you said that server-side dev is the only option IRIS provides,

I meant IRIS, or Caché, or Ensemble - when developers really store and even edit code on the server. 

Now that I've saved that file and it's on the server, to continue making changes I should open up the server-side file and continue editing from there?  Or I can continue working on the local and it will overwrite the server side?

you can continue editing it locally sending it to the server for compilation/testing every time.

I think I'm seeing your point about commits then.  I edit it locally, it's sent to the server, the server sends it to the repo, and locally I should pull down the repo before continuing any changes. Is that the idea?

The idea with starting from a local folder with files, which is connected with source control. So any changes to the files are automatically being tracked by the source control you use (git, svn, mercurial, whatever). You use the server only to compile/test things - no connection to source control needed on a server-side.

This is how things happen in almost any programming stack.

Reading the documentation, I'm also confused if local development is even desirable?  In my case I have IRIS community running docker and I have Cache 2018 running on my local machine (can't get IRIS locally as it's a work computer and locked down).  In this case I probably just want to develop all my code on the server?

It's up to you, of course. Developing the code "sitting inside" the server it's sort of the option only IRIS provides.

If you think what's going on when you develop "on the server" is when you change the class you change it in some global on the server and when you compile it you send the global to the compiler. And when you good you try "not-to-forget" to export code into a file and commit/push to the repository.

I prefer to edit files from the first step and send it to the server for compilation/testing and then commit/push the file - I'll never forget it cause VSCode helps me to manage it nicely with changes and things like that.

And it's not a big deal where do I send it to compile/test - whether it is local IRIS in docker or host or any remote development server.

Hi Simon!

Also when you refer to a HTTPS service you need to have SSL configuration in IRIS.

You can set up it manually or programmatically or just install zpm modulle:

USER>zpm "install ssl-client" 

that will setup a "default" SSL configuration which you could use then in the requests to HTTPS resources.

And yes, for this you would need a ZPM client installed.

Speaking about automation with Github - if you use GitHub to host the code maybe it makes sense to consider Github Actions vs TravisCI for automation.

There are numerous examples how to use Github Actions to test and deploy to cloud/kubernetes solutions built with InterSystems technology.

E.g. check this repo - which has two automation scripts: one for Kubernetes deployment and another for automatic static code control.

Every push to the master branch triggers the deployment to Kubernetes and the test of the codebase.

I think we need a webinar on this)

In VSCode you are SUPPOSED from step one to open a folder with code that you can import to a server for compilation/testing.

If you have the server but not files you can open an EMPTY folder, connect to the server, and export code - but this is sort of the first exception because you are supposed to have a repository for the code in advance.

And to launch the image do:

docker run --name my-iris -d --publish 9091:51773 --publish 9092:52773 intersystemsdc/iris-community:2020.4.0.524.0-zpm
docker run --name my-iris -d --publish 9091:51773 --publish 9092:52773 intersystemsdc/iris-community:2020.3.0.221.0-zpm
docker run --name my-iris -d --publish 9091:51773 --publish 9092:52773 intersystemsdc/iris-ml-community:2020.3.0.302.0-zpm
docker run --name my-iris -d --publish 9091:51773 --publish 9092:52773 intersystemsdc/irishealth-community:2020.4.0.524.0-zpm
docker run --name my-iris -d --publish 9091:51773 --publish 9092:52773 intersystemsdc/irishealth-community:2020.3.0.221.0-zpm

@Zhong Li - two articles in top 3 most read - really cool!

@Jose-Tomas Salvador  - congrats for the most read! 

@Yuri Marx  -  parabens for the most voted one Periodic of InterSystems!

@Timothy Leavitt - you got the most discussed prize with Apps.REST, congrats!

@Robert Cemper - you are the most read author of the year - respect!

And I'm in top 5 most read articles - flattered!

Thank you community for such a good year!