Final Preparations

As a wise person once said ...

"before anything else, preparation is the key to success."

Design Considerations

It's important to think about a few things up front, such as:

Content Organization	User Navigation	Development Environment	Deployment Environment
Carefully consider how your content should be organized. It should follow a logical granularity.	Give some thought to how users navigate through your app is very important - make sure your app has an effective flow.	Ensure that your development environment is equipped with the right tools.	Be sure to take into account where your Showpad App will be displayed. Will your app look correct in an iframe? Will it be viewed in the Windows Desktop App?

Showpad Developer Terms

In order to use Showpad's developer tools and services, and integrate your custom apps with the Showpad eOS^®, you’ll need to adhere to the applicable terms in our Developer Terms. Be sure to read them carefully as you design and develop your Showpad App.

The terms can be accessed at any time via the API License Agreement link in the API menu in the Admin Settings of the Online Platform:

Best Practices

Showpad wants your custom Showpad App to be spectacular. While you're in total control of the design and development of your app, we've come up with a few best practices to take into consideration:

Considerations	Suggestions
Showpad	Be sure you're familiar with Showpad: concepts terminology
App Design	Have clearly defined goals and requirements for your app. Showpad Apps are shown in an iframe, so you should make sure your viewport dimensions and overflow are set up correctly. When possible, use a responsive design.
Coding	Use the DRY (Don’t Repeat Yourself) principle. Be consistent and use standardized naming conventions. Make your code as easy to understand as possible for easy collaboration. Keep your DOM (Document Object Model) as lean as possible. Hide/remove elements you are not using. Some functions are not available on all platforms. Put them in a try-catch and handle these cases gracefully. Handle errors gracefully Test, test, test (in your Showpad instance).
Media Files	Images, videos, and other media should be added as assets. Don’t rely on asset IDs. They can be different on different platforms. It's preferable to use the slugs of the assets.
Security	All Showpad apps should be protected against common web security vulnerabilities, including but not limited to, The OWASP Top 10. Some basic precautions include: Keep your OAuth secret confidential Avoid storing sensitive data Use the latest version of the SDK
App Size	The total size of your app package (.showpad) should be no larger than 1GB maximum.