Groove for Developers and Integration Toolkit for VS.NET and Web Services

1. Groove for Developers and IntegrationToolkit for VS.NET and Web Services John Giudice Product Management

2. Topics • .NET Technologies and Groove • How does Groove Work • Groove Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET • Groove Web Services • Directions for future releases

3. .NET Framework in context

4. .NET and Groove • Unit of deployment is an assembly (.EXE or .DLL) • Need the .NET framework installed on a system to run • Most programs today are based on COM • Need a bridges between COM and .NET • Users can produce Interop assemblies (Interops), with some limits • Interop (RCW) wraps COM objects to allow them to be used with .NET software • There is also a CCW for COM to use .NET objects • Groove is a COM based technology (as are most all Windows programs) • Groove provides Interops (RCWs) for the Groove COM interfaces to .NET Class Library, signed by Groove • Covers the full set of Groove APIs • Groove Toolkit (VB.NET and C#)

5. Groove and Collaborative Applications • Collaborative apps mean multiple people working together to process and share information • Need to think about program data differently • Virtual teams, across organizations that come together for a common need, issue, idea or problem • Shared libraries are not collaborative apps (e.g. web based servers) • Implementation Needs • Easy to set up, without IT involvement • Must work across organizations, firewalls, NATs • Keep information secure • Everyone should see the same information • Work online and offline

6. How does Groove work (Briefly) • Groove organizes people and information • Uses shared spaces that have a group of people (members) and a set of applications/tools they are working with • Every member has a full local copy of the space and its applications (tools) • Each application (tool) stores its data and information via engines • Engines (and the Groove infrastructure) are responsible for making sure all changes are correctly distributed to all members of a space • Works online or offline • When offline, incoming and outgoing changes are queued up • Automatically synched up when you connect to the net. • Security is always on • 192 bit encryption • Tunnels through Firewalls and NATs

7. What is the Groove Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET • Groove Toolkit for Visual Studio .NET is an integrated kit that enables a whole new family of projects in VS • Works with Visual Studio to extend the capabilities • Supports VB.NET and C# • Integrates much of the required Groove software technology needed to build collaborative applications • Groove is a VSIP partner of Microsoft • This allows Groove to build in much tighter integration between the VS .NET environment and Groove

8. Your PC Groove Groove Web Service OtherApplication Groove Web Services • Extending integration of Groove • Enables a broad range of applications and solutions to integrate with Groove resources and information Some Other PC orcomputer like device GWS

9. Groove Web Services • Enable external applications to work with Groove using Web Services • Broad access to Groove information and resources • Connect to the accounts on your system • Login and access the spaces • Work with the tools in a space • Exchange information with tools • Files, Discussions, Calendar • Custom tools you write • Work with any .exe or can implement from a Browser (Perl) or command line • Within the PC – fully supported at 2.5 • Across systems supported in 2003 • Available for developers to develop with now • Waiting for WS-SEC or equivalent

10. Implementing your collaborative application • Design the user interface • Use the VS.NET layout and windows controls • This is the same for all other windows applications • Drag and drop interactive layout • Groove UI Controls are not used • Design the data structure/storage • Use Groove engines for storing/sharing data among users • Use Groove and .NET objects (e.g. Data Table) for local storage • Create the Groove tool (code and build)

11. Layout your tool

12. Create your application code

13. The tool

14. Groove Project Properties • You need to set the application properties to be used when the application is installed. (see next slide)

15. Set all the key properties from this dialog. These are used in building the TPL, OSD, GRV and Tool descriptor files needed by Groove. Set the Groove Application Properties

16. Status of the Groove Toolkit • Shipped the first implementation in September • First phase of functionality, with more to come in later releases • Expecting to get feedback on areas to improve • Expecting to ship expanded version in the late Fall 2002. • Currently in Beta testing

17. What’s Coming with Groove Toolkit • Version 2.0 • Enhanced developer flexibility in building .NET based tools • Easier Programming with .NET • Expanded set of Groove Managed Interfaces and Classes • 180+ new interfaces • ADO.NET with Groove RecordSetEngines • Support for multiple RecordSetEngines and DocShareEngines in your tools • Also, custom record schemas • Later Versions Improving: • Ease of development • Ease of deployment

18. Other Items • Data Model Delegates (DMD) • Object level interface to information and resources in your tool • Files, Discussion, Calendar • Line of Business and Custom Tools • Groove Document Management Framework (DMF) • Integration with Document Servers • SharePoint Portal • Documentum • Others