Hi 👋🏻
I’d like to share my experiences and insights about the Low-code application build service, AWS App Studio.
As a beta tester of AWS App Studio, I plan to write blog posts about the 'Pros' and 'Cons' of the platform. Through these posts, I hope to share my experiences and insights with others.
What is AWS App Studio?
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AWS App Studio is a generative AI-based application development service that allows users to create applications using natural language without requiring professional software development skills.
It is introduced as a tool that not only "enables easy AI-driven app development without developers" but also "provides security and governance that meet internal IT guidelines and reduces costs by up to 80% compared to similar low-code tools."
AWS App Studio was first introduced at the AWS Summit New York on July 10, 2024.
In Korea, AWS Tech Evangelist Channy Yun introduced it on YouTube on August 30, 2024.
My First Encounter with AWS App Studio
I personally encountered the App Studio service at a session about App Studio during the 2024 Heroes Summit held in Seattle.
John Brock, the Product Manager of App Studio, introduced App Studio at the session. Several aspects introduced in the session caught my attention. I thought I might try using it to create an app for managing my photos, which had become difficult to manage.
- When creating a project, you can complete the use case, user flow, and database structure through conversations with an AI chatbot.
- Functional UI components such as buttons, date pickers, S3 uploaders, and image viewers can be placed on the page using drag and drop.
- Button events can be implemented through visualized workflows. Conditional statements, loops, and various AWS service components can be defined using drag-and-drop, or directly implemented with JavaScript code.
- There are three deployment stages: Development, Testing, and Production. You can share the project with desired users.
I thought it might be a good tool to collect and organize photos from the AWS Korean User Group, and at the same time, I had hopes of creating a personal photo gallery application similar to Google Photos.
So, after returning to Korea, I started developing a photo gallery application using App Studio, beginning my journey as an App Studio beta tester.
Photo Gallery App Development Process
The main features of the photo gallery app I created are as follows:
- Viewing and creating album lists
- Uploading and managing photos
- Viewing photos by album
- Leaving comments on each photo
- Granting editing permissions for albums based on user roles
I utilized several features of App Studio during the development process:
- DynamoDB integration
- S3 file upload
- Business logic implementation through automation
- Code generation via AI chatbot
Communication on the AWS Developers Slack Channel
App Studio has a private channel within the AWS Developers Slack workspace. You can join this private channel by submitting an entry request form on the App Studio homepage and getting approval.
After joining the App Studio Slack channel, I began sharing the issues I discovered during the development process.
To my surprise, I was able to receive real-time feedback from the App Studio development team, including François Gast and other product developers, much faster than I expected.
Meeting the App Studio Team at re:Invent 2024
Tae-Seong Park on LinkedIn: #awsappstudio #reinvent2024 #reinvent2024 #awsappstudio
#AWSAppStudio 를 사용해 보면서 AWS Developers Slack에 많은 질문과 답변, 피드백을 주고받으며 가까워진 François Gast 와 #reInvent2024 엑스포에서 처음으로 대면했네요! 만나서 정말 반가웠고 Arunsankar Muralitharan 님도…
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After active communication on Slack, I finally had the chance to meet the development team in person at the re:Invent 2024 expo booth.
I met François Gast, Arunsankar Muralitharan, and John Brock, who had been a presenter at the July Seattle Hero Summit, and we discussed the App Studio service in detail.
First, I asked about their plans for performance improvements. I pointed out that page loading times were too slow, often exceeding 5 seconds. I also brought up the issue of the lack of support for JSON types when connecting Entities that serve as databases in App Studio to DynamoDB tables, and whether this feature might be available in the future.
The team explained that they were doing their best to improve loading performance and mentioned that support for JSON types in DynamoDB tables could be possible in the future.
Finally, François Gast expressed gratitude, saying that I was one of the most dedicated developers and contributors among the early adopters of App Studio.
This made sense, as I had previously spent about an hour providing feedback to another App Studio staff member via Amazon Chime. I believe that might be why they extended their thanks to me.
Pros of using AWS App Studio
S3 Image Upload and Preview
App Studio includes an "S3 Upload" component, which allows you to specify the S3 bucket where you want to store files. Once configured, you can implement functionality to select and upload images directly to the S3 bucket from the page you’ve created.
Additionally, there is an "Image Viewer" component that displays images stored in the S3 bucket. This made it incredibly easy to implement functionality to show uploaded images.
To retrieve this data, you need to set up a "Connector." This involves configuring the Amazon S3 bucket you want to access. Although it was a bit tedious, I was able to complete it without much difficulty by following the guide documentation.
Database Data Integration
App Studio allows you to create and manage DynamoDB tables directly. Alternatively, it’s possible to connect to existing DynamoDB tables.
To fetch data, you also need to configure a Connector. This involves selecting the database service and table you wish to connect to.
Implementing Logic with Visual Workflows
As a developer, implementing a single piece of logic often requires careful consideration of numerous aspects: database connections, selecting which service or object to retrieve, iterating through data, and applying conditional statements—all while translating these ideas into code. This creative process can be quite challenging.
The "Automation" feature in App Studio allows you to build logic by dragging and dropping components, which was impressive.
It also provides the flexibility to insert customized logic as needed, making it a convenient tool.
I was especially impressed by the ability to loop through database data and query specific items. If I decided to retrieve data from a different table, I could change the configuration with just a few clicks.
User Access and Permission Management
The ability to selectively display certain content to specific users in the app I developed seemed like a powerful feature.
It was surprisingly easy to implement with just a few clicks and one line of code.
Deployment Environment
The deployment stages are structured as Development → Testing → Production.
It’s not possible to move directly from the Development stage to Production. Instead, you must go through the Testing stage before deploying to Production, which I found to be a well-thought-out deployment process.
Project Duplication
There is a feature that allows you to duplicate an existing project.
For example, if you completed creating a photo album as a community project and want to create a personal project with the same functionality, you can do it in just a few clicks by following these steps:
- Duplicate the project.
- Create a new connector for the database or S3 bucket you want to link to.
- Link the newly created connector to the duplicated project.
This Post will continue
Those are the "Pros" of AWS App Studio's personal experience.
I am going to post the "Cons" of AWS App Studio soon.
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