Re: I'm interested in integrating microblogging into OFBiz

[Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com>]

Hi,

A student in Germany just won third prize in the SAPiens contest
(http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tu-chemnitz.de%2Fwirtschaft%2Fwi2%2Fwp%2Fde%2F2009%2F11%2F30%2Ferfolg-bei-sapiens-2009%2F&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate)
with research focusing on the the integration of microblogging and ERP
systems.

Here are the details:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?doit=done&tt=url&intl=1&fr=bf-home&trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tu-chemnitz.de%2Fwirtschaft%2Fwi2%2Fwp%2Fde%2F2009%2F11%2F30%2Ferfolg-bei-sapiens-2009%2F&lp=de_en&btnTrUrl=Translate

Of interest to those looking for examples of the ERP integration into
microblogging systems, I'd suggest looking at the included slides
which have examples of machines and logistics locations tweeting
status information. Very cool stuff.

D.

On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I just created a very simple description of an initial use case (in
> the ESME wiki):
> http://cwiki.apache.org/ESME/simple-use-case-ofbiz-sends-message-to-esme.html
>
> What don't you take a look at tell me what you think.
>
> If you want, I can set up everything (pool, users, tokens, etc.) on
> the ESME side and then send them to someone on the OFbiz side.
>
> If you want to use Java to access the REST API, there is already a
> primitive Java client in our SVN
> (http://svn.apache.org/viewvc/incubator/esme/trunk/esme-java-client/)
> that may come in handy.
>
> Thanks.
>
> D.
>
> On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 5:32 PM, Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I'd heard of Wookie but never thought about making a W3C Widget spec'd
>> ESME client. Interesting idea.
>>
>> D.
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 12:48 PM, Scott Gray <sc...@hotwaxmedia.com> wrote:
>>> I stumbled across Apache Wookie (http://incubator.apache.org/wookie/) the
>>> other day and found it quite interesting, any plans on creating W3C Widget
>>> spec'd ESME clients?  I'd be interested in seeing what could be done to add
>>> support for W3C Widgets in OFBiz, either standalone or wrapped in our
>>> portlets that Bruno mentioned.
>>>
>>> Regards
>>> Scott
>>>
>>> On 28/11/2009, at 10:45 PM, Richard Hirsch wrote:
>>>
>>>> I just read about the OFBiz Widget Toolkit
>>>>
>>>> (http://docs.ofbiz.org/display/OFBIZ/Understanding+the+OFBiz+Widget+Toolkit)
>>>> . Of course, another idea would be to create a Widget that displays
>>>> ESME messages.
>>>>
>>>> Just thinking aloud.....
>>>>
>>>> D.
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 10:32 AM, Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> I just created a wiki page for the conversation:
>>>>> http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/ESME/Collaboration+with+OFbiz
>>>>>
>>>>> I moved our initial ideas from this mail thread to this wiki page and
>>>>> will continue adding details there.
>>>>>
>>>>> D.
>>>>>
>>>>> On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 8:43 AM, Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Hi Scott,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Comments inline
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Sat, Nov 28, 2009 at 1:08 AM, Scott Gray <sc...@hotwaxmedia.com>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi Richard,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Thanks for getting in touch with us, it's always good to hear from
>>>>>>> other ASF
>>>>>>> projects.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I agree that an integration between the two projects could be quite
>>>>>>> interesting, and could actually be an extremely useful means of
>>>>>>> facilitating
>>>>>>> system<->user and user<->user communication.  Here's a few thoughts:
>>>>>>> About ECAs:
>>>>>>> ECAs are pretty straight forward: when an Event occurs, if the
>>>>>>> Condition(s)
>>>>>>> are met then Action(s) are performed.  The Events supported currently
>>>>>>> are
>>>>>>> Entity (EECA) events which basically correspond to database record CRUD
>>>>>>> events, Service (SECA) events which correspond the various stages of a
>>>>>>> given
>>>>>>> service's invocation (invoke, validate, commit, return, etc.) and Mail
>>>>>>> (MECA) events which occur when an email is received.
>>>>>>> Conditions are defined against whatever context is will be available
>>>>>>> when
>>>>>>> the event occurs, the record fields for an EECA, the in/out parameters
>>>>>>> for a
>>>>>>> SECA and the email contents for a MECA (from, to, subject, etc.)
>>>>>>> Actions are just OFBiz services to be invoked when the conditions are
>>>>>>> met.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Can you point me to some more technical documentation regarding EECAs,
>>>>>> etc.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Sending event notifications:
>>>>>>> ECAs are the way to go for this and we'd just define services to be
>>>>>>> used as
>>>>>>> actions which send the message to ESME.  You'd probably create a single
>>>>>>> generic service that is used to send any message and then use that
>>>>>>> service
>>>>>>> within other services for sending specific messages e.g. an ECA would
>>>>>>> invoke
>>>>>>> sendPurchaseOrderChangeNotification which would prepare the message
>>>>>>> contents
>>>>>>> and call sendEsmeMessage to actually send the message.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This is also the same pattern that we use in ABAP.  Once you have
>>>>>> sendEsmeMessage piece, you could embed the functionality easily and
>>>>>> then have functionality like SalesForce Chatter.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Receiving messages:
>>>>>>> For this we could either create a new type of ECA specifically for ESME
>>>>>>> messages or perhaps even generalize MECAs to support any type of
>>>>>>> message so
>>>>>>> that it stands for Message rather then Mail.  ECAs would then be
>>>>>>> defined and
>>>>>>> evaluated when an ESME message is received and service actions invoked
>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> handle any processing and responses that need to occur.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The receipt of the message in OFBiz can occur via various means.  If
>>>>>> OFBiz has a RESTAPI for ECAs, then you can create an ESME action
>>>>>> (http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/ESME/Actions) to send
>>>>>> messages to OFBiz when certain ESME events occur.   Or if there some
>>>>>> sort of ECA for dealing with email events, then we can also use an
>>>>>> action that sends email. If you want a deeper integration, you could
>>>>>> have a bot that uses one of our various APIs
>>>>>> (http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/ESME/API) to read the
>>>>>> message queue and then create OFBiz events.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The integration via actions is very easy from the ESME side but on the
>>>>>> OFBiz side you would need some sort of mechanism to parse the message
>>>>>> to be able to call the appropriate OFBiz functionality.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Additionally as part of the sending/receiving process we'd probably
>>>>>>> want to
>>>>>>> store the messages an CommunicationEvent records but that should be
>>>>>>> pretty
>>>>>>> straightforward using the existing services that are available.  For
>>>>>>> storing
>>>>>>> each user's ESME address we'd just use the ContactMech entity with a
>>>>>>> new
>>>>>>> ContactMechType.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Why would you need to store the user's ESME address?  OFBiz would post
>>>>>> messages to ESME in the form of a ESME user (for example,
>>>>>> "OFBizBackend"). Users who were interested in messages would follow
>>>>>> the user and would receive the messages from this user.  If you want
>>>>>> to restrict the access of messages, then you could use ESME's pool
>>>>>> mechanism.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> For chat I guess things will be a little more complicated because OFBiz
>>>>>>> would want to play some sort of a role in logging messages
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You could probably create an ESME bot that listens to either an entire
>>>>>> group and copies the message into some sort of archive. Ideally, you
>>>>>> would write a bot that creates JMS messages that anyone can store. We
>>>>>> talked about this but have had no time to develop it yet.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> mentioned restricting communication between parties depending on there
>>>>>>> roles
>>>>>>> and permissions within the system.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ESME has the idea of pools to deal with restricting access.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm also assuming that ESME is only
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> concerned with sending and receiving messages so the responsibility of
>>>>>>> managing things like this and other chat features (chat buddies, rooms,
>>>>>>> status, etc.) would fall upon the chat client rather than ESME?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Much of this is handled by ESME.  ESME has a variety of clients
>>>>>> available (see the bottom the page on
>>>>>> http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/ESME/Index ) and supports
>>>>>> the twitter API as well (so some existing twiter clients can be used
>>>>>> to access ESME)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> But anyway I hope some of this is helpful and although I don't really
>>>>>>> have
>>>>>>> any time to spare at the moment to work on an integration, I just
>>>>>>> wanted to
>>>>>>> send something along to let you know that I think an integration would
>>>>>>> be
>>>>>>> quite useful and that there is some interest among the community.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'll create a wiki page in the ESME Space to collect our ideas on the
>>>>>> integration.  I can do most of the ESME integration work but I'll ned
>>>>>> some assistance on the OFBiz side.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> We have a test instance in the cloud. Is there a test OFBiz instance
>>>>>> where we might test the integration.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> D.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards
>>>>>>> Scott
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> HotWax Media
>>>>>>> http://www.hotwaxmedia.com
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On 27/11/2009, at 9:19 PM, Richard Hirsch wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> if you would like to work with us to get this implemented, you are
>>>>>>>>> very
>>>>>>>>> welcome.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Of course.  We have a test server in the cloud that we can use and
>>>>>>>> REST APIs to create messages. We have also various clients
>>>>>>>> (Javascript, AIr client, etc.) that users can also use to view status
>>>>>>>> messages from different sources.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What I don't know is how the integration with OFBiz would look like. I
>>>>>>>> read about ECAs but didn't find very many details. Ideal would to use
>>>>>>>> ECAs (when I understand them correctly) to use ESME's REST API to send
>>>>>>>> messages.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> What are the next steps?  Should I create a wiki page in the ESME wiki
>>>>>>>> space where we  can discuss this?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> D.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On Fri, Nov 27, 2009 at 9:08 AM, Hans Bakker
>>>>>>>> <ma...@antwebsystems.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Yes i have a request from a customer to add a chat function within
>>>>>>>>> ofbiz.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> we are looking at 2 frameworks:
>>>>>>>>> http://sourceforge.net/projects/nfcchat/
>>>>>>>>> the license is not compatible however i have a part confirmation they
>>>>>>>>> are willing to change the license
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> and:
>>>>>>>>> https://sourceforge.net/projects/icsc/
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> if you would like to work with us to get this implemented, you are
>>>>>>>>> very
>>>>>>>>> welcome.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>> Hans
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, 2009-11-27 at 05:05 +0100, Richard Hirsch wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Has anyone thought about adding social components (ala Chatter in
>>>>>>>>>> SalesForce http://www.salesforce.com/chatter/) - in particular - to
>>>>>>>>>> OFBiz?
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I'm one of the Project Leads for the Apache Incubator Project ESME
>>>>>>>>>> (Enterprise Social Messaging Experiment)
>>>>>>>>>> (http://incubator.apache.org/esme/ ) and I was thinking about how
>>>>>>>>>> ESME
>>>>>>>>>> might be integrated into OFbiz. I'm assuming that ECAs are probably
>>>>>>>>>> the best place to start but I didn't find enough information.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> There are various integration possibilities / use cases. A few
>>>>>>>>>> examples: a purchase order is changed and a short message is sent to
>>>>>>>>>> those in ESME who are interested or the user makes an enquiry about
>>>>>>>>>> a
>>>>>>>>>> particular material and OFBiz sends a short message via ESME with a
>>>>>>>>>> status.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Thanks.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> D.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> --
>>>>>>>>> Antwebsystems.com: Quality OFBiz services for competitive rates
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>

Re: I'm interested in integrating microblogging into OFBiz

[Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com>]

Just wanted to tell both lists that I've successfully created a
prototype for integrating ESME into OfBiz.  I used the the "example"
component and added a java service that responds to newly created
entities - in this case "examples" - and sends a message to ESME with
information about the entity. I used ESME's Twitter API for the
communication

The prototype is primitive but shows the necessary steps for others to
add it to other entities if desired.

Right now, I've hard-coded the authentication data but this could
probably be expanded with OFbiz-specific data for someone with more
knowledge about the internals.

Java code obviously needs to be cleaned-up.

Details are here:
http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/ESME/Simple+Use+Case+-+OFBiz+sends+message+to+ESME

If anyone has any more questions or further ideas, I'd be really
interested to hear them.

D.

Re: I'm interested in integrating microblogging into OFBiz

[Richard Hirsch <hi...@gmail.com>]

Just wanted to tell both lists that I've successfully created a
prototype for integrating ESME into OfBiz.  I used the the "example"
component and added a java service that responds to newly created
entities - in this case "examples" - and sends a message to ESME with
information about the entity. I used ESME's Twitter API for the
communication

The prototype is primitive but shows the necessary steps for others to
add it to other entities if desired.

Right now, I've hard-coded the authentication data but this could
probably be expanded with OFbiz-specific data for someone with more
knowledge about the internals.

Java code obviously needs to be cleaned-up.

Details are here:
http://cwiki.apache.org/confluence/display/ESME/Simple+Use+Case+-+OFBiz+sends+message+to+ESME

If anyone has any more questions or further ideas, I'd be really
interested to hear them.

D.