Interactive Portlets Presentation for WSRP Meeting March 18, 2002 Eilon Reshef VP Products and Co-Founder WebCollage

- 2 - Outline  WebCollage  Who are we, why are we here?  Interactive Portlet Example  Corporate credit card account  The Need for Interactive Portlets  Data APIs are not enough  WSIA Use Cases  WSIA/IWS Functionality Elements

- 3 - WebCollage  Web Application Integration Platform  Turning standard Web applications into reusable Interactive Web Services  … and into interactive Portlets  Republish Web applications in multiple ways  Focus on B2B Scenarios  Travelers Checks, Boutiques, Configurators  A.k.a. “Application Syndication”  Interest in WSRP  Platform for transforming standard Web applications into Portlets

- 4 - The Need for Interactive Portlets  Data APIs are Not Enough  Development effort to incorporate  Existing applications  Rich applications  Configurators, advisors, …  SAP, Siebel, Oracle, …  Data APIs are Often Inadequate for B2B  Brand  Dynamic cross-sell, up-sell, …  Privacy

- 5 - High Level Requirements  Portlets that include interactive multi-step processes  Benefits: “Drag-and-Drop”, coarse grain, loose coupling  No Portlet-specific code  …with explicit adaptation points to fit Portal  Look and feel, data, flow  …and which fits existing paradigms  Existing know-how, existing applications and code-base

- 6 - OASIS WSIA – Main Use Cases  “Embedded”  Side by side Portlets  “Customized”  Adaptation of look and feel  In and out parameters  “Coordinated”  Event wiring between Portlets  “Orchestrated”  Composed flow between Portlets

- 7 - WebCollage IWS Portal Portlet GetPresentation(…) Presentation [HTML/WML/XML]   End User    Action “Interactive Web Services” (IWS)

- 8 - WSIA/IWS Functionality Elements  Definition (WSDL, …)  Instantiation (with Initial Data)  Navigation (URL Rewriting)  Adaptation (HTML Transformations)  State Management  Data Export (Exit Points)

- 9 - WSIA/IWS Definition  WSIA  Not yet addressed  WebCollage IWS  A Portlet has a standard WSDL interface  Multiple SOAP operations  Designated operations are “interactive” and have a specific “signature”  Same across Portlets  Two types of integration points into a Portal  Navigation and presentation (generic)  Operation invocation (specific)

WSIA/IWS Instantiation  WSIA  Not yet addressed  WebCollage IWS  Any SOAP operation can instantiate a Portlet  Data can be transferred  State is returned  Or start directly with “interactive” operations  GetPresentation()  No explicit termination

WSIA/IWS Navigation  WSIA  Is URL rewriting done by Portlet or by Portal?  Portlet  Portal sends the container URL as part of the operation  Portlet rewrites URLs  Portal  Portlet needs to specify URLs to rewrite  Markup  XPATH?  JavaScript?  WebCollage IWS  Portal transfers a “controller” URL (Portal URL) as part of the call  Portlet responsible for rewriting relevant links  Some may “leak”…

WSIA/IWS Adaptation/Customization  WSIA  Property-based versus stream-based  Property-based  Portal sends property values as part of call  Portlet returns adapted output  Stream-based  Portlet defines “locators” into the output (XPATH,…)  Portal implements logic for manipulating output  WebCollage IWS  Property-based adaptation  Properties defined via XML Schema as part of WSDL definition  Arbitrary type  Name, description, …  Property sheets can be stored persistently by Portlet or by Portal

WSIA/IWS State Management  WSIA  Not yet addressed  WebCollage IWS  Transient state  Returned by Portlet, resent by Portal on every call  Persistent state  Returned by Portlet, resent by Portal on every call  Also saved by Portal (persistency)  “Remember me”

WSIA/IWS Data Export  WSIA  Not yet  WebCollage IWS  Any SOAP operation can return data  Must send state  Pre-defined denotes termination of navigation  E.g., “Export Expense Report”

Points to Consider  Basic Model for “Interactive Components”  Relationship between WSIA and WSRP  Portal-Specific Requirements  Administration, user management, …?

Summary  Looking forward for a standard for interactive Portlets  Standard is strategic for WebCollage  No technical preferences  Will happily contribute knowledge and experience  “Interactive Web Services” specification and reference implementation  Looking for consolidated efforts with WSIA

Thank You!