Hi all,
I really want to define dashboards in code (instead of via the UI) and I thought the Foundation SDK would be the answer and quick & easy to pick up (e.g. like Terraform or similar), but it does seem to take a bit more effort to get into than I’d expected. And after a week or so using and researching it, I’m left wondering if many folks really use this? There doesn’t seem to be all that much chat or discussion about it (unless I’m looking in the wrong places).
My initial observations using this:
- I’m surprised there’s no “SDK” subcategory here in the community forums. I suppose there is a Developers / API subcategory and a “dashboard-as-code” tag - but nothing specific for the SDK. This is what makes me wonder if many folks use it.
- The Github repo has some activity but maybe not as much as you’d expect. No active discussions, some issues (approx 60), some stars, etc. - but not all that much.
- The documentation is OK but as halfgingerbeard who commented on this question a little while back says - it’s a bit vague in places. I’m in agreement there.
- It’s OK but it could do with more examples in the docs - say, for each panel type / builder / method.
- It does take some effort to get into - and maybe that puts folks off? Or maybe Grafonet gets more use (though at first glance that’s essentially the same principle / pros / cons).
So, yeah, I think it’s a great tool and seems worth the effort to learn - and I really want to make use of this and follow IaC best practice, etc. but I’m left wondering if it’s worthwhile investing time with this? But I definitely don’t want to go back to just using the UI for everything… 
I’d be interested to know other folks opinions on it. What do others here do, generally? Anywhere to discuss SDK approaches and any good sources of help, documentation and examples? I’d be interested to know.
Thanks