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On Standalone Application Router, Using HTML5 Application Repository, XSUAA Service, and Destination Service

Diagram

diagram

Description

This is an example of an HTML5 app that you maintain on a standalone application router in your own space in the Cloud Foundry environment. The app is deployed to the HTML Application Repository and uses the Authentication & Authorization service (XSUAA service), the destination service, and the User API service.

This example demonstrates how to prepare deployment configurable application router where the configurations are defined or overriden into separate MTA extension descriptor files and xs-app.json is being adjusted. The example is based on Basic App stored on HTML5 Application Repository, using XSUAA service, and destination service

Download and Installation

  1. Download the source code: 
    git clone https://github.com/SAP-samples/multi-cloud-html5-apps-samples
cd multi-cloud-html5-apps-samples/deployment-configurable-standalone-approuter-html5-runtime-mta-hello-world
  2. Build the project: 
    npm install
npm run build
  3. Deploy the project: 
    cf deploy mta_archives/standalone-hello-world_1.0.0.mtar

If the deployment has been successful, you find the URL of the application router in the console output or you can print it on Unix-based systems with cf app html5_app_router | awk '/^routes/ { print "https://"$2"/" }'. It probably has the following structure: https://[globalaccount-id]-dev-multi-cloud-html5-apps-samples.cfapps.eu10.hana.ondemand.com.

Check the Result

List the Deployed HTML5 App

$ cf html5-list                                     
Getting list of HTML5 applications in org 9f10ed8atrial / space dev as firstname.lastname@domain.com...
OK

name         version   app-host-id                            service instance   visibility   last changed   
helloworld   1.0.0     1db2ae23-90e9-4055-a22c-6865ca7ad73e   html5_repo_host    public       Mon, 10 Aug 2020 13:26:03 GMT

List the Deployed MTA

$ cf mta standalone-hello-world
Showing health and status for multi-target app standalone-hello-world in org 9f10ed8atrial / space dev as firstname.lastname@domain.com...
OK
Version: 1.0.0

Apps:
name               requested state   instances   memory   disk   urls   
html5_app_router   started           1/1         256M     256M   9f10ed8atrial-dev-html5-app-router.cfapps.us10.hana.ondemand.com   

Services:
name                 service           plan          bound apps         last operation   
html5_destination    destination       lite          html5_app_router   create succeeded   
html5_repo_host      html5-apps-repo   app-host                         create succeeded   
html5_repo_runtime   html5-apps-repo   app-runtime   html5_app_router   create succeeded   
html5_uaa            xsuaa             application   html5_app_router   create succeeded

Check the Web App

Access the URL to view the web app. You are directed to a sign-on page before you can see the web app that display your name.

webapp

Note that the homepage is index.html

Deployment specific configuration

This example demonstrates how to configure the SAP Application Router (approuter) with deployment-specific settings using templated values in xs-app.json. The approach allows you to deploy the same MTA across different environments (e.g., development, quality, production) with environment-specific configurations.

Overview

The example uses a templated value for the welcomeFile property in xs-app.json. This templating approach can be applied to any supported property in xs-app.json or its nested values, enabling flexible configuration management across deployment targets.

Templating xs-app.json

Instead of hardcoding values in xs-app.json within the application router binary, a template file xs-app-template.json is introduced. This template file contains placeholders that are resolved at runtime.

Example: xs-app-template.json

{
  "welcomeFile": "/${WELCOME_FILE}",
  "authenticationMethod": "route",
  "routes": [
    {
      "source": "/user-api/currentUser$",
      "target": "/currentUser",
      "service": "sap-approuter-userapi"
    },
    {
      "source": "(.*)",
      "target": "/helloworldapprouter/$1",
      "service": "html5-apps-repo-rt"
    }
  ]
}

The welcomeFile property uses the placeholder ${WELCOME_FILE}, which will be replaced with an actual value from environment variables during application startup.

Key Points:

  • The template uses standard environment variable syntax: ${VARIABLE_NAME}
  • Multiple properties can be templated using the same approach
  • Templates can be nested within routes, headers, or any other xs-app.json configuration

Template Replacement Mechanism

Templates are replaced during the application router startup using the envsub library. The replacement logic is defined in the start command of the application router's package.json.

Example: router/package.json

{
	"name": "appouter",
	"description": "Node.js based application router service for html5-apps",
	"dependencies": {
		"@sap/approuter": "latest",
		"envsub": "^4.1.0"
	},
	"scripts": {
		"start": "envsub xs-app-template.json xs-app.json && node node_modules/@sap/approuter/approuter.js"
	}
}

How it works:

  1. Add dependency: Include envsub in the dependencies section
  2. Modify start script: The start command performs two operations:
    • envsub xs-app-template.json xs-app.json - Substitutes environment variables in the template and generates the final xs-app.json
    • node node_modules/@sap/approuter/approuter.js - Starts the application router with the resolved configuration

Note: The template replacement happens at runtime when the application router starts in Cloud Foundry, not during the build or deployment phase.

Setting Default Values in MTA Descriptor

Default values for template variables are defined as environment properties in the MTA descriptor file. See mta.yaml:

Example: mta.yaml

modules:
  - name: html5_app_router
    type: approuter.nodejs
...
    properties:
      WELCOME_FILE: index.html
...

The WELCOME_FILE environment variable is set to index.html as the default value. When the application router starts, this value replaces ${WELCOME_FILE} in the template, resulting in welcomeFile: "/index.html" in the final xs-app.json.

Environment-Specific Configuration with MTA Extension Descriptors

To customize configurations for different deployment targets (e.g., development, staging, production), use MTA extension descriptors (.mtaext files). These files override the default values defined in mta.yaml.

Example: custom-welcome-file.mtaext

ID: standalone-hello-world-custom
extends: standalone-hello-world

modules:
  - name: html5_app_router
    properties:
      WELCOME_FILE: custom.html

Deploying with MTA Extension Descriptor:

To deploy with environment-specific configuration, use the -e flag:

cf deploy mta_archives/standalone-hello-world_1.0.0.mtar -e custom-welcome-file.mtaext

This command overrides the WELCOME_FILE environment variable, changing the welcome file from index.html to custom.html.

Benefits of this approach:

  • Single codebase: Maintain one MTA archive for all environments
  • Flexibility: Override any configuration property without rebuilding
  • Traceability: Environment-specific settings are clearly documented in .mtaext files
  • Scalability: Create multiple extension descriptors for different deployment scenarios

Common use cases for templating:

  • Different welcome pages per environment
  • Environment-specific authentication settings
  • Variable route configurations
  • Dynamic destination names
  • Environment-dependent CORS settings

Verify the Custom Configuration

After deploying with the custom extension descriptor, access the application URL. You will be directed to the custom home page (custom.html) instead of the default index.html. The custom page displays your name with a custom suffix.

webapp

Verification steps:

  1. Access the application router URL in your browser
  2. Authenticate using your credentials
  3. Verify that custom.html is displayed as the welcome page
  4. Check the Cloud Foundry environment variables: cf env html5_app_router | grep WELCOME_FILE