Template Engine

Template engine is a processor which generates empty artifacts based on artifact templates. The functionality of the template engine is embedded into Jinni.

For Tribefire purposes the template engine is mostly used to create artifact templates, but you can create any file structure with it - it does not have to be a artifact.

General

Creating directory and file structures for different platform asset natures manually is an extremely error-prone process. Template engine reduces the risk of an error by using preexisting artifact templates. Using the template engine, you are sure that the artifact you want to use for your custom implementation has consistent naming, contains all the necessary dependencies, and follows structural best practices.

As mentioned above, the functionality of the template engine is exposed via Jinni, which means you must set up Jinni on your machine to be able to generate empty artifacts.

Jinni

Jinni is an application used to set up Tribefire by evaluating platform setup requests. You can pass service requests to Jinni with the command line or using a JSON file. Jinni is necessary to work with platform assets.

Note that Jinni uses Maven to resolve dependencies, so configuring your Maven settings correctly is necessary for Jinni to work.

To set up Jinni:

1. Configure Apache Maven as described below.
   1. Navigate to https://maven.apache.org/download.cgi/, download, and install Maven 3.5.2 or later.
   2. Make sure that the PATH system environment variable is set to the root directory of your Maven installation (one containing the bin folder). You can check it by opening a command prompt and running the mvn --version command.
   3. Add the following system environment variables (we're using them later in the provided Maven settings file):

   Name	Value
   MYPROJECT_LOCAL_REPOSITORY	Path to your local Maven repository
   MYPROJECT_TRIBEFIRE_REPOSITORY_USER	Your user name on the remote Tribefire repository
   MYPROJECT_TRIBEFIRE_REPOSITORY_PASSWORD	Your password on the remote Tribefire repository
   MYPROJECT_TRIBEFIRE_REPOSITORY_NAME	The name of a repository you want to download dependencies from, typically core-stable. For more information, see the section below.
   MYPROJECT_DISTRIBUTION_REPOSITORY_USER	Your user name on the remote distribution repository (one where you would save your Tribefire artifacts, for example your company's remote repository). If you don't have access to such repository, ignore this variable.
   MYPROJECT_DISTRIBUTION_REPOSITORY_PASSWORD	Password to the remote distribution repository
   MYPROJECT_DISTRIBUTION_REPOSITORY_NAME	Name of the remote distribution repository where you will save your Tribefire artifacts. If you don't have access to such repository, you'll need to modify the settings.xml template to point to a local folder instead (explained below). In any case, you need to add this repository in Control Center/CortexConfiguration once Tribefire is installed, so that Tribefire knows where to save your artifacts.

   Note that the MYPROJECT part of the variable is a placeholder used to describe the project/company you work for, for example: ACME_LOCAL_REPOSITORY or PROJECTX_TRIBEFIRE_REPOSITORY_USER. Variable names do not matter as long as you are consistently using them in settings.xml.

   4. Make sure you have the correct configuration in your .m2/settings.xml file:

      If you have no access to a distribution repository, you need to replace it in the setting.xml file with a local remote repository. You can use the snippet below:

      <repository>
      		<id>localRemoteRepository</id>
      		<layout>default</layout>
      		<url>LOCAL_FOLDER_PATH</url>
      		<snapshots>
      			<enabled>false</enabled>
      		</snapshots>
      		<releases>
      			<enabled>true</enabled>
      			<updatePolicy>always</updatePolicy>
      		</releases>
      	</repository>
      

      You can download the settings.xml template here.

      Make sure to provide the correct values for localRepository, localRemoteRepository, username, and password.

2. Download the Jinni package. For information on where do download Tribefire components from, see below.

   Follow the links below to download latest tribefire core components, selected cartridges and related tools.

   Jinni

   Jinni is a CLI tool provided by Braintribe, enabling you to install Tribefire on a local Tomcat host. You can download the Jinni Package here (authentication required).

   The list below provides Maven setup dependencies for each asset. You can directly copy these into the --setupDependency part of your Jinni command, as in --setupDependency groupId:artifactId.

   Available Assets

   Asset	Download Link	Jinni --setupDependency
   Tribefire client dependencies	tribefire-client-default-deps	Dependencies required to communicate with tribefire-services through the Java API.
   tribefire Modeler	tribefire-modeler	tribefire.cortex.modeler:tribefire-modeler#2.0
   Enablement Cartridges Setups	tribefire-demo-cartridge tribefire-simple-cartridge	tribefire.extension.demo:tribefire-demo-setup#2.0 tribefire.extension.simple:simple-cartridge-setup#2.0
   Enablement Cartridges Source code	Enablement Maven Artifacts	Download the zip-file with the latest version
   Product Cartridges	tribefire-ldap-cartridge tribefire-shiro-cartridge swagger-model-import-cartridge	tribefire.extension.ldap:ldap-setup#2.0 tribefire.extension.shiro:shiro-setup#2.0 tribefire.extension.swagger:swagger-model-import-setup#2.0
   Aggregators	tribefire-standard-aggregator	tribefire.cortex.assets:tribefire-standard-aggregator#2.0
   Plugins	jdbcplugins	Check on individual plugins

3. Unzip the downloaded archive to a location of your choice (e.g. /development/jinni).
4. Add jinni's bin folder (e.g. /development/jinni/bin) to the PATH variable of your operating system.

For information about using Jinni to set up Tribefire, see Quick Installation.

Using Template Engine

Generally, every artifact generation request adheres to the following syntax: jinni request-name --groupId someGroupID --artifactId someArtifactID --version someVersion --installationPath somePath.

Normally, only --artifactId is mandatory and other information is defaulted. Different requests may take different parameters, as some requests have mandatory parameters which you must append at the end of the Jinni call.

For more information, see Artifact Template Types and Creating Artifact Templates.