You have you amazing website up and running with Google's Python App Engine SDK. But how do I use this SDK thing anyway?
SDK stands for software development kit. This tutorial will show you the basics of Google's Python SDK. I assume that all of the SDK's are the same but I can not guarantee it.
Ok let's get started!
When you open up your SDK you are meet with a list of your projects, and some buttons.
Adding/Removing projects from the SDK
There are two buttons on the bottom right, a + and a −. These are pretty self explanatory to delete a project from the SDK select a project and click the − button. To create a new project click the + button.
When you add a new project you need to type in your Application ID, and where you want the SDK to create a new folder for you. You need to choose your runtime, admin port for the local server, and port. If you want to add an existing project click on file, add existing application.
Removing an application from the SDK does not actually delete the application, how to do this will be talked about later. Adding an application to the SDK does not create a new application. See the previous tutorial for more info on how to create a new application.
Testing
The top right of the window has six buttons for testing/developing. When a project is selected, some of the buttons light up for use.
The logs shows the logs for that project, such as deploy stats and local server stats.
The Edit button opens the project's app.yaml in the default application, in my case, Text Edit.
These next set of buttons are used to test the code without actually deploying it.
The run button will create a local server of your code, just as if you had deployed it. The SDK will continually check for update in your code and update its server automatically. If you open up the logs you can see various stats during the process.
To view your server, click on the Browse button.
To stop the server, click on the Stop button.
While the local sever is running click on the SDK Console button to see stats on the server.
The buttons on the top right are for deploying and monitering your application.
The Deploy button, well Deploys your code
The Dashboard
The last button in the SDK, the Dashboard! When you click on the button it will open the new version of the dashboard. I prefer the old version, which can be reached by going to appengine.google.com and clicking one one of your projects. I will be telling you about the older version, though they are very similar.
First you have your Dashboard
This shows you a graph and all of your quota/usage data.
Next is your Instances
This shows you various stats of who is on your website right now.
After that comes your Logs!
I use these the most. They show who has been on your website, at what time, their IP Address, what page, the operating system, the browser, all very useful information. This will also show you errors and other warning that need to be fixed
Fourth is the Versions tab
In your app.yaml there is a line that says: version: 1. That is the version of your applications. You can change the version to any anything. When you do change it it will show up in the versions tab. You can select a version and make it the default version, which means that it is the currently running version. You can delete any versions that are not default. You can even split trafic between version by cookie or IP. That is useful for anonymous testing.
Next up are Cron Jobs and Task Queues
These are for running code in the background you can read about them here and here respectively.
Seventh is the Quota Details tab
This shows details about your usage and quota.
After that comes the Data section
I do not use these features, if you want to learn about them click on one of the tabs and there will be a link to learn about it.
Next is Application Settings
Here you can change various setting about your website. You can change your Application Title, Cookie Expiration, and Authentication Type, all used if someone logs into your website. To learn about requesting people to login to your website read this. You can also change how long you want your logs saved, you can add your own domain to your project, and change other settings.
Tenth is the Permissions tab
Here you can edit the permissions for your website. You can let other people edit and deploy your project code.
After that is Blacklists
This allows you to ban certain users from your site. Read about blacklists here.
Next are the Admin Logs
These show you logs of all the changes to your website by admins, such as deploying a new version, and changing the default version.
After that comes the Billing Status
Here you can manage your billing options.
Next is the Usage History
Here you can view the usage logs for the past few days.
Last are the Resources
This includes the documentation, FAQ's and other useful information. I highly recommend reading these.
Disabling/Deleting your Application
If you want to turn off your project, or just completely delete it, go to the Application Settings tab under Administration. Scroll to the bottom. The second option from the bottom will be "Disable or Delete Application." Click on Disable Application, it will take you to a confirmation page. Once your application is disabled, you can either re-enable it or delete it, by clicking on the link that says "This app is disabled" on the top left of the screen. If you choose to delete it, you will have 72 hours to cancel that request. After that time is up...well no more project.
That is it! Go forth and conquer the SDK!
How to Host a Website on Google's Servers with Google App Engine