Pivot as a portal

[Ralph Goers <ra...@dslextreme.com>]

I saw a demo given by Adobe a few months ago where they are developing  
a portal on the client using their flash technology. I have been  
thinking about how to accomplish the same thing since then without  
requiring a proprietary product. After reading Pivot's web site and  
especially after looking at the LiveConnect documentation it occurred  
to me that Pivot could be the basis for a Java based client side  
portal. Then I went and looked at the code and as best I can  
understand it pivot seems to be all about creating standalone non-html  
widgets in the browser. However, it would seem that since LiveConnect  
allows Java apps to interact with the HTMLDocument as well as  
Javascript that Pivot could easily be extended to become a client-side  
portal container that could aggregate content of various types using  
layouts and permissions provided by a server side component.  
Hopefully, this would allow for more seamless integration then some  
current technologies allow.

1. Am I totally off base in my thinking?

2. If not, is there any interest in doing this in Pivot?

Ralph

Re: Pivot as a portal

[Ralph Goers <ra...@dslextreme.com>]

On Aug 9, 2009, at 9:43 PM, Niclas Hedhman wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 12:39 PM, Ralph Goers<ralph.goers@dslextreme.com 
> > wrote:
>> I saw a demo given by Adobe a few months ago where they are  
>> developing a
>> portal on the client using their flash technology.
>
> Do you have a link so I can take a look and understand what you are
> talking about??

No. Adobe hasn't made anything public yet. I wasn't under an NDA so I  
can talk about what I saw but I also have no documentation.

Some of the things I recall it being able to do:
1. Obtain the layout and permission data for the user from the server.  
All rendering is performed on the client.
2. Add new widgets to a page via drag and drop (similar to the way  
Portals such as Liferay do). The updated layout for the user is  
persisted on the server.
3. Widgets can be written in different languages (such as Flex and  
Javascript) and communicate with each other via shared services  
provided by the platform in the client.
4. Widgets can be restricted so only allowed users can use them.

In other words it looked like a fairly complete portal although it  
didn't support JSR 286 portlets.


>
>
>> 1. Am I totally off base in my thinking?
>>
>> 2. If not, is there any interest in doing this in Pivot?
>
> I think the 'interest' is here, but more hands will be needed to make
> it a reality.

I certainly could mention this on the Portals lists if this group  
thinks this would be a proper home for such an adventure. But if Pivot  
wants to focus solely on being a widget framework rather than an  
overall client-side platform then I would propose doing this within  
the Portals TLP instead.

Ralph

Re: Pivot as a portal

[Niclas Hedhman <ni...@hedhman.org>]

On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 12:39 PM, Ralph Goers<ra...@dslextreme.com> wrote:
> I saw a demo given by Adobe a few months ago where they are developing a
> portal on the client using their flash technology.

Do you have a link so I can take a look and understand what you are
talking about??


> 1. Am I totally off base in my thinking?
>
> 2. If not, is there any interest in doing this in Pivot?

I think the 'interest' is here, but more hands will be needed to make
it a reality.


Cheers
-- 
Niclas Hedhman, Software Developer
http://www.qi4j.org - New Energy for Java

I  live here; http://tinyurl.com/2qq9er
I  work here; http://tinyurl.com/2ymelc
I relax here; http://tinyurl.com/2cgsug

Re: Pivot as a portal

[Greg Brown <gk...@mac.com>]

Hi Ralph,

> I saw a demo given by Adobe a few months ago where they are  
> developing a portal on the client using their flash technology. I  
> have been thinking about how to accomplish the same thing since then  
> without requiring a proprietary product.

Pivot is certainly applicable to this task.

> as best I can understand it pivot seems to be all about creating  
> standalone non-html widgets in the browser.

We describe Pivot as "an RIA platform for Java". It is analogous to  
Flex and Silverlight (and, to some extent, JavaFX). In fact, we often  
say that it represents what we think Sun should have done instead of  
JavaFX.

Pivot is actually a complete, self-contained windowing toolkit that is  
capable of running in the browser. So, it is more about creating rich  
applications that can run in the browser (possibly interacting with  
one another via LiveConnect, as you describe below).

Pivot can also be used to create desktop applications, but that is  
probably outside the scope of what you are considering.

> However, it would seem that since LiveConnect allows Java apps to  
> interact with the HTMLDocument as well as Javascript that Pivot  
> could easily be extended to become a client-side portal container  
> that could aggregate content of various types using layouts and  
> permissions provided by a server side component. Hopefully, this  
> would allow for more seamless integration then some current  
> technologies allow.

Agreed, though I'm not sure it would make sense to "extend" Pivot for  
this purpose. I could certainly see building such a platform on top of  
Pivot - whether or not it should be part of the platform itself, I'm  
not sure. I'd like to hear more about what you have in mind.

> 1. Am I totally off base in my thinking?
>
> 2. If not, is there any interest in doing this in Pivot?

I would personally be very happy to support such an effort. At a  
minimum, it would help build further interest in the platform and  
provide an additional selling point.

Greg