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Channel Development Strategies

June 10, 2003 Steve Barrett. Channel Development Strategies. Introduction. Stephen Barrett – smb1@cornell.edu Lead Analyst – Infrastructure Technical Lead, uPortal.Cornell. Jon Atherton – jca8@cornell.edu Project Lead, uPortal.Cornell Mike Oltz – mdo1@cornell.edu

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Channel Development Strategies

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  1. June 10, 2003 Steve Barrett Channel Development Strategies

  2. Introduction Stephen Barrett – smb1@cornell.edu Lead Analyst – Infrastructure Technical Lead, uPortal.Cornell Jon Atherton – jca8@cornell.edu Project Lead, uPortal.Cornell Mike Oltz – mdo1@cornell.edu Technical Support, uPortal.Cornell

  3. History • Inquiry on discussion list about Channel Development Strategies documentation • BOF at Winter ’02 JA-SIG conference • Channel Development Strategies document at: http://mis105.mis.udel.edu/ja-sig/uportal/developers/channel_docs/

  4. Agenda • Initial comments • Adoption/Rejection of uPortal • Review of channel types available • Environment variables • Supporting the strategy • Recruitment of channel developers • Conclusion

  5. Initial Comments • There is no Channel Development Strategy! • Any strategy will utilize more than one channel type • Any given strategy is neither right or wrong

  6. Analysis for Adoption • Is uPortal what you need? Static layout or customizable? Is the deliverable just a collection of links? • Understand the difference between a portal and a web site • Enough political clout to properly steer/control the effort?

  7. Review of Channel Types • Image • Inline Frame • RSS (GenericXSLT) • Web Proxy • Simple XML Transformation • Remote Channel Proxy • Custom (native) • Applet

  8. Review of Channel Types • Image • Simple • Not very useful

  9. Review of Channel Types • Inline Frame • Behaves like a browser • Not all browsers support inline frames • Can not receive uPortal events, parameters and/or credentials from uPortal • Channel state is not preserved • Easiest to define

  10. Review of Channel Types • RSS • Easy to create (expressed via XML) • Looks like a custom (native) channel • Best use results in links to external pages • Limited by specification and XSLT implementation in uPortal

  11. Review of Channel Types • Web Proxy • Converts well formed HTML into XML that can be rendered within uPortal as a channel • Existing web-based applications can be “portalized” with relative ease • CPU intensive applications do no effect performance of uPortal

  12. Review of Channel Types • Simple XML Transformation • GenericXSLT • Renders XML documents as channels • Requires applications to speak HTTP

  13. Review of Channel Types • Remote Channel Proxy • First attempt as a webservices channel • No complex authentication mechanisms • Stalled awaiting Web Services for Remote Portals (WSRP) standard from OASIS (http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/webservices/library/ws-wsrp/) • WSRP channel may replace RCP

  14. Review of Channel Types • Custom • Implements specific interfaces that allow execution within uPortal • Often referred to as “native” channels • Provide a “crisp” interactive experience • Can call other channels • Everything in uPortal is a channel • Can negatively effect performance

  15. Review of Channel Types • Applet • Channel definition is easy and they run fine • Provide feature rich graphical environments • Self distribution mechanism • Horror stories abound • Design complexity on the scale of distributed systems

  16. Environment Variables • Time, when is the delivery date? • Hardware; old, new, co-existence? • What Web Server, if any? • Servlet hosting environment – application server, tomcat? • Authentication Single web sign-on? Central mechanism such as a directory? • Authorization Central mechanism? • Availability of coders and taggers. Java developers. HTML taggers. XML/XSLT knowledge?

  17. Environmental Constraints • Project delivery date = Time • Customization of uPortal = Customization • Budget • Small/Some/Limited • Medium • Large or Long

  18. Result of Analysis and Review • Careful evaluation of environment reveals Channel Development Strategy. ST, SC, SB = all RSS channels MT, SC, SB = mostly RSS, some local Web Proxy MT, SC, MB = RSS, local and some “outer” Web Proxy M-LT, SC, M-LB = RSS, Web Proxy, some Native M-LT, LC, M-LB = RSS, some local Web Proxy

  19. Result of Analysis and Review • Careful evaluation of environment reveals Channel Development Strategy. ST, SC, SB = all RSS channels MT, SC, SB = mostly RSS, some local Web Proxy MT, SC, MB = RSS, local and some “outer” Web Proxy M-LT, SC, M-LB = RSS, Web Proxy, some Native M-LT, LC, M-LB = RSS, some local Web Proxy

  20. Support of the strategy • Authentication Why? • Channels such as Web Proxy and RSS (GenericXSLT) communicate with servers in the 3rd tier • 3rd tiers need to authenticate the user at the edge as if they were being accessed directly

  21. Support of the strategy • Authentication How? • Pass a token to the 3rd tier that can be used to establish the identity of the user at the edge • There are several ways to do this: Basic HTTP Authorization URL Parameters (?username=smb1&password=XXXX) Custom HTTP Authorization Cookies

  22. Support of the strategy • LocalConnectionContext.java package org.jasig.portal.security; import org.jasig.portal.ChannelRuntimeData; import org.jasig.portal.ChannelStaticData; public abstract class LocalConnectionContext { protected ChannelStaticData staticData; public void init (ChannelStaticData sd) { staticData = sd; } public String getDescriptor(String descriptor, ChannelRuntimeData rd) { return descriptor; } public void sendLocalData(Object connection, ChannelRuntimeData rd) { } }

  23. Support of the strategy • Triggering LocalConnectionContext Channel parameter “upc_localConnContext” edu.cornell.uportal.LCCImpl This class extends LCC

  24. Support of the strategy • CWebProxy Presentation Sarah Arnott Andrew Draskoy Memorial University of Newfoundland Tuesday, June 10, 2003 1:45PM-2:45PM Standley I

  25. Buy-In • Almost all of the necessary pieces • War of the religions • Java® • Microsoft® (.asp, VB, .net) • Coldfusion® • PERL • C/C++ • PHP • FileMaker®

  26. Buy-In • Plays well with other religions • The faithful do not need to buy into Java • Authentication of the user at the edge is available IF required • Little or no knowledge of uPortal is required • Retention of hosting rights • Ownership of channel and content guaranteed

  27. Conclusion • Strategies are not static, they change! • Management of channel categorizations Only ONE weather channel is necessary • Coaching the channel developers • Channels have titles by definition • Multiple document form elements with the same name • Users select skins they are most comfortable with • Limited amount of available real estate • Icons consume a lot of real estate

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