The Dashboard UI provides the ability to extend its interface by adding your own custom modules. Custom modules are located under the Operate pillar and provide new modules to operate on the product that you are building on top of SOAJS.

You can install your custom modules using the installer while you install SOAJS or if you already installed SOAJS then your custom modules became ready, use the SOAJS Console Catalog Recipes to get this done.

1. Use the installer

2. Use the Dashboard

The last configuration section of the installer provides forms you need to fill so that the installer can pull you custom ui modules and add them to the SOAJS default ones.

Click here to read more about the last configuration section in the installer.

Click here to see a demo that shows how you can install custom UI modules during the installation phase.

The Dashboard Catalog Recipes modules provide the ability to supply the Nginx configuration with environment variables that can have static values, or can be entered by users of computed by the dashboard.

These environment variables are supported by the SOAJS deployer that is available inside the Nginx image. 

You can update the Nginx Recipe by adding environment variables and instructing the deployer about the location of your custom UI modules and the later will pull it and add it to the default SOAJS modules.

• Go to Develop → Catalog Recipes

• Edit Dashboard Nginx Recipe (recipe auto-generated by the installer)

• Add the env variables in the recipe

  1. Reference Page: Deployment Environment Variables (add the variables that are specific to custom Git UI)

• Go to Deploy → Clouds & Deployments

• Click the Nginx Tab

  1. Make sure the drop down menu on the top left sidebar shows DASHBOARD as a selected environment

• Locate the Nginx entry

  1. Open the Service Operations menu

  2. Click Redeploy Service

Redeploy Service

This operation will load the catalog recipe again, if the catalog recipe has changed then the service will be affected, then it redeploys the service with the new recipe changes.

The SOAJS deployer inside the SOAJS image will read the new changes and act accordingly. 

While the deployer is running, your old service remains operational until the new service is flagged as running by either Docker Swarm or Kubernetes depending on which of the two drivers you have chosen.

When the new service becomes ready, then the old one will be terminated; your Nginx will be updated and now it will contain the custom UI Modules you have added.