Limeade ONE Getting Started
Overview
Welcome to Limeade ONE, a comprehensive solution for building native cross-platform mobile apps for the enterprise. Limeade ONE is a modular platform that provides a complete set of tools, components and pre-packaged Cloud services for quickly developing, deploying and managing mobile apps.
Limeade wants to get users started with Limeade ONE immediately and without hassle. In this section, Limeade has assembled all the information needed for building the first enterprise mobile app. Now would also be the perfect time to sign up for Limeade ONE, if this task hasn't already been completed presently.
First Steps
It is recommended to start by reading the overview, as it will give an idea on how Limeade ONE works and what the main components are. Configuring a Limeade ONE tenant and installing the AppBuilder, a development extension for Microsoft Visual Studio, will empower users to build their first Limeade ONE app. Please keep in mind that users can always check out the Tutorial Videos provided by Limeade.
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Sign up for Limeade ONE
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Read the Overview
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Configure your Tenant
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Install the AppBuilder
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Build your first App
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Limeade ONE - Key Components
Download the detailed Product Description here.
| Limeade ONE is the award-winning employee app to reach and engage all of a company's employees. Employees get all actionable tasks, notifications and communications from multiple sources into one intelligent productivity stream. Additionally, employees are able to initiate processes, look up documents or share important messages quickly. Limeade ONE is the only solution that combines enterprise security (SOC2 compliant) and standardized integrations with a user-centric, consumerized experience. Limeade ONE consists of a native client app (an app for iOS, Android and Windows Phone), micro-apps that provide a specific functionality within it, a multi-tenant Cloud, an on-premises Hub, software to interact with backend systems, and a development environment, the AppBuilder. Please go to the Security Guide for further technical details. At the mobile device, Limeade ONE is a single native Client App. The first time a user launches the Client App, it requests an email address. The address is used to associate the user with a company in the Limeade ONE Cloud. The user is requested to enter network credentials which are stored in a database in the hub (on the customer’s premises) or authenticates against Microsoft ADFS. From this point forward, the network credentials are never passed and never stored in the Cloud or the Client App – only the user identity and a security token are used. |
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Limeade ONE contains specific functionality for use cases around displaying information updates and approval tasks. Cards are designed specifically for these use cases. Cards are presented in a Productivity Stream in the Limeade ONE client app. The Limeade ONE native Client App has a rendering engine built into it. When the Limeade ONE Client App contacts the Limeade ONE Cloud, new or updated micro-apps are delivered to the client. At the client, the micro-app is really just XML that provides instructions which the rendering engine uses to implement the interface and behaviors for that micro-app (e.g. if the micro-app is used for searching, the XML contains information about the search field, search button, how to format the search results, etc). This definition is cached on the client, so it can function quickly without needing to download a lot of data. |
Collectors are the software pieces of Limeade ONE that perform the process of gathering card data and moving it to the Limeade ONE Cloud. Interactions with backend systems (either looking up data or adding data such as entering a time off request) is performed through software called Connectors. These two kinds of software can be combined. A collector could retrieve all of the vacation requests that need approval by a certain manager. When the manager taps the Approve button on the card, the connector code is used to update the backend system. For further details and a list of all integrated systems please go to the Integration Guide.
The Limeade ONE Cloud performs several other very important functions. It stores lists of users grouped into roles for each company. This allows assigning of micro-apps to roles so that, for example, everyone in sales gets a CRM search micro-app. The Limeade ONE Cloud also forms a secure tunnel into the customer premises. This allows the micro-apps to communicate with backend systems securely without the need to add some other hardware or software. The Limeade ONE Cloud is also where any specific code associated with a micro-app will run (for example, the actual code that sends an update to a time tracking system when a user fills out a time tracking entry in the Limeade ONE client app). The Limeade ONE Cloud also delivers push notifications to the clients.
The Limeade ONE Cloud provides other administrative capabilities beyond mapping micro-apps to roles accessible through administration. It collects usage data and provides reporting for company administrators as well as monitoring the connection to the Hub. This also provides controls for theming of the Limeade ONE client app and allows a way to set configuration data used by the clients. For further details, please see the Administration Guide.
The Hub is a service that opens the secure tunnel to the Cloud, stores the credentials for on-premises access, and proxies requests as necessary. The Hub is a very lightweight part of the system. For further details please go the to Installing the Hub.
The last major element of the platform is the development environment AppBuilder. The AppBuilder is an extension for Microsoft Visual Studio that allows micro-apps to be defined. This can be a no coding process where the tool generates the code, or developers can build specific functionality. The AppBuilder contains the ability to connect to backend systems and map the data from them into specific parts of a micro-app. It also contains functionality for designing the experience in a micro-app (deciding what kinds of UI elements are used and where they are positioned for example). When a micro-app is defined, a developer can publish it to staging or production from the AppBuilder. For further details, please see the Development Guide.
Glossary
Administration
Users can access the Limeade ONE Administration of a tenant at http://one.sitrion.com. The Administration front-end lets users configure various platform capabilities such as Roles, Users, Systems, micro-apps and more. Also, users can check the connectivity status of the Limeade ONE cloud to the on-premises infrastructure here. User credentials for the Limeade ONE administration are the same as for the Limeade ONE DevCentral.
AppBuilder
This is the Limeade ONE extension for Microsoft Visual Studio. Users can find it in the Visual Studio Gallery and simply add it to their local Visual Studio installation. The AppBuilder allows users to build micro-apps and cards, create integrations into on-prem and cloud systems and debug projects leveraging built-in smartphone and tablet emulators. Once finished with the project, it can be uploaded to the Limeade ONE Cloud and assigned to Users and/or Roles.
Card
A card is used to display information and approval tasks in the Productivity Stream. Cards normally are based on triggers in a backend system and represent data that got pushed to the Limeade ONE Cloud by these systems. There are two types of cards: info and approval cards. An info card displays data only, an approval card can send back approval actions to the underlying backend system. Developers can build and define cards and their data bindings with the AppBuilder.
Client App
The Client app is a native app available for iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. It downloads the micro-app/card definitions and data from the Limeade ONE Cloud and renders everything on the device using native controls. Cards are pushed into the productivity stream. Micro-apps can be launched from the Apps tab. The Client app can be themed by the administrator (logo, key colors etc.).
Cloud
This is the hosting, runtime and management backbone of Limeade ONE. It's a multi-tenant infrastructure with data centers in North America, Europe and Asia. A Cloud tenant can be connected to a corporate data center and backend systems using the Limeade ONE Hub. All micro-apps, Roles and System Connections are managed in the Cloud. Users can access the Cloud tenant through administration and their Limeade ONE admin credentials at http://one.sitrion.com.
Collector
Collectors are a mechanism to move data from backend systems into the Limeade ONE Cloud to ensure that the clients can quickly retrieve and render cards. Each collector is optimized to work with a specific backend system and simply integrates with the Limeade ONE Cloud at the point of passing data into the card API along with the identity of the associated card implementation.
Connector
Connectors are used for integrating micro-apps with specific backend systems such as SAP, SharePoint or Salesforce.com. They have a design-time and run-time component. At design-time, a connector can be used in the AppBuilder to browse backend system elements and types. Micro-apps use connectors at runtime for sending or receiving data from these systems.
Hub
This is the gateway between a corporate system and the Limeade ONE cloud. The Hub is a lightweight service that establishes a secure tunnel from a data center to the Limeade ONE Cloud. It also manages connectivity to backend systems and stores user credentials securely in an environment. Once the Hub connection to the Cloud breaks, it will automatically reconnect and try to recover. A user can check the health status of a Hub connection under Limeade ONE Administration at http://one.sitrion.com.
Micro-App
A micro-app is used in data entry and data lookup scenarios. They can provide direct access of data from multiple backend systems using connectors. Micro-apps can have multiple interconnected screens that render data using native device controls. The AppBuilder is used for building and publishing micro-apps and administration (http://one.sitrion.com) allows users to assign micro-apps to specific roles and/or users.
Productivity Stream
Cards are presented in a productivity stream in the Limeade ONE client app. This stream is sorted by reverse chronological order and displays all cards.
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