Updated on 2025-08-26 GMT+08:00

Low-Code Development

On Huawei Cloud Astro Zero, you can use the visual orchestration tools, such as graphical user interface (GUI), logic, and objects, to quickly build applications through drag-and-drop operations. Before using Huawei Cloud Astro Zero, study this section to grasp how the service works.

Figure 1 Process of using Huawei Cloud Astro Zero

Understanding the Huawei Cloud Astro Zero Environments

Before building low-code applications, familiarize yourself with its environments. Application development involves three phases: development, test, and rollout. Each phase has a separate environment to isolate data and ensure the stability of the final version.

Figure 2 Three environments
  • Development environment

    You can develop and configure logical modules in this environment to create different types of applications. The default domain name is appcube.cn-north-4.huaweicloud.com.

  • Sandbox environment

    You can configure testing data and test applications in this environment before their release. The default domain name is appcubesandbox.cn-north-4.huaweicloud.com.

    A sandbox is a security mechanism that separates running applications. It is often used to test applications that are untrusted or destructive, or whose intentions cannot be determined. The sandbox restricts program behavior and resource access based on security policies. It restricts network access, system access, and input device access. No changes in the sandbox will cause any harm to the operating system. For details, see Purchasing a Sandbox Instance.

  • Runtime environment

    Runtime environment refers to the production environment to which applications are released after testing. The default domain name is appcuberun.cn-north-4.huaweicloud.com.

    The free edition does not provide a runtime environment. For details, see Purchasing Commercial Instances. Purchase a professional edition, package and release the application, and install it in the runtime environment.

Authorizing Users to Use Huawei Cloud Astro Zero and Purchase Instances

An account is created after you sign up for Huawei Cloud. Your account has full access permissions for your resources and makes payments for the use of these resources. For security purposes, create one or more IAM users and grant them system administrator permissions to purchase Huawei Cloud Astro Zero instances. An instance is an independent resource space. Resources of different instances are isolated from each other.

  • Creating a User and Authorizing the User to Use Huawei Cloud Astro Zero: Create IAM users for employees from different departments of your enterprise. In this way, each IAM user has a unique security credential to use Huawei Cloud Astro Zero resources.
  • Applying for Free Trial: You can apply for a free edition instance with limited resources. The free edition has no time limit and does not require unsubscription or resource release.
  • Purchasing Commercial Instances: The free edition has limited resources. For commercial development, consider the standard or professional editions.
  • Purchasing a Sandbox Instance: Before officially releasing an application, test and configure data in the test environment. In Huawei Cloud Astro Zero, the sandbox environment serves as the test environment, and you can also perform tests in the development environment. Testing in the sandbox environment keeps the development environment configuration unaffected, as the sandbox is completely isolated from the development environment.

Adding Developer Users

You can add users to the same account to help your team work on projects together. This way, everyone in the account can see what others are developing.

Creating Applications

You can create applications for various scenarios, meeting the needs of thousands of industries.

  • Creating a Blank Application: You can create an application from scratch, from the backend to the frontend.
  • Creating an Add-On Application: You can create an add-on application based on the existing applications or solutions.
  • Creating a Business Object: You can create a business object (BO) to encapsulate domain services for upper layer applications. It provides complete services for a scenario and specific services for upper-layer applications. Different users can customize BOs with specific functions. They can package these BOs and share them with others. Once a BO package is installed, it can be integrated into an application, providing access to its specialized services.

Developing Applications

You can develop applications based on your habits. However, it is recommended to start with backend development before moving on to page assembly and process orchestration. The development architecture consists of four layers: backend development, frontend development, integration development, and customization, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3 Development architecture
  • Backend Development
    • Objects: An object is similar to a table in a database of a traditional service system. Each object corresponds to a database table for storing the configuration data and service data required by a service system.
    • Events: An event in a BPM marks a significant change. Once an event is defined, you can send it out, receive it, and then analyze and handle the data associated with that event.
    • Structures: A structure is a defined data format that restricts the use of input, output, and internal variables during application development. In Huawei Cloud Astro Zero, structures can be used for external inputs, output parameters, and variable structures in flows, connectors, and BPMs. Structures are limited to the current application and can be packaged with it.
    • Scripts: You can develop TypeScript scripts online to implement flexible and complex service logic.
    • Flows: You can use flows to develop services through simple drag-and-drop and parameter configuration. You can also re-arrange existing services.
    • Triggers: Triggers intuitively display service processes to users. Once set up, triggers automate operations without the need for manual execution by users.
    • BPMs: The platform has developed its own Business Process Management (BPM) system based on the BPMN 2.0 industry specifications for modeling business processes. The function within this platform that drives the execution of processes is known as the BPM engine.
    • Scheduled Tasks: You can create a scheduled task to execute a script or a flow for specific service functions. For example, a scheduled task in the system suspends expired offerings at 03:00 every day.
  • Frontend Development
    • Standard Pages: You can drag widgets to a canvas to quickly develop frontend services through low- or no-code configurations. Common service applications like leave e-flow, business trip reimbursement, and online voting primarily perform basic operations: adding, deleting, modifying, and querying service data. These applications feature straightforward frontend page designs. You can use the standard pages provided by the platform.
    • Advanced Pages: Advanced pages, composed of versatile and function-rich widgets, offer enhanced visualization and are ideal for scenarios demanding sophisticated displays. In contrast, standard pages are primarily used for creating tables and forms in backend management systems.
    • Reports: A report is a visual summary of internal data, offering an easy way to understand and analyze information.
  • Application Integration Development
  • Customizing Applications

Releasing and Deploying Applications

You can package and release applications to the runtime environment or sandbox environment by a few clicks. You can also generate application installation packages for other users to install and use in other environments.

  • Releasing and Deploying Applications Quickly: You can package and release developed applications to the runtime environment or sandbox environment by a few clicks.
  • Releasing and Deploying the Installation Package or Patch Package of Applications Developed on Huawei Cloud Astro Zero: You can release an application as an installation package or patch package for asset reuse between tenants or environments.
  • Releasing and Deploying a Source Code Package: All widgets in a source package are not protected or restricted. After being installed in other development environments, you can edit the widgets in the packages for re-development. Source packages are mainly used to migrate assets between different environments of the same tenant for continuous development as in the source environment (similar to the tenant's code repository) or back up the tenant's code for restoration.
  • Installing Low-Code Applications Across Accounts or Environments: Huawei Cloud Astro Zero assigns a repository to each account by default. After developing an application, you can release it to this repository, allowing other users under the same account to install it in the sandbox or runtime environment for testing or use. Huawei Cloud Astro Zero also supports custom repositories, enabling you to configure a private repository as an OBS repository. This allows cross-account or cross-environment application installation if the same OBS repository is set up for other accounts or environments.
  • Releasing the Developed Application as a Mobile Applet: You can release an application as a mobile applet, such as WeLink QR code, WeLink quick app, and WeChat.

Managing Installed Applications

You can manage the developed or installed applications.

  • Adding Portal Users for Applications Developed on Huawei Cloud Astro Zero: A portal user is an account for accessing and using service applications. You can manage these accounts, including creating, deleting, and editing them, in the service configuration center. Additionally, you can set permissions for each portal user.
  • Customizing Installed Applications: In the environment configuration center of Huawei Cloud Astro Zero, you can customize the installed applications. The settings are valid only for the current application and do not change the original settings in the application package. For details about how to change the original settings in an application package, see Customizing Applications.
  • Customizing the Workbench for Applications: You can customize the enterprise appearance, application navigation, and personal workbench labels in the Huawei Cloud Astro Zero environment configuration page.
  • Viewing Installed Applications: You can check the list of installed applications on your account in the Huawei Cloud Astro Zero environment configuration page.
  • Uninstalling Installed Applications: When an application is no longer in use or the account's application quota is insufficient, you can delete the application.

Understanding the Management Center

Huawei Cloud Astro Zero provides a management platform where you can configure the system settings, handle user accounts, manage applications and their resources, monitor the system services, and check system alarms and logs.

  • Managing Users and Permissions: Profiles are used to control the operation permissions of users and portal users. You can modify these preset profiles.
  • Managing the Information Application Resources: You can manage resources (such as flows, scripts, and scheduled tasks) of installed applications in the Huawei Cloud Astro Zero environment configuration page.
  • System Settings and O&M Monitoring: You can monitor and configure the Huawei Cloud Astro Zero system. For example, you can review account service quota and company details, and set system parameters, including system domain names and the languages supported by applications.