Get Started with Tanzu Developer Tools for Visual Studio

This topic guides you through getting started with VMware Tanzu Developer Tools for Visual Studio.

Prerequisite

Install Tanzu Developer Tools for Visual Studio.

Configure Local Source Proxy

Configure Local Source Proxy if you’re able to do so. For more information, see the Local Source Proxy documentation.

If you cannot use Local Source Proxy, use a source image registry. Before deploying a workload, you must authenticate with an image registry to store your source code. You can use the Docker CLI to authenticate or you can set environment variables that the Tanzu CLI can use to authenticate.

Docker CLI

To authenticate by using the Docker CLI, run:

docker login $REGISTRY_HOSTNAME -u $REGISTRY_USERNAME -p $REGISTRY_PASSWORD

Tanzu CLI

To authenticate by using the Tanzu CLI, export environment variables by running:

export TANZU_APPS_REGISTRY_CA_CERT=PATH-TO-CA-CERT.nip.io.crt
export TANZU_APPS_REGISTRY_PASSWORD=USERNAME
export TANZU_APPS_REGISTRY_USERNAME=PASSWORD

CA_CERT is only needed for a custom or private registry.

For more information, see Workload creation fails due to authentication failure in Docker Registry.

Set up Tanzu Developer Tools

The extension makes use of the following files within your project:

workload.yaml
catalog-info.yaml
Tiltfile
.tanzuignore

You can create these files by using the instructions in this topic, or use the files in the View an example project section.

There are two ways to create these files:

Using the code snippets that Tanzu Developer Tools provide, which create templates in empty files that you then fill in with the required information.
Writing the files manually.

Create the `workload.yaml` file

Your project must contain a file named workload.yaml. For example, MyApp\Config\workload.yaml.

workload.yaml provides instructions to Supply Chain Choreographer for how to build and manage a workload. For more information, see Supply Chain Choreographer for Tanzu.

The Tanzu Developer Tools for Visual Studio extension requires at least one workload.yaml file per project. workload.yaml must be a single-document YAML file, not a multi-document YAML file.

To create a workload.yaml file by using Visual Studio:

Right-click the Solution Explorer project.
Click Add > New Folder.
Name the folder Config.
Right-click the new Config folder and then click Add > New Item….
From the available list of items, click Tanzu Workload > Add.
Follow the instructions at the top of the created file.

See the following workload.yaml example:

apiVersion: carto.run/v1alpa1
kind: Workload
metadata:
 name: APP-NAME
 labels:
   apps.tanzu.vmware.com/workload-type: WORKLOAD-TYPE
   app.kubernetes.io/part-of: APP-NAME
spec:
 source:
   git:
     url: GIT-SOURCE-URL
     ref:
       branch: GIT-BRANCH-NAME

Where:

APP-NAME is the name of your application. For example, my-app.
WORKLOAD-TYPE is the type of workload for your app. For example, web. For more information, see Workload types.
GIT-SOURCE-URL is the Git source code URL for your app. For example, github.com/mycompany/myapp.
GIT-BRANCH-NAME is the branch of the Git source code you want to use. For example, main.

Alternatively, you can use the Tanzu CLI to create a workload.yaml file. For more information about the relevant Tanzu CLI command, see Tanzu apps workload apply.

Create the `catalog-info.yaml` file

Your project must contain a file named catalog-info.yaml. For example, MyApp\Catalog\catalog-info.yaml.

catalog-info.yaml enables the workloads created with Tanzu Developer Tools for Visual Studio to appear in Tanzu Developer Portal (formerly named Tanzu Application Platform GUI). For more information, see Overview of Tanzu Developer Portal.

To create a catalog-info.yaml file by using Visual Studio:

Right-click the Solution Explorer project.
Click Add > New Folder.
Name the folder Catalog.
Right-click the new Catalog folder and then click Add > New Item….
From the available list of items, click Tanzu Catalog Info > Add.
Follow the instructions at the top of the created file.

See the following catalog-info.yaml example:

apiVersion: backstage.io/v1alpha1
kind: Component
metadata:
 name: APP-NAME
 description: APP-DESCRIPTION
 tags:
   - tanzu
 annotations:
   'backstage.io/kubernetes-label-selector': 'app.kubernetes.io/part-of=APP-NAME'
spec:
 type: service
 lifecycle: experimental
 owner: default-team

Where:

APP-NAME is the name of your application.
APP-DESCRIPTION is a description of your application.

Create the Tiltfile file

Your project must contain a file named Tiltfile. For example, MyApp\Tiltfile.

The Tiltfile provides the configuration for Tilt to enable your project to Live Update on the Tanzu Application Platform-enabled Kubernetes cluster. For more information, see the Tilt documentation.

To create a Tiltfile file by using Visual Studio:

Right-click the Solution Explorer project.
Click Add > New Item…
From the available list of items, click Tanzu Tiltfile > Add.
Follow the instructions at the top of the created file.

See the following Tiltfile example:

SOURCE_IMAGE = os.getenv("SOURCE_IMAGE", default='SOURCE-IMAGE-VALUE')
LOCAL_PATH = os.getenv("LOCAL_PATH", default='.')
NAMESPACE = os.getenv("NAMESPACE", default='default')
LIVE_UPDATE_PATH = os.getenv("LIVE_UPDATE_PATH", default='bin/Debug/net6.0')

k8s_custom_deploy(
   'APP-NAME',
   apply_cmd="tanzu apps workload apply -f Config/workload.yaml --live-update" +
       " --local-path " + LOCAL_PATH +
       " --build-env BP_DEBUG_ENABLED=true" +
       " --namespace " + NAMESPACE +
       " --output yaml" +
       " --yes",
   delete_cmd="tanzu apps workload delete " +  APP-NAME + " --namespace " + NAMESPACE + " --yes" ,
   deps=['bin'],
   container_selector='workload',
   live_update=[
       sync(LIVE_UPDATE_PATH, '/workspace')
   ]
)

k8s_resource('APP-NAME', port_forwards=["8080:8080"],
   extra_pod_selectors=[{'carto.run/workload-name': 'APP-NAME', 'app.kubernetes.io/component': 'run'}])
allow_k8s_contexts('CONTEXT-NAME')

Where APP-NAME is the name of your application

If your Tanzu Application Platform-enabled Kubernetes cluster is running on your local machine, you can remove the entire allow_k8s_contexts line. For more information about this line, see the Tilt documentation.

Create the `.tanzuignore` file

Your project can contain a file named .tanzuignore. When working with local source code, .tanzuignore excludes files from the source code that is uploaded within the image. It has syntax similar to the .gitignore file.

This file must be placed in the project root to work. For example, MyApp\.tanzuignore.

To create a Tiltfile file by using Visual Studio:

Right-click the Solution Explorer project.
Click Add > New Item….
From the available list of items, click Tanzu Ignore file > Add.

For an example, see the .tanzuignore file in GitHub that is used for the sample Tanzu Java web app. You can use the file as it is or edit it for your needs.

View an example project

Before you begin, you need a container image registry to use the sample application. There are two ways to view a sample application that demonstrates the necessary configuration files:

Use Application Accelerator

If your company has configured Application Accelerator, you can obtain the sample application there if it was not removed.

To view the example by using Application Accelerator:

Open Application Accelerator. You might need to contact a separate team in your organization to learn they placed it.
Search for Steeltoe Weather Forecast in Application Accelerator.
Add the required configuration information and generate the application.
Unzip the application and open the directory in Visual Studio.

Clone from GitHub

To clone the example from GitHub:

Use git clone to clone the application-accelerator-samples repository from GitHub.
Go to the weatherforecast-steeltoe directory.
Open the Tiltfile and replace your-registry.io/project with your registry.

Next steps

Use Tanzu Developer Tools for Visual Studio.