'Add It Now' Functionality for my own Google App Engine Application

[Murali]

We have been working on Google App Engine platform for a while and our
applications have now matured enough to open to the market and we
would like to start with those customers who already use Google Apps
for their domains.

Google allows any Google Apps Domain to add applications that are
developed on Google app engine like Google Moderator and Google Code
Reviews to any custom domain with a simple 'Add it now' button on
Solution Market Place.

How can we provide this functionality for our own Google App Engine
application (to be installed on any custom domain with a 'Add it
now' )?

Could App Engine team share how to enable an app engine application to
provide that functionality. And educate the community on any API,
design considerations, upgrades, collection of logs etc. For instance,
does a single app instance manage all custom domains or an individual
instance is deployed for each custom domain?

Could App Engine team share more information on this topic or if any
community members that have done anything in this direction could you
please share.

Thanks a ton in advance,
Murali

[Nick Johnson (Google)]

Hi Murali,

We don't currently offer exactly equivalent behaviour to what's in the Apps Marketplace, though we would like to in the future.

In the meantime, however, anyone with an Apps domain can add an App Engine app to their domain by going to 'add services', and entering the App's ID into the box for adding an App Engine app there; your customers can do this to add your app, and then your app can detect what domain it's being accessed via by looking at the Host header in the requests.

-Nick Johnson

--
Nick Johnson, Developer Programs Engineer, App Engine
Google Ireland Ltd. :: Registered in Dublin, Ireland, Registration Number: 368047

[Barry Hunter]

Could you not just replicate the the "Add Domain" form from the
AppEngine admin area? [1]

That would then allow the user to associate their domain with your
app. You would I beleive have one instance that served each domain.
(it would have to look at the Host header to decide which domain it
was serving at that point)


[1] https://appengine.google.com/deployment/newdomain?app_id=<appid>

which when filled out goes to a url
https://www.google.com/a/cpanel/<domain>/AddAppEngineService?appId=<appid>

You hardcode the appid, but fill the domain as what they enter.

[twink*]

For my clarification, if someone with an Apps domain adds my app:

1. The users on that domain still need a "regular" Google Account to
sign in to my app, right?

2. But I can now detect their domain, so I can tailor my app to use
settings specific to their domain, right?




On Sep 22, 9:29 am, "Nick Johnson (Google)" <nick.john...@google.com>
wrote:

[Stephen]

On Sep 22, 2:22 pm, Murali <imural...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Could App Engine team share more information on this topic or if any
> community members that have done anything in this direction could you
> please share.

I like dflorey's solution:

http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine/browse_thread/thread/a35a70f238a048d3

It's an incredibly convoluted signup process (presented in a very
nicely produced video), but has the major advantage that the customer
is responsible for the resource usage of the app. The customer is
purchasing the software from you and the hosting from Google. You
install the software for them.

There used to be an item on the roadmap about this, but it disappeared
a while ago...

[Nick Johnson (Google)]

Hi John,

On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 4:25 PM, twink* <john....@gmail.com> wrote:

For my clarification, if someone with an Apps domain adds my app:

1. The users on that domain still need a "regular" Google Account to
sign in to my app, right?

2. But I can now detect their domain, so I can tailor my app to use
settings specific to their domain, right?

Both correct.

-Nick

[Murali]

On Sep 22, 10:52 am, "Nick Johnson (Google)" <nick.john...@google.com>
wrote:
> Hi John,

>
> On Tue, Sep 22, 2009 at 4:25 PM, twink* <john.tur...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > For my clarification, if someone with an Apps domain adds my app:
>
> > 1. The users on that domain still need a "regular" Google Account to
> > sign in to my app, right?
>
> > 2. But I can now detect their domain, so I can tailor my app to use
> > settings specific to their domain, right?
>
> Both correct.
>
> -Nick

Single sign-on is one of the selling points for apps. If users on a
google apps domain can not use their domain user ids to login to the
application (but need a regular Google account), then it will be an
uphill task to convince the customer to go and apply for Google
accounts.

It may be easier to help customer signup for Google app engine and we
install the app for the customer.

Is there any thing on Google App engine road map that could
potentially address this or help in this regard?

Thanks,
Murali

[Pedro Morais]

Nick,

Are you sure that's working?

I have 2 test domains, both using google apps; let's call them
"client.com" and "provider.com"

If while managing the "client.com" domain I try to add an app that
belongs to "provider.com", I get the following message:
You do not have the permissions necessary to install this application.

If there anything that needs to be configured in the application
itself to allow this?

If while managing the app (as "provider.com") I try using "Add a
Domain" (in the Versions page) for "client.com" if eventually asks me
for an admin login from the target domain, which in a real world
situation I wouldn't have.

Regards,
Pedro

On 22 Set, 14:29, "Nick Johnson (Google)" <nick.john...@google.com>
wrote:

[Nick Johnson (Google)]

Hi Pedro,

For this to work, the target app needs to be set up to use Google Accounts authentication, not Apps authentication.

-Nick Johnson

[Takashi Matsuo]

Hi,

Currently, Google Apps has an OpenID capability called 'Federated
Login using OpenID'.
So, for multi-domain deployment, using this feature and implementing
OpenID SP in GAE Userland would be one option.

Just my 2 Yen.

--
Takashi Matsuo
The father of kay framework

[Bart]

I agree with everything -- especially the need for the End User of a
Google App Domain to "install" Google App Engine applications (as well
as upgrades) seamlessly. It needs to be as close to "One-Click" as
possible for the end user. Depending on the Billing Relationship
(Direct or Reseller) -- it would be ideal if the Customer's billing
for that app would be handled by either Google (when Direct) or by the
Reseller. Really need to focus on the "Customer Experience" when
designing all of this.

In order to effectively compete with the Salesforce.com "Force.com"
platform, Google will need to provide this functionality. I believe
that a Google App Engine Marketplace + Google Apps for Domain could
provide synergies that Apple has seen with the iPhone + App Store.

Today it came out that Google Wave will have an App Store -- Google
Apps for Domains needs that same "App Store" with Google App Engine
powering it.