SIL Engine was published into Cloud more than a year ago as an experimental project. Our aims were, and still are:
- to give power of scripting to the users on Cloud
- to allow as much integration as the user wants. We opened DB acess / LDAP integration / mail integration / etc
::TODO::
Main Differences between Cloud and Server
There are notable differences between the cloud solution and the server addon. While the most notable ones
Asynchronous Processing Model
Cloud is fully asynchronous and all our hooks are fired asynchronously, while on server everything is synchronous unless you say so. This means that, for instance, you have 2 postfunctions attached to a workflow action, first modifying the issue, you most probably won't receive for the second the modifications in SIL. Both are fired (most probably) with the last known data Jira has, they are received on addon side. There's also no guaranteed order of execution. The second may finish earlier than the first one, and its result may be overwritten by the second.
Less Integration Points
There are less integration points on Jira Cloud than on server. Specifically, we are talking about the fact that workflows cannot have conditions (because asynchronicity above) or validators(same). The addon itself doesn't run free, but it's embedded in an iframe - like in a cage of some sort - for security reasons. Therefore there will never be something like LiveFields implemented for cloud.
We are restricted at what Jira offers as integration points, i.e. workflow postfunctions, listeners, schedulers, panels, etc
Network is Important
Network latency becomes paramount on cloud, for obvious reasons.
Routines and Their Availability
Many of the routines found in Jira Server do access internal APIs, allowing PowerScripts to do crazy things, or even jump between plugins, getting and updating data everywhere. On cloud, we are limited to the REST Api Jira provides, and as of now, we know many are still missing. We're trying to cover as much ground as possible in the shortest time, but please, do engage with us and tell us what you need, it will bump priorities in our backlog.
GDPR, Jira and the add-on
GDPR is respected by Jira. Addon will requests, depending on the script, the user details. The username is not a username anymore, but the account id of the user making the requests. This means that assignee == "john" may not work anymore, but instead it will be replaced by a more cryptic account id. We do recommend you to use constants instead of direct usernames so you can script them easily.
Who runs this?
Starting with the latest version, all calls which are made on Jira are made with the addon-user, and we are not acting anymore as the real user. This change was necessary to avoid confusion, since many users complained that they cannot run scripts for regular users. Now, if you provide the necessary rights to the add-on, you can pretty do anything we have capabilities for.