Extend app development workflow and requirements
Introduction
AccelByte Gaming Services (AGS) provides you Extend app templates to start your projects. The source code for our Extend app templates are fully customizable and hosted on GitHub.
Use the Extend app templates when starting your projects as they are pre-configured with basic authentication and authorization settings. The app templates also come with specific instrumentations that you will need for observability to enable metrics and logs to be available when you deploy your app. Additionally, having basic knowledge about gRPC can help you understand Extend apps better.
Each type of Extend app has varied setups and configuration steps, which are separately documented in the following guides:
For pricing details regarding the Extend service, refer to the Extend pricing page
Before diving into the above guides, AccelByte highly advises giving this article a thorough read. This article lists prerequisites for various development environments, provide a general overview of the Extend app development workflow, and offer recommendations for beginners to get started smoothly.
Prerequisites
An Extend app can be developed in Linux, Windows (WSL2), and macOS, each with the following general prerequisites:
- Linux
- Windows (WSL2)
- macOS
Linux Ubuntu 22.04 with the following tools installed:
Bash
bash --version
GNU bash, version 5.1.16(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
...Make
To install from the Ubuntu repository, run
sudo apt update && sudo apt install make
.make --version
GNU Make 4.3
...
Docker (Docker Engine v23.0+)
To install from the Ubuntu repository, run
sudo apt update && sudo apt install docker.io docker-buildx docker-compose-v2
.Add your user to the
docker
group:sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
.Log out and log back in to allow the changes to take effect.
docker version
...
Server: Docker Desktop
Engine:
Version: 24.0.5
...
Windows 11 with the following tools installed:
Docker Desktop v4.30+
- If you have not installed Docker Desktop, follow Docker's documentation on installing the Docker Desktop on Windows.
WSL2 Ubuntu 22.04 with
bash
andmake
installed.Bash
bash --version
GNU bash, version 5.1.16(1)-release (x86_64-pc-linux-gnu)
...Make
To install from the Ubuntu repository, run
sudo apt update && sudo apt install make
.make --version
GNU Make 4.3
...
An integrated development environment (IDE) on Windows that can work with projects inside WSL2 file system, e.g., Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDE, etc.
- In this setup, AccelByte recommends cloning the Extend app template project and work on it entirely in a WSL2 file system. This is to avoid limitations of WSL2, such as slow performance when accessing files in Windows file system.
- If you prefer to clone the Extend app template project and work on it in a Windows file system environment, take note of the following limitations:
- While the Extend app project is supported in Windows file system, the
make
commands required for the development must still be executed using WSL2 terminal. - If you clone the Extend app template project using Git on Windows, set
git config --global core.autocrlf
tofalse
. Otherwise, you may encounter errors when executingmake
commands due to line-ending problems, e.g.,$'\r': command not found
. If this happens, you can use tools such asdos2unix
to fix those files, e.g., shell scripts (*.sh). - Due to known limitations of WSL2, such as slow performance when accessing files in Windows file system,
make
commands may take significantly longer to run.
- While the Extend app project is supported in Windows file system, the
macOS 14+ with the following tools installed:
Docker Desktop v4.30+
- If you have not installed Docker Desktop, follow Docker's documentation on installing the Docker Desktop on macOS.
Bash
bash --version
GNU bash, version 3.2.57(1)-release (arm64-apple-darwin23)
...Make
make --version
GNU Make 3.81
...
Extend app development workflow
This section covers the general workflow for developing an Extend app in the following scenarios:
Create a new Extend app project
Clone the Extend app template project to your local development environment using Git.
Open the project using your preferred IDE.
Open the
README.md
file of the Extend app and follow the instructions in each section. TheREADME.md
file in each Extend app contains the following sections:- Prerequisites: make sure that you have prepared and completed the prerequisites for the Extend app.
- Setup: follow the steps in this section to ensure that your environment has the proper setup to build and develop the Extend app.
- Build: build the app in your IDE.
- Test: run the Extend app locally to test and debug issues, if any.
- Deploy: create and deploy the Extend app from the AGS Admin Portal.
ヒントIf you are developing an Extend app for the first time, AccelByte recommends running and exploring the app template as it is (before any customization) to get a feel of how the app works. This helps you familiarize yourself with how the apps function, allows you to explore features and functionalities, and therefore, assess how much app customization you will have to do for your project.
Start customizing the Extend app to your needs.
- gRPC *.proto file (if required)
- Implement gRPC methods
注記- In general, there is no need to change other files unless you need to do further customizations.
- Depending on the type of Extend app, gRPC *.proto files are handled differently:
- Extend Override apps: Use the provided gRPC *.proto file as is (without modifications).
- Extend Service Extension apps: Modify the gRPC *.proto file as needed.
- Extend Event Handler apps: Include one or more gRPC *.proto files from API Events.
After you customize the app, do the following:
- Run the app locally to test and debug issues, if any.
- Update the details of the Extend app in the AGS Admin Portal to reflect your customizations.
- Push the Extend app container image to AGS.
- Deploy the Extend app from the AGS Admin Portal.
Apply existing project to a newer Extend app version
Clone the new version of the Extend app template you are using.
Transfer the following from your project into the new version Extend app.
- gRPC *.proto file
- gRPC methods implementation
- Any other changes that you may have beyond the above (if any)
Run the Extend app locally to test and debug any issues.
Troubleshooting
This section contains troubleshooting information for possible issues you may encounter when developing an Extend app.
Docker login fails
When pushing an Extend app container image to AGS using Extend Helper CLI, extend-helper-cli dockerlogin ...
command returns the following error:
Error saving credentials: error storing credentials - err: exit status 1, out: `error storing credentials - err: exit status 1, out: `The stub received bad data.`
This issue may be due to the token size being larger than most credential managers can handle. For more information, see Docker's open ticket for this issue.
The workaround for this issue depends on your operating system.
- Linux
- Windows (WSL2)
Remove
"credsStore": "desktop.exe"
from$HOME/.docker/config.json
.Try
extend-helper-cli dockerlogin ...
command again.
In Windows file system:
- Remove
"credsStore": "desktop.exe"
from%USERPROFILE%\.docker\config.json
. - Rename the following files in
C:\Program Files\Docker\Docker\resources\bin
.docker-credential-desktop.exe
todocker-credential-desktop.exe.old
docker-credential-wincred.exe
todocker-credential-wincred.exe.old
- Remove
In WSL2 file system:
- Remove
"credsStore": "desktop.exe"
from$HOME/.docker/config.json
.
- Remove
Try
extend-helper-cli dockerlogin ...
command again.
You may have to periodically apply this workaround. As of this article's update date, Docker has a known issue of restoring "credsStore": "desktop"
in the config.json
file when it is restarted. For more information, see Docker's open ticket for this issue.
Next step
Start creating and customizing your Extend app projects. Refer to the following guides: