SAP Cloud Platform, so make sure to choose a unique name or prefix.

Now, execute the following command:

cf create-service xsuaa application my-xsuaa -c xs-security.json

And, as before, add the newly created services to the services section of your manifest.yml.

The final manifest.yml should look like this:

applications:
  - name: <YOUR-APPLICATION-NAME>
    path: deployment/
    buildpacks:
      - nodejs_buildpack
    memory: 256M
    command: node index.js
    random-route: true
    services:
      - my-destination
      - my-xsuaa

Finally, we need to adapt the getAllBusinessPartners function in business-partner-route.ts to use the destination defined in the Cloud Platform Cockpit.

The new function now looks like this:

function getAllBusinessPartners(): Promise<BusinessPartner[]> {
  return BusinessPartner.requestBuilder()
    .getAll()
    .execute({
      destinationName: 'BusinessPartnerService'
    });
}

We replaced the parameter of execute with an object whose key destinationName refers to the name of the destination we defined earlier. If you chose a different name than BusinessPartnerService, make sure to use it here accordingly.

Now we can recompile and redeploy the application. In your command line, run npm run ci-build && npm run ci-package && cf push.

When you now call the /business-partners route of your app, the Business Partners will be retrieved from the defined destination!