Technology Sandbox feedback and FAQ

This page is designed to help you find answers for questions related to the Technology Sandbox product and related information.

Issues and feedback

For product related issues not addressed in the FAQ, click here

Frequently asked questions

• Which browsers are supported?

  You cannot use Safari to access applications in the IBM Developer Technology Sandbox. The sandbox works best with Chrome, Microsoft Edge and Firefox. We strongly recommend that you use these browsers for the best experience.

• While using IBM Developer Technology Sandbox, I get an error message 'Cannot create workspace'.

  This error indicates a temporary issue or the non-availability of resources while creating a workspace. Refresh the page and try again..

• Can I  increase the timeout period of the workspace?

  Each workspace session is limited to 4 hours. Remember to save your work to a Github repo.

• Can I work on more than one workspace at the same time?

  Each user can use only one workspace at a time.

• Can I personalize the IBM Developer Technology Sandbox workspace?

  We do not support personalization or customization of workspaces at this time.

• What do I do if I do not see any activity in the terminal?

  The background processes in the build, configure, and launch steps can sometimes take up to a minute to complete due to network issues. If you see a certain step taking longer than expected, stop it by pressing Ctrl + C for Windows users and Cmd + C for Mac users on the terminal, and then retry the step.

• Does IBM Developer Technology Sandbox support GoLang? What are the languages supported by IBM Developer Technology Sandbox?

  No, currently IBM Developer Technology Sandbox supports applications built using Node.js, React, Python and R.

• What type of applications are currently enabled in the IBM Developer Technology Sandbox?

  Currently, IBM Developer Technology Sandbox supports applications built using API products, some IBM Cloud services, and some IBM Watson services. 

• I have run out of my allocated IBM Cloud Capacity Unit Hours? What do I do?

  If you are subscribed to a Lite plan and have run out of your CUH allocation, you will need to wait until the next month for them to be replenished. You can upgrade to a paid plan for additional capacity hours.  You can check your usage here: https://cloud.ibm.com/billing

• How do I save my work? How do I export the sample application code?

  Use the Git feature in the IBM Developer Technology Sandbox to push the pre-built application code and any modifications that you've made to your GitHub repository.  To publish the code to a GitHub repo follow these steps:

  1. Open a Terminal in the theia-ide*** container.  Terminal->Open Terminal in specific container and select the theia-ide*** container
  
  2. Make sure you are in the projects folder  cd /projects
  
  3. Clone the repository to push the code  git clone <github repo>
  Or, if you need to clone a particular branch from the repo  git -b <branch> clone <github repo>
  You might be prompted for a username and password for the repo, if the repo is private.
  
  4. Copy the sample app code into the clone repo.  cp -a <sample app>/. <repo name>/
  
  5. Switch to the repo folder
  cd <repo name>
  
  6. Skip unnecessary files from being pushed to repo : 
  touch .gitignore && echo "node_modules/" >> .gitignore; echo ".git" >> .gitignore
  
  7. Add all the changes to git: 
  git add *
  
  8. Commit all the changes: 
  git commit -m "Commit Message"
  
  9. Push all code to the remote repo: 
  git remote add origin <repo name>
  git push -u origin <branch> 
  

• While performing the Install dependencies step, I encountered an error: “ERROR: Could not open requirements file: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'requirements.txt'”

  This error is displayed if the source repo has not been downloaded. Please click on the ‘Get Code’ action before attempting to install dependencies. 

• While performing the git clone step, I encountered an error: “fatal: BUG: initial ref transaction called with existing refs”

  This error is displayed in the terminal when network issues are encountered. Please click on the ‘Get Code’ action again.