CSDepot Computer Science Department Portal

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CSDepotComputer Science Department Portal

• Final Project Report
• In partial fulfillment of the requirements for a
• Masters Degree in Computer Science
• Presented by
• Rebecca Twigg
• For
• Dr. Edward Chow
• Dr. Charlie Shub
• Dr. Tim Chamillard
• May 30, 2006

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What is a Portal?

• A webpage aggregating content and applications
  from disparate sources
• Content unit is a channel, or portlet
• uPortal mostly refers to channels - Sun One
  Server term
• Portlet is an emerging term associated with
  standards JSR-168, WSRP
• Commercial portal solutions Plumtree, IBM, SAP
  and BEA - high license fees
• Open-source enterprise portals include Apache
  Jetspeed, eXo, jPorta, Liferay, JBoss

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What is uPortal?

• Free open-source J2EE portal framework targeting
  higher education institutions
• Developed collaboratively by JA-SIG, Princeton,
  Cornell, others ongoing effort
• Based on J2EE standards, including Java, JNDI,
  JDBC, JSP, Java Servlets, XML, XSLT
• Many universities have implemented uPortal see
  list at www.uPortal.org

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The uPortal Framework

• uPortal is not a portal, but a portal framework
  a reusable design
• uPortal provides a skeletal set of Java classes,
  XML and XSL files from which a custom campus
  portal can be developed
• Not intended as a turnkey solution
• uPortal documentation on wiki at JA-SIGs
  website
• http//www.ja-sig.org/wiki/homepage.action

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System Requirements

• Server Any platform that can run Java 2 Runtime
  Environment
• - CSDepot tested with Windows XP, Linux, UNIX
• - uPortal also implemented on Solaris,
• MacOS X.
• Browser CSDepot tested with IE 6.0, Netscape 8.1
• Development Requires Java Development Kit
• - JDK 1.4 Standard Edition
• - Versions 1.4.2_08, 1.4.2_10, 1.4.2_11 work

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XML

• Transient portal data
• Can be thought of as tree structure
• XML sources
• - Built from portal database data (e.g. layout
  structures)
• - Written in Java classes
• - Stored on application server as XML file
• - Accessed from external source, e.g. as RSS
  stream

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XSLT

• Transforms XML from one tree structure to another
• Involves selection of node or set of nodes in XML
  tree
• Performs processing on selected nodes/nodesets to
  produce transformed XML tree
• Portal layouts undergo first a structure
  transformation to produce initial structure, e.g.
  tab-column structure for HTML browsers
• Layouts then undergo a theme transformation using
  XSLT stylesheets to produce mark-up, e.g. XHTML,
  read by browser

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CSDepot

• Prototype portal developed for UCCS Computer
  Science Department
• Implements and extends uPortal framework
• Holistic extensions include
• - Statistics tracking
• - Editable channels
• - Editing permissions
• - Per-channel publishing permissions
• UCCS skin, layouts and portal users
• CSDepot application can be viewed at
  https//wind.uccs.edu/CSDepot

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Statistics Tracking

• StatsRecorder service is started when portal is
  initialized with new session creation,
  StatsListener is added
• When portal user adds a new channel to layout,
  instantiates a channel or targets a channel,
  channel-specific entry is created in HashTable in
  RDBMStatsRecorder.
• When user logs out, database table
  UP_CHANNEL_STATS is updated with HashTable
  contents.
• Channel must have statistics tracking enabled to
  track statistics
• Design optimizations decisions
• 1) Statistics only recorded in database when
  user logs out saves time and database
  connections
• 2) Statistics only recorded for channels
  tracking stats saves space, also time

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New CSDepot Channels

• Department Message - implements new Message
  channel type
• Course Information channels implements new
  Course channel type
• Graduate Application
• Statistics Manager reports statistics

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Department Message Channel

• Implements new Message channel type
• Channel is editable by users with editing
  permissions
• Access is controlled via presence/absence of edit
  button
• GenericXSLT as base, adding code to channel to
  handle edit event
• If edit event is received, edit form displayed
• New XML file is re-created each time message is
  edited

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Department Message Editing
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Course Information Channel

• Implements new Course channel type
• Implements inter-channel communication from
  uPortal ICC demo
• Uses JNDI context and event handlers to
  communicate
• Viewer channel is registered as a listener in
  course channels ICCRegistry
• ViewerURL object is bound in viewer channels
  JNDI context
• When link is selected in course channel, URL is
  passed to viewer channels JNDI context
• Event causes viewer channel to retrieve bound
  ViewerURL object and update display
• Hyperlink text and underlying URL values can be
  edited by course instructor
• Other course information can also be edited

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Course Information Channel - Editing
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Course Information Channel - Viewing
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Graduate Application Channel

• Deferential view based on editing permissions
• Guests can submit new graduate application online
• Applicants can later check their application
  status
• Department administrators and graduate committee
  members have edit permissions
• Are presented with list of applicants
• Can select individual applicant and view details,
  update transcript and/or application status
• When status of an application is updated to
  Transcripts Received, graduate committee
  members are notified that new applicant is ready
  for evaluation

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Graduate Application Channel Guest View
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Graduate Application Channel Department
Admin/Graduate Committee List View
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Graduate Application Channel Department
Admin/Graduate Committee Detailed View
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Statistics Manager Channel

• Displays usage statistics for all channels
• List shows total times channel has been
  instantiated and targeted
• Channel is instantiated when user clicks tab on
  which channel is located
• Channel is targeted when user interacts with
  channel, e.g. clicks link, button, etc.
• Details provide list of users who have accessed a
  channel
• Users access count totals
• Dates of most recent accesses
• Statistics caching is available as option in
  portal.properties file
• Enabled provides faster performance, but wont
  show current statistics until Servlet container
  is rebooted
• Caching occurs at document and channel levels
• Default is caching disabled

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Statistics Manager Channel List View
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Statistics Manager Channel Detailed View
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New Channel Types

• Course and Message channels have respective new
  channel types
• New .cpd file results in creation of
  type-specific steps
• Steps seen during publishing via Channel Manager
  channel
• Course channel also has extra Course Info step
  before General Settings step
• Entering course information results in the
  pre-population of several publishing step forms

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New Course and Message Channel Types in Channel
Manager
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Course Channel Type CPD

• ltchannelDefgt
• ltdescriptiongt
• This is a channel which allows the creation
  of a customizable course channel.
• lt/descriptiongt
• ltclassgtorg.jasig.portal.channels.CCourselt/classgt
  
• ltparamsgt
• ltstepgt
• ltIDgt1lt/IDgt
• ltnamegtChannel Parameterslt/namegt
• ltdescriptiongt
• Enter the course number and name in the
  form below.
• lt/descriptiongt
• ltparameter modify"publish-only"gt

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Course Channel Type Course Info Step
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CSDepot Access Control

• New CSDepot channels implement role-based
  security
• Security is determined by user group
  permissions to portal activity for each channel
• Activities include subscribe, publish and edit
• New to CSDepot All editing permissions
• uPortal 2.4.1 All-or-nothing publishing
  permissions
• New to CSDepot Channel-specific publishing
  permissions
• For example, allows instructors to change channel
  definition of their channels track statistics,
  assign channel subscription permissions, etc.

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Access Control - Message and Course channels

• Editing is controlled, only users/groups with
  permission to edit may edit channel
• Department Message anyone in dchair group can
  edit
• Course channels instructor can edit
• Edit button is present if channel is editable AND
  user has editing permissions
• These are checked when user layout XML is created
  and when user adds channel to layout
• Controlled via new channel XML attribute
  isUserEditable
• If isUserEditaable set to true, edit button is
  added during theme transformation

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Access Control Graduate Application

• Deferential view controlled via editing
  permission assigned to user/group
• Channel is not defined as editable, so edit
  button does not appear in channel title bar
• Overloading of editing permissions
• If user/group has editing permissions, options
  presented are those to show applicant lists
• Otherwise options are to apply or check
  application status (current portal user only)

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Access Control Statistics

• Reporting controlled by permission to subscribe
  to Statistics Manager channel
• Tracking controlled by Boolean channel statistics
  tracking flag

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Conclusion

• CSDepot provide a working prototype for further
  study and development
• UCCS has been investigating uPortal for almost a
  year
• Pros
• Inexpensive portal solution framework student
  labor is free
• Provides ability to implement large degree of
  customization
• Flexible Java offers platform independent code
  XML/XSLT offer data independence
• Cons
• Steep learning curve many technologies to
  learn
• Java, Servlets, JSP, JDBC, JNDI, XML, XSLT, SQL,
  JavaSript, XHTML, Tomcat, Ant
• Possibly also WML, UDDI, SOAP, WSRP-Portlets,
  JSR-Portlets
• Application itself contains large number of files
  - 12,300 files in development package (including
  Tomcat, Ant and HSQL)