Zendesk Apps Tools

These tools make it easy to develop Zendesk Apps.

How to use

STEP 1: Install 'zat' using RubyGems.

$ gem install zendesk_apps_tools

STEP 2: Create a new app using 'zat'. Here's an example:

$ zat new
Enter this app author's name:
John Smith
Enter this app author's email:
john@example.com
Enter a name for this new app:
Test App
Enter a directory name to save the new app (will create the dir if it dose not exist, default to current dir):
/tmp/test-app
      create  /tmp/test-app
      create  /tmp/test-app/app.css
      create  /tmp/test-app/app.js
      create  /tmp/test-app/assets/logo-small.png
      create  /tmp/test-app/assets/logo.png
      create  /tmp/test-app/manifest.json
      create  /tmp/test-app/templates/layout.hdbs
      create  /tmp/test-app/translations/en.json

STEP 3: Work on the new app by editing/adding the files in /tmp/test-app folder.

STEP 4: Validate the app.

$ zat validate --path /tmp/test-app

STEP 5: Preview the app.

To preview a local app, follow these steps:

1) Start zat server

$ zat server --path /tmp/test-app

[2013-01-10 16:54:48] INFO  WEBrick 1.3.1
[2013-01-10 16:54:48] INFO  ruby 1.9.3 (2012-04-20) [x86_64-darwin12.0.0]
== Sinatra/1.3.3 has taken the stage on 4567 for development with backup from WEBrick
[2013-01-10 16:54:48] INFO  WEBrick::HTTPServer#start: pid=76568 port=4567

2) In your favorite browser, navigate to a ticket in New Zendesk. The URL should be something like https://subdomain.zendesk.com/agent/#/tickets/1

3) Edit the URL in the address bar to include a 'zat' parameter ?zat=http://localhost:4567/app.js, then reload the page.

The full url should look something like this: https://subdomain.zendesk.com/agent/?zat=http://localhost:4567/app.js#/tickets/1

The value of 'zat' is the web address to serve the app locally. The port number should match the 'zat server' port number from previous step.

4) Reload the apps by clicking the 'Reload Apps' link. The local app will appear in the app panel. (Note: if you are using Chrome, and you see a 'Shield' icon in the address bar, click that icon, and it says 'This page has insecure content', then click 'Load Anyway'. This is because the page is using https, but we are loading the local app using http.)

STEP 6: Package the app.

$ zat package --path /tmp/test-app
Enter a zendesk URL that you'd like to install the app (for example: 'http://abc.zendesk.com', default to 'http://support.zendesk.com'):

    validate  OK
     package  adding app.css
     package  adding app.js
     package  adding assets/logo-small.png
     package  adding assets/logo.png
     package  adding manifest.json
     package  adding templates/layout.hdbs
     package  adding translations/en.json
     package  created at /tmp/test-app/tmp/app-20130110164906.zip

Now you can upload the created zip.

Features

Create a Zendesk App

Create a template for a Zendesk App.

$ zat new

Validate an App

Run a suite of validations against your App:

$ zat validate

This will run the same validations that run when an App is uploaded to the Zendesk App Market.

Preview the App

Run a http server to serve the App locally.

$ zat server

Package the app

Create a zip file that you can upload.

$ zat package

Clean tmp folder inside an App

Remove zip files in the tmp folder.

$ zat clean

Supported Ruby Versions

Tested with Ruby 1.8.7 and 1.9.3

Contribution

Improvements are always welcome. To contribute, please submit detailed Pull Requests.

Issues

Please submit bug reports to Zendesk.