3rd party integration with the Geronimo web admin console

[Nathaniel Harward <nh...@terracotta.org>]

I had a discussion on IRC #geronimo about this, and it was suggested
that I post to the G dev list to continue the discussion:

The Goal:
    To put a GUI front end on a downloadable 3rd party Geronimo plugin,
preferably in the adminstration console where administrative security is
already handled and configuration of components is natural.  As far as I
can gather, right now I would have to have my plugin modify the portlet
configuration files directly and force a console reload on startup for
this to happen, but I have also only been looking at the 1.1 code line
so far.

>From the IRC discussion:
    I chatted briefly with kevan and jgenender about this, and they
suggested that instead of using 1.1 I focus on the 2.0 line since there
was work being done in the area of the administration console.  There
seemed to be some minor discord about where exactly this new code lives
(sandbox vs. trunk) and when exactly it will be released (2.0 or later).

For my part, I'm interested to know what/where this new code is (and
when it will be released is always good too), and what I will need to do
as the plugin writer to integrate my portlet (or something other than a
portlet?) into the new and improved console.

Any help or pointers to the code are much appreciated.

Thanks,
Nat Harward

P.S. -- for those interested this is for a plugin for Terracotta
clustering for Geronimo.

Re: 3rd party integration with the Geronimo web admin console

[Paul McMahan <pa...@gmail.com>]

On Jul 16, 2007, at 1:46 PM, Nathaniel Harward wrote:
> Thanks Paul -- I will check this out today and start playing with it.
> Since this is a sandboxed project, would you prefer feedback in  
> JIRA or
> on the dev list?

dev list is most convenient for now since the code its still in  
sandbox.  JIRA would only be necessary if you or someone else wants  
to contribute a patch.

Best wishes,
Paul

Re: 3rd party integration with the Geronimo web admin console

[Nathaniel Harward <nh...@terracotta.org>]

Paul McMahan wrote:
> Right now the code is in sandbox/portals and there's a README in there
> if you would like to build it and try it out.  Feedback is most
> definitely welcome.  I would like to move the code into server/trunk
> soon after a 2.0 branch is cut. 

Thanks Paul -- I will check this out today and start playing with it. 
Since this is a sandboxed project, would you prefer feedback in JIRA or
on the dev list?

Nat

Re: 3rd party integration with the Geronimo web admin console

[Paul McMahan <pa...@gmail.com>]

Nat,  There is some work going on right now for Geronimo 2.x to make  
the admin console more modular and extensible.   It is conceptually  
similar to what you found for Geronimo 1.x but is based on a newer  
version of pluto which has better support for dynamically adding  
portal pages.

One of the primary use cases sounds in line with what you describe  
where a component, application, or plugin needs to add new portlets  
to the admin console.   We're still ironing out some of the details  
but the basic idea will be that you will package your portlets in a  
WAR and use a gbean provided by Geronimo to add your portal pages to  
the admin console's navigator.

This document describes how to create and deploy your portlet WAR:
     http://portals.apache.org/pluto/v11/deploying.html
All of that information is relevant except for the part titled  
"Portal Page Configuration".   That will be handled by a gbean  
referenced from your WAR's deployment plan instead of by editing an  
XML file.

Right now the code is in sandbox/portals and there's a README in  
there if you would like to build it and try it out.  Feedback is most  
definitely welcome.  I would like to move the code into server/trunk  
soon after a 2.0 branch is cut.


Best wishes,
Paul


On Jul 12, 2007, at 3:03 PM, Nathaniel Harward wrote:

> I had a discussion on IRC #geronimo about this, and it was suggested
> that I post to the G dev list to continue the discussion:
>
> The Goal:
>     To put a GUI front end on a downloadable 3rd party Geronimo  
> plugin,
> preferably in the adminstration console where administrative  
> security is
> already handled and configuration of components is natural.  As far  
> as I
> can gather, right now I would have to have my plugin modify the  
> portlet
> configuration files directly and force a console reload on startup for
> this to happen, but I have also only been looking at the 1.1 code line
> so far.
>
> From the IRC discussion:
>     I chatted briefly with kevan and jgenender about this, and they
> suggested that instead of using 1.1 I focus on the 2.0 line since  
> there
> was work being done in the area of the administration console.  There
> seemed to be some minor discord about where exactly this new code  
> lives
> (sandbox vs. trunk) and when exactly it will be released (2.0 or  
> later).
>
> For my part, I'm interested to know what/where this new code is (and
> when it will be released is always good too), and what I will need  
> to do
> as the plugin writer to integrate my portlet (or something other  
> than a
> portlet?) into the new and improved console.
>
> Any help or pointers to the code are much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Nat Harward
>
> P.S. -- for those interested this is for a plugin for Terracotta
> clustering for Geronimo.