Part 3: Change the front end with UI Kit

This section describes how to use tools in UI Kit, including UI Kit components. You'll use these components to build dynamic and interactive interfaces for your app's front end. When your app is complete, you'll learn how to continue monitoring the Forge environment using the forge logs command.

Modify the user interface

The hello world app contains a single Text component that displays 'Hello world!' in a Jira issue. In the UI Kit, this is represented by <Text>Hello world!</Text>. You’ll update the component to display the number of comments on an issue.

When using multiple UI Kit components, you must wrap them in a fragment (<>) block because a function can only return one top-level component. In the example below <> acts as a wrapper for the other UI Kit components.

1. Start the tunnel by running:

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   forge tunnel
   

2. Navigate to the src directory and open the index.jsx file.

3. Inside the <> tag, add the following after the first Text component:

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   <Text>
     Number of comments on this issue: {comments?.length}
   </Text>
   

4. Refresh the Jira issue view.

Your index.jsx file should look like the following:

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import React from 'react';
import ForgeReconciler, { Text, useProductContext } from '@forge/react';
import { requestJira } from '@forge/bridge';

const App = () => {
  const context = useProductContext();

  // add these code to keep track of comments
  const [comments, setComments] = React.useState();
  console.log(`Number of comments on this issue: ${comments?.length}`);

  const fetchCommentsForIssue = async (issueIdOrKey) => {
    const res = await requestJira(`/rest/api/3/issue/${issueIdOrKey}/comment`);
    const data = await res.json();
    return data.comments;
  };

  React.useEffect(() => {
    if (context) {
      // extract issue ID from the context
      const issueId = context.extension.issue.id;

      fetchCommentsForIssue(issueId).then(setComments);
    }
  }, [context]);

  // render the value of `comments` variable
  return (
    <>
      <Text>Hello world!</Text>
      <Text>
        Number of comments on this issue: {comments?.length}
      </Text>
    </>
  );
};

ForgeReconciler.render(
  <React.StrictMode>
    <App />
  </React.StrictMode>
);

The app displays the number of comments in the issue panel. Add more comments and refresh the page to count them in your app. Your issue should look like the following:

Close the tunnel and deploy the app

After confirming the app works locally, deploy the app so that it continues to work when you close the tunnel.

1. Close your tunnel by pressing Ctrl+C.

2. Deploy your app by running:

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   forge deploy
   

3. Refresh the page where your app is installed.

Check the logs

After you deploy your app, open your browser’s developer console to view app logs. Logs are created after the app loads, so you may need to refresh your page.

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Number of comments on this issue: 1

Your logs are an important tool when debugging Forge apps. Learn more about debugging.

View your app in the developer console

Once your app is deployed, it will appear in the developer console. From the console, you can manage and distribute your apps. You can also see how your app is performing, view your app logs and installations, and manage app alerts.

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Next steps

You now know enough to develop your own Forge apps. Learn more from our tutorials, guides, example apps or reference pages.

• Continue learning with Forge Quest
• The Automate Jira using Triggers tutorial uses triggers to respond to user actions in Jira.
• Install the Jira issue translator example app to see how you can enrich Jira issue content with Forge.
• Promote an app to staging or production makes your app ready for your users.
• Learn how to build a custom UI app in Jira.
• See the reference pages to learn what else you can do with what you’ve learned.