Applications

Creating and Managing Xedge32 Applications

An Xedge32 application is typically packaged as a ZIP file containing Lua code and, when needed, supporting assets such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images, and configuration scripts. Xedge32 can run this ZIP file directly, which makes deployment simple and keeps the upload workflow friendly for both development and production use.

This packaging model is helpful because it lets you move a complete application onto the device as a single artifact instead of uploading individual files one by one.

Uploading Your Application

You can install an application ZIP file in several ways:

1. Firmware Update & App Upload page Open the page from the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner of the Xedge32 interface and drag the ZIP file into the browser window.

2. Web File Manager Upload the ZIP file manually, then add it as an application from the Xedge32 IDE.

3. WebDAV Mount the device as a drive, copy the ZIP file over, and then enable it as an application from the IDE.

The first method is the easiest for most users because it uploads and installs the ZIP file in one step. Some packaged applications also depend on this path because they include post-installation configuration scripts that should run automatically during installation.

ZIP File Applications

A ZIP file uploaded as an application is treated as a ready-to-run deployment unit. This is different from editing loose Lua files directly on the device.

This approach gives you two useful workflows:

• keep the application packaged when you want a clean deployment artifact, or

• unpack and modify the application on the device when you want to iterate directly in Xedge32.

Note

You can inspect files stored inside an uploaded ZIP archive, but you cannot save changes back into the archive itself. If you want to edit files on the device, unpack the application first.

For more examples of the upload workflow, see:

• Designing Your First Professional Embedded Web Interface

• Your First Embedded Single Page Application

Creating an Xedge32 Application

To build your own application package:

1. Gather your Lua files and any supporting assets.

2. Place them in a directory structure exactly as you want them to appear in the application.

3. Create a ZIP file from the contents of that directory, not from the directory itself.

In practice, this means files such as .preload or .config must be at the root of the ZIP archive if you want Xedge32 to detect them correctly.

Optional .config Script

An application may include a .config script for metadata and installation hooks. If present, the script must return a Lua table with any of the following optional fields:

• name: String shown for the application in the Xedge32 left-hand pane. If omitted, the ZIP filename is used.

• autostart: Boolean that enables automatic startup and marks the app as running after installation.

• install: Function called for a new installation.

• upgrade: Function called when an existing application is updated.

Example .config Script

-- Argument 'io' is the application's IO instance
local function install(io)
   trace("install", io:realpath(""))
   return "This message is sent to the browser and displayed after installation"
end

local function upgrade(io)
   return "This message is sent to the browser and displayed after upgrade"
end

return {
   name = "MY APP",
   autostart = true,
   install = install,
   upgrade = upgrade
}

The install and upgrade hooks are a good place to perform first-run setup, initialize directories, migrate stored data, or provide a helpful status message back to the browser.