Tutorial 1: Load and modify the Application Composer demo project

This tutorial guides you through creating a demo application to learn the user interface of AWS Application Composer.

For this tutorial, we use Application Composer in the AWS Management Console.

Step 1: Open the demo

Start using Application Composer by creating a demo project.

To create a demo project

1. Sign in to the Application Composer console.

2. On the Home page, choose Open demo.

The demo application is a basic CRUD serverless application that includes:

• An Amazon API Gateway resource with five routes.

• Five AWS Lambda functions.

• An Amazon DynamoDB table.

Step 2: Explore the visual canvas of Application Composer

Learn the features of the visual canvas to build out your Application Composer demo project. For an overview of the visual canvas layout, see Visual overview.

To explore the features of the visual canvas

1. When you open a new or existing application project, Application Composer loads the canvas view, as indicated above the main view area.

   

   To show your application's infrastructure code in the main view area, choose Template. For example, here is the AWS Serverless Application Model (AWS SAM) template view of the Application Composer demo project.

   

2. To show the canvas view of your application again, choose Canvas.

3. To show your application's resources organized in a tree view, choose List.

   

4. To show the resource palette, choose Resources. This palette features cards that you can use to expand your application architecture. You can search for cards or scroll through the list.

   

5. To move around the visual canvas, use basic gestures. For more information, see Select and connect cards.

Step 3: Expand your application architecture

In this step, you will expand your application architecture by adding a Lambda function to your DynamoDB table.

To add a Lambda function to your DynamoDB table

1. From the resource palette (Resources), drag the Lambda Function enhanced component card onto the canvas, to the right of the DynamoDB Table card.

   

2. Connect the DynamoDB table to the Lambda function. To connect them, click the right port of the DynamoDB Table card and drag it onto the left port of the Lambda Function card.

3. Choose Arrange to organize the cards in the canvas view.

   

4. Configure your Lambda function. To configure it, do either of the following:

   • In the canvas view, modify the function's properties on the Resource properties panel. To open the panel, double-click the Lambda Function card. Or, select the card, and then choose Details. For more information about the configurable Lambda function properties listed in the Resource properties panel, see the AWS Lambda Developer Guide.

   • In the template view, modify the code for your function (AWS::Serverless::Function). Application Composer automatically syncs your changes to the canvas. For more information about the function resource in an AWS SAM template, see AWS::Serverless::Function in the AWS SAM resource and property reference.

Step 4: Save your application

Save your application by manually saving your application template to your local machine or by activating local sync.

To manually save your application template

1. From the menu, select Save > Save template file.

2. Provide a name for your template and choose a location on your local machine to save your template. Press Save.

For instructions on activating local sync, see Automatically sync and save your project.

Next steps

To get started with building your first application, see Tutorial 2: Build your first application.