Social Connections VI Prague - An introduction to ibm connections as an appdev platform

There’s an API for that! Why and how to build on the IBM Connec=ons PLATFORM

Mikkel Flindt Heisterberg OnTime® by IntraVision

Agenda

•  Brief intro to IBM Connec=ons as a PLATFORM •  Briefer intro to widgets for IBM Connec=ons •  Boxer brief intro to developing for the Ac=vity Stream

•  Ultra brief intro to event handlers •  Running short on =me and taking ques=ons in the hall

Mikkel Flindt Heisterberg TwiNer: @lekkim E-‐mail: [email protected] hNp://lekkimworld.com hNp://slideshare.net/lekkim

There’s more beneath the surface

The IBM Connec=ons plaVorm

Widgets

Widgets – descriptor <iw:iwidget id="com.example.ExampleWidget" supportedModes="view fullpage” mode="view” lang="en" xmlns:iw="http://www.ibm.com/xmlns/prod/iWidget" iScope="com.example.ExampleWidget"> <iw:resource uri="http://www.example.com/ExampleWidget.js" /> <iw:resource uri="http://www.example.com/ExampleWidget.css" /> <iw:content mode="view"> <![CDATA[ <div id="_IWID_widgetContent">Loading...</div> ]]> </iw:content> <iw:content mode="fullpage"> <![CDATA[ <div id="_IWID_widgetContent">Loading...</div> ]]> </iw:content> </iw:iwidget>

Widgets – iScope dojo.provide("com.example.ExampleWidget"); dojo.declare("com.example.ExampleWidget", null, { constructor: function() {}, onLoad: function() {}, onView: function() {}, onEdit: function() {}, onFullpage: function() {}, onSearch: function() {} });

Widgets – declara=on

Declara=vely configured using widgets-‐config.xml <widgetDef defId="com.example.ExampleWidget” url="/ExampleWidget.xml" loginRequired="true” showInPallette=”true”> <itemSet> <item name="resourceId" value="{resourceId}" /> <item name="profilesCtx" value="{profilesSvcRef}" /> <item name="myProp" value="Abc123" /> </itemSet> </widgetDef>

Widgets – iContext •  An iContext instance is set into the iScope instance •  The iContext provides access to the widget markup (e.g. root

element), I/O related func=ons (i.e. URL rewri=ng), widget aNributes etc.

•  The iContext is easily accessed from the iScope class using this.iContext

•  Important func=ons include: –  iContext.getRootElement() : DOM Element –  iContext.getElementById(id:string) : DOM Element –  iContext.getiWidgetAttributes() : ItemSet –  iContext.getUserProfile() : ItemSet –  iContext.io.rewriteURI(uri:string) : string –  iContext.iEvents.fireEvent(name:string, type:string,

payload:object)

Ac=vity Stream

•  The following is based on my highly acclaimed (cough, cough) presenta=on on the Ac=vity Stream

•  Much more detail and many examples there •  See hNp://slideshare.net/lekkim


Ac=vity Stream

•  IS – River of news – it’s like water flowing by you – No=fica=ons about ”stuff” happening in (other) systems – we refer to these no=fica=ons as entries

•  ISN’T – A new inbox – doesn’t replace email – A perpeptual data store – entries are deleted based on a server defined purge interval (default is 30 days) unless saved or ac<onable

Ac=vity Stream

•  In my opinion it makes most sense to not consider the ac=vity stream as one single stream

•  Instead think that – Each user has his/her own (@me) – There is a public stream (@public) – A community may have a stream if the widget has been added by a community owner – if there’s no stream for a community pos=ng to it will return a ”403 Forbidden”

Ac=vity Stream •  You will mainly use the POST and PUT methods to send JSON data (Content-‐Type:

applica=on/json) to the API

•  JSON is super simple key/value data format. It has simple datatypes (strings, numbers, booleans), objects and arrays

{ ”email”: ”[email protected]”, ”niceGuy”: true, ”age”: 37, ”name”: { ”first”: ”Mikkel Flindt”, ”last”: ” Heisterberg” }, ”Connectospheres”: [6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14] }

Ac=vity Stream { "actor": {"id": "@me"}, "verb": "post", "title": "Some entry title", "updated": "2013-05-17T12:00:00.000Z", "object": { "title": "Some object title", "objectType": "note", "id": "1234567890-1234567890-1234567890" }

}

Ac=vity Stream hNps://<host>/connec=ons/opensocial/<auth>/rest/ac=vitystreams

/<user ID>/<group ID>/<applica<on ID>/<ac<vity ID>

Component Meaning

<auth> (op<onal) If using form based authen=ca=on leave this component out. Otherwise op=ons are anonymos, basic, oauth.

<user ID> The user whose stream you’re addressing – use @me for current users stream, @public for public stream or a community ID for the stream in a community.

<group ID> The group of entries you’re addressing – use @all for all posts or op=ons for special meaning such as @saved, @ac<ons, @men<ons. Refer for InfoCenter and resources slide for more.

<applica=on ID> When retrieving entries this refers to the applica=on (or ”generator”) that created the entry. All the IBM Connec=ons app names can be used (profiles, blogs, wikis etc.) plus custom ones (e.g. on<megc). @all used for all applica=ons.

<ac=vity ID> Used to reference a specific event e.g. for upda=ng saved status.

Ac=vity Stream

1.  /activitystreams/@me/@all List my (current users) entries

2.  /activitystreams/@public/@all List public stream entries

3.  /activitystreams/@me/@actions List my actionable events

4.  /activitystreams/@me/@saved/blogs List my saved events from blogs

5.  /@me/@all/@all/urn:lsid:lconn.ibm.com:activitystreams.story:bdb562f… Work with entry from my stream based on ID

* All URLs above start with https://<host>/connections/opensocial/<auth>/rest

Also used when creating new entries (e.g. POSTing)

Other Programming Interfaces •  SPIs are lower-‐level programming interfaces which may be subject to

modifica<on from release to release. •  Event SPI

–  The IBM Connec=ons Event SPI allows third par=es to consume event data generated by IBM Connec=ons.

•  Seedlist SPI –  Use the Seedlist service provider interface (SPI) provided with IBM Connec=ons to

integrate your search engine with IBM Connec=ons content.

•  Service SPI –  You can use the IBM Connec=ons Service SPI to learn about the applica=ons running in

your IBM Connec=ons deployment.

•  User SPI –  You can use the IBM Connec=ons User SPIs to access informa=on about the users in

your IBM Connec=ons deployment.

Event Handlers – declara=on Declara=vely configured using events-‐config.xml <postHandler enabled=”true" invoke="ASYNC" name=”MyEventHandler” class="com.example.MyEventHandler"> <subscriptions> <subscription source="*" type="*" eventName="*"/>  </subscriptions> </postHandler>

Event Handlers – implementa=on import com.ibm.connections.spi.events.EventHandler public class MyEventHandler implements EventHandler { public void init() throws EventHandlerInitException {} public void destroy() {} public void handleEvent(Event event) throws EventHandlerException { String eventName = event.getName(); // event name Person actor = event.getActor(); // person that triggered event // look at the event name if (event.getName().equals("profiles.person.photo.updated")) { // a profile photo was updated this.doEventProfilesPhotoUpdated(event); } else if (event.getName().equals("profiles.updated")) { // a profile was updated this.doEventProfilesUpdated(event); } } }

Event Handlers – summary

•  Make event handlers asynchroneous •  What happens if your event handler fail? •  What happens if the recipient of the event (3rd party API) fail?

•  Be defensive – consider what happens if events are lost

Thank you

•  Presenta=ons on slideshare.net – this one is coming

•  Contact me – ojen =mes more than willing to help – I’ll let you know when it’s a project J


Social Connections VI Prague - An introduction to ibm connections as an appdev platform

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