2.3 Starting a project: actions and ports

The “Run” section

At the top is the detail of the chosen action (at first the default one), below the “Actions” list. A click on a row selects it and shows its output; ▶ and ■ on the row start and stop it.

Below the detail is the “Output of …” pane with the “Follow” checkbox, which keeps the last lines in view. The kit keeps the last 3000 lines of each action; its notes appear as lines starting with [Atollo]. The buttons at the top: the “Default” star, “Open in the browser” (while a web action is listening) and “Clear the output” (when the action has finished).

What happens when you press “Start”

1. RereadsRecognizes the project again: panel.json might have changed.
2. InstallsIf the action is missing a component, it installs it first.
3. PreparesThe kit's environment, the project's versions, port, the action's variables.
4. StartsRuns the command in the action's folder.
5. WaitsFor a web action, until the port responds: then it is “listening”.

• The browser does not open by itself: use “Open in the browser” (here, in the “Quick panel” or in the “Activity” panel). The address is usually http://localhost:<port>/.
• If the program ignores the assigned port and prints another one in the output, the kit follows that one.
• “Stop” closes the action's whole process tree. Closing Atollo stops all actions.
• Running actions also appear in the “Activity” panel and in the status bar counter; in the panel “Stop everything”, after a confirmation, stops them together with the running databases and web servers.

The port

Each web action has a port of its own, chosen by the kit between 7100 and 7999 the first time and then kept the same at every start: that way the address does not change. If you need a specific number, type it in the “Port” field and press Enter (or leave the field); emptying it takes you back to the automatic port.

• The port must be between 1024 and 65535.
• Ports 7000 to 7099 belong to the editor: one of them is refused with “Ports 7000 to 7099 belong to the editor”.
• A port already used by another action is refused with “Port already assigned to …”, followed by project → action.
• A port that a web server pool or a database version already has is refused too, and the message names its owner: “Port … already belongs to server …: choose another one.” or “Port … already belongs to database …: choose another one.” (for example MySQL 8.4).

The default action

It is the one that starts with the page's “Start” button, with ▶ in the project row and with Shift+Enter in “Open a project”. To change it, choose the action in the list and press the “Default” star. When you serve the project as a website, the website becomes the default action by itself.

Adding, editing and removing actions

1. In the “Run” section press “New action”, next to the “Actions” heading.
2. Fill in “Name”, “Type” (“Website or web server”, “Windowed app” or “Command”) and “Command”; if needed, “Folder” (relative to the project), “Address” (websites only) and “Variables”, one NAME=value per line. In the command, {port} becomes the action's port.
3. Press “Save”. The action appears in the list; its id comes from the name.

• “Edit”, on the chosen action, opens the same form again. On a recognized action it saves your own version with the same id, which takes its place.
• “Remove” exists only for your own actions and asks for confirmation; if a recognized action has the same id, that one comes back.
• The website is edited in the “Website” section, not here.

The panel.json file

Your own actions, the star and the website live in the panel.json file in the project folder. You can also write it by hand and press “Refresh”. The file lives in the project, so it goes into Git and applies to anyone who uses the project with Atollo.

{
  "default": "dev",
  "actions": [
    {
      "id": "dev",
      "label": "Avvia tutto",
      "type": "web",
      "command": "npm run dev -- --port {port}",
      "folder": "frontend",
      "env": { "API_URL": "http://localhost:8000" }
    },
    {
      "id": "test",
      "label": "Prove",
      "type": "command",
      "command": "php artisan test"
    }
  ]
}