Unqork Sunsetting Process

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Overview

In this article, you'll learn about sunsetting and why it's important. You'll also learn about the positive influence Platform sunsetting has on Creators Also known as Unqork Users, or Designer Users; is anyone who is inside the Unqork platform., as well as Unqork's current sunsetting process.

What Is Sunsetting?

Sunsetting is the process of gradually phasing out functionality in the Unqork Platform for new practices. The Unqork Platform balances natural growth and necessary capability adjustments over time. The decision to sunset Unqork functionality can be driven by many factors, including but not limited to, Creator community usage, security concerns, best practices guidelines, or overlaps with new and existing features. For example, Unqork may release a new component to accomplish the same goal but with vast improvements.

Phasing out functionality doesn't conflict with Unqork's commitment to our upgradeable software. Unqork continues to promise that all application experiences built on the Platform are evergreen. In other words, Unqork continues to ensure deployed applications remain secure and consistent in behavior. This approach lets users avoid the high maintenance costs typically associated with precodeless concepts, like architecture upgrades and technical debt.

When sunsetting any functionality, Unqork keeps this commitment in mind to preserve the stability of existing applications.

Common benefits of sunsetting include:

  • Clear Best Practices: Creators clearly understand when to use one type of functionality (for example, a component) over another. This knowledge avoids potential confusion for the Creator.

  • Build Confidently: Creators can feel confident that the components they’re using remain supported for the foreseeable future.

How Does Sunsetting Impact Creators?

In general, sunsetting indicates:

  • It is no longer best practice to use and configure with sunset functionality.

  • Sunset functionality has a limited support policy. Depending on the feature's status, limited support is available for bug fixes, security vulnerabilities, and advisory support for this functionality.

There are several statuses whose exact interpretation is dependent on a feature’s functionality:

  • ACTIVE: These features, functionality, APIs, and components are current and haven't been sunset. These features are fully supported, and we recommend their use. ACTIVE feature requests, bug fixes, and security vulnerabilities are reviewed and addressed appropriately.

  • NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE: These features, functionality, APIs, and components are superseded by newer Unqork functionality. NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE features are no longer best practice to use. Feature requests are not considered. Only high-priority bug fixes and security vulnerabilities are addressed.

  • RETIRED: These features, functionality, APIs, and components are no longer supported. Retired functionality is typically not exposed to new users. For example, a RETIRED component is no longer visible in the Module Builder component tray. Any application using RETIRED functionality must migrate to an ACTIVE functionality. No feature requests, bug fixes, or security vulnerabilities are addressed.

  • DECOMMISSIONED: These features, functionality, APIs, or components ceases to exist. No feature requests, bug fixes, or security vulnerabilities are addressed.

NOTE  The sunsetting process is tailored given the functionality in question and may end at any of these statuses. For example, a component may be sunset into NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE status without plans to sunset further to RETIRED in the foreseeable future.

Sunsetting involves recommendations to Creators on how to address any of their impacted configurations. For example, Unqork may recommend creators configure applications with a new component that has similar capabilities.

NOTE  Unqork has the right to modify these definitions as needed.

How Do I Know What’s Affected by the Sunsetting Process?

You can always expect frequent and timely communications from Unqork regarding sunset status:

Status Notification Process

ACTIVE

N/A

NOT RECOMMENDED FOR USE

Creators are notified 90 days prior to committing features to this status.

RETIRED

Creators are notified 30 days prior to retirement.

DECOMMISSIONED

Creators are notified 30 days prior to decommissioning.

NOTE  Unqork has the right to modify these timelines as needed.

Component sunsetting announcements occur in the following ways:

Unqork may also show the status in the Platform’s UI, depending on the feature. For example, a component undergoing sunsetting may indicate:

What Components Are Affected by Sunsetting?

Below is a list of components affected by the sunsetting process, their respective schedules, and how their status is interpreted.

Sunset Schedule

Announced Feature Not Recommended for Use Retired Decomissioned

10/12/2022 (Platform version v6.68.x)

Address (v1) Component

11/15/2022 (Platform version v6.70.x)

6/30/2023 (Platform version v6.78.x)

Not currently planned for Decommissioned status.

Address (v1) Component

Given the improvements for Creators and end-users with the new Address Search (formerly v2), Unqork will gradually phase-out the Address (v1) component, while ensuring configurations continue functioning as expected. Previously existing Address (v1) component configurations will remain untouched. Creators can continue to edit them in the Module Builder. You can also render and execute them in Express View Express View is how your end-user views you application. Express View also lets you preview your applications to test your configuration and view the styling. This is also the view your end-users will see when interacting with your application. After configuring a module, click Preview in the Module Builder to interact with the module in Express View..