Part 3: Change the front end with the UI kit

This section describes how to use tools in the 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 Fragment 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 Fragment section, 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 api, { route } from "@forge/api";
import ForgeUI, { render, Fragment, Text,IssuePanel, useProductContext, useState }from "@forge/ui";

const fetchCommentsForIssue = async (issueId)=> {
  const res = await api
    .asUser()
    .requestJira(route`/rest/api/3/issue/${issueId}/comment`);

  const data = await res.json();
  return data.comments;
};

const App = () => {
  const context = useProductContext();
  const [comments] = useState(async () => await fetchCommentsForIssue(context.platformContext.issueKey));

  console.log(`Number of comments on this issue: ${comments.length}`);

  return (
    <Fragment>
      <Text>Hello world!</Text>
      <Text>
        Number of comments on this issue: {comments.length}
      </Text>
  </Fragment>
  );
};

export const run = render(
  <IssuePanel>
    <App />
  </IssuePanel>
);

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, run the forge logs command to view app events. Logs are processed after deployment, so you may need to wait a moment before running the command.

Check for new logs in your development environment by running:

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forge logs

Your logs should look something like the following:

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INFO  2020-03-19T04:32:29.689Z 91be7233-f758-40f6-ae9d-478bfb9a12e2 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.

Next steps

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

• 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.