Deprecation of older vSphere client APIs

[yitingjin]

VMware is announcing that the upcoming vSphere release will be the terminal release for two older sets of vSphere client APIs -- the vSphere Flex client APIs and the current set of HTML client APIs (also known as the Bridge APIs).  A new set of vSphere client APIs that are designed to scale and support the use cases and improved security, design, and extensibility of the vSphere HTML client are included as part of today's vSphere RC release.

We are also announcing deprecation of webplatform.js, which will be replaced with an improved way to push updates into partner plugin solutions without any lifecycle dependencies on vSphere client SDK updates. 

Note: If you have an existing plugin solution to the vSphere client, please upgrade Virgo server according to the information included in the vSphere RC release.  Existing vSphere client plugins will not be compatible with the upcoming vSphere release without developers taking this upgrade action.

[ChrisSmith2]

The information provided indicates that it is not possible to build a plugin compatible with both 6.0/6.5 and the vSphere RC using the existing official 6.5U1 SDK (6.5.0.10000 [5973321] on code.vmware.com/sdks) by making changes within the plugin code - a newer SDK *must* be used to build the plugin.

Is an official SDK publically available for the vSphere RC release? If so, is this officially supported and usable for building production plugins? If not, will one be made available sufficiently in advance of the full RTM of the next vSphere for plugins to be updated, tested, and released before customers start upgrading their systems and losing critical functionality?

[_vladi_]

Hi Chris,

This is not correct. Terminal release of the APIs means that they will be supported in the upcoming release (the RC) but will be deprecated. So backward compatibility is preserved - you can still use 6.5U1 SDK to build a plugin and it will work on the upcoming release as well as on older ones.

The communication above means that this plugin will not be supported on the release after the upcoming release.

If you want to support 6.0 your plugin should be based on the old APIs. For the release after the upcoming release the plugin should be changed to use the new set of APIs. If you are building a plugin that needs to support only the HTML Client from the latest vSphere releases then you can already make use of the new APIs.

Those are part of the SDK and are available through the standard beta/RC/certification channels for official releases. It will be publicly available when the upcoming vSphere release goes GA.

Cheers,

Vladi

[ngenereux]

Is there any kind of upgrade documentation to help convert plugins from the old APIs to the new ones?

[_vladi_]

Hi,

The JavaScript APIs have been released in vSphere Client SDK 6.7.

The documentation of this new set of frontend APIs is here. There is no direct upgrade documentation as the mapping between the Bridge APIs and the new ones is pretty straightforward. Please have a look at the HTML sample part of the SDK that showcases their usage.

Cheers,

Vladi

[Denis_Chorbadzh]

Hi,

In addition to what Vladi has said,

the new JavaScript APIs have also been released as part of the vSphere Client SDK 6.5U2 along with many new features.

You can download the SDK from here: https://code.vmware.com/web/sdk/65/client

Best Regards,

Denis