Live Runtime Playground
Joe Clark
I would LOVE to see a browser-based version of the openfn runtime which allows users to execute job code in the browser.
The basic idea is that you go to the doc site, look at an example of some adaptor code, and click "run". It'll run that code in your browser (probably with mock data) and show you the result. Then you can edit the code and run again to see how the output changes.
I also envisage a standalone playground page, like jsbin or jsfiddle, where you pick an adaptor from a list, enter code freely, and can share the playground/sandbox through the URL so that other users can see it to.
I built a similar thing in a past life (see https://cambridge-intelligence.com/data-visualization-playgrounds) and it totally transformed the way we handled support. So easy to build an example in the playground, test it, and send it on to users. Its an incredibly powerful learning tool.
There's a lot of work here by the way and more details on github. Some steps include:
- packaging the runtime and adaptors for the browser
- maybe baking mock data into adaptors (so they can execute "offline" and without credentials)
- creating the actual playground (& editor) interface
- Integrating with the doc site (so that all examples use (or link to) a playground UI)