Share, import and remove apps

An app is a folder, so you can always share it as a folder. Wardian adds three easier ways: a .wardian file that another Wardian imports, a web page that opens anywhere, and an import from a link.

Send an app as a .wardian file#

1. Open the app.
2. Press Download.
3. To add what the app has saved, tick Include my data. Wardian lists what goes in first.
4. Save the file.

The file holds the app exactly as wardian check reads it. With your data, it also holds the app's storage, its Arrange layout and its db tables. It never holds keys, accounts, permission answers or history. Anyone you send it to can read everything in it, so read the list.

From the command line:

wardian export my-app                       # my-app.wardian
wardian export my-app shared/my-app.wardian --with-data

A .wardian file is a zip with one package folder at its top. Its manifest is in <package>/.wardian/export.json (Package format §7.2).

Import a .wardian file or a zip#

1. Open Settings → Import a Wardian file.
2. Press Choose a file, or paste a link and press Import link.
3. Read what Wardian shows: the app, what it may use, and any data.
4. Tick Also install its data if you want its data.
5. Press Import.

Permissions are always asked again, even if the sender allowed them. Data the import replaces is kept in the app's history folder. Wardian refuses an app whose name is taken, unless you tick Replace apps that already exist.

Project zips#

The import keeps each app's folder tree, so a whole project zip works. For each .wasm file, the app's top folder is:

1. the nearest folder above it with an app.json, or
2. the folder it sits in, skipping build folders (pkg/, dist/, build/, out/ …).

So usl-wasm/pkg/usl_wasm.wasm gives the app usl-wasm, with demo/, pkg/ and the rest kept in place. A folder that holds suite.json is a package top, with everything inside it. A folder with several .wasm files and no app.wasm is skipped, because the import cannot tell which one is the app. Do not depend on these rules for your own packages; use the layout in Package format §7.2.

Limits#

The importer unpacks into a hidden staging folder first, so a failed import changes nothing.

Links#

Links must be public internet addresses. Wardian refuses links to itself, to cloud metadata (169.254.169.254) and to other internal addresses, also after a redirect. To import from a file server on your own network, set IMPORT_ALLOW_LAN=1. A Google Drive file link works too: Wardian fetches it with the service account, so share the file with that account.

Save an app as a web page#

1. Open the app and arrange it the way you want it seen.
2. Press Save as web page, then Save.

Wardian saves <app>-<date>.html: one file that opens in any browser, offline, with no Wardian. It holds every panel you have not hidden, in your layout, with what you typed, the results and each chart as a picture.

• It is a copy that does not update. Sorting, paging and buttons do nothing in it.
• It holds no script and makes no request, so it is safe to open.
• Everything on screen goes into the file. Check it before you send it.
• An app may put more in the file than it shows, such as every row of a table.
• A file over 25 MB is refused, with a message that names the largest part.

Remove an app#

1. Open the app.
2. Press Remove app, then confirm.

The app moves to .trash/ in the working folder. Nothing is deleted. Press Undo at once, or restore it later in Settings → Removed apps. To delete removed apps for good, empty .trash/ yourself.

Apps served from Google Drive are removed in Drive, not by Wardian: Wardian only reads Drive.

Ship an app in the repository#

Apps you make or change in Wardian live in the working folder. To commit one:

wardian promote my-app        # copies DATA_DIR/apps/my-app into ./apps
git add apps/my-app

This page is docs/site/sharing.md in the repository. Something wrong or missing? Change that file.