Matthew Tan ( tanma@sg.ibm ) Senior Solution Consultant, IBM Asia Pacific, SWG HQ 30 th October 2007

1. Web 2.0, AJAX, REST and others Matthew Tan (tanma@sg.ibm.com) Senior Solution Consultant, IBM Asia Pacific, SWG HQ 30th October 2007

2. Agenda • Overview of Web 2.0 • About AJAX • About Rest and Others • Application of AJAX, REST in ATOM / RSS and Web 2.0

3. What is Web 2.0 ? • A term coined by Tim O‘Reilly (seehttp://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/what-is-web-20.html ) • Increasingly used for next generation World Wide Web Applications and Services/ • Web 2.0 has many aspects: Business Models that survived and have promise for the future Approachessuch as services instead of products, the Web as a platform, ... Conceptssuch as folksonomies, syndication, participation, reputation, .... Technologiessuch as AJAX, REST, Tags, Microformats, ... And many others ...

4. How do Web 2.0 Sites differ from „Web 1.0“ Sites ? • Modern „Web 2.0“ site • Users collectively contribute to the web site, they don‘t just consume • Every user is a content editor and rater • Web site provides content, applications, and collective contributions of all users • Semantically tagged markup • Humans and applications as „users“ • Accumulates huge amounts of information and content • FlexibleTagging / Folksonomy • Bi-directional • Strict „Web 1.0“ site • „Web Master“ runs web site, users consume • Few content editors • Web site provides content and applications for users • View-only markup • Only human users • Accumulates relatively small amounts of information and content • Fixed categories / Taxonomy • Unidirectional App App Web Site Web Site App Data Data App

5. Observations • Web 2.0 consists of social and technical aspects • The social aspects of Web 2.0 are much more fundamental than the technologies • Web 2.0 Sites can derive huge value from their user community if they achieve critical mass Some Web 2.0 companies have achieved extremely high market captialization (Google ($109,66 bn) bought YouTube for $1,65 bn) • The Web 2.0 Site itself often only provides the infrastructure and guidelines for user participation • The community then adds value to the site, e.g. by writing articles, posting videos, sharing bookmarks, etc • Typically, these Web 2.0 sites have APIs for use by developers of mashup applications acting as multipliers • Web 2.0 user interfaces typically apply the AJAX technology in order to achieve more responsive UIs

6. Web 2.0 Concepts that are interesting for enterprise use • Self-establishing Communitiescollaborating around topics of common business interest • Support User Contribution, treat users as co-authors and leverages their skills better • Accumulation of user knowledge to make apps smarter the more people use them • Enable users to add value by adding meta data, e.g. rate, tag, bookmark, comment • Allow users toTake Control and let them make applications most useful to them • Separate User Interface from Servicesto make services re-usable • Fine grained access to data supporting mashups • Mashupscombining existing services into new, useful applications joining information • Situational Development of applications through line of business can help make businesses more agile • AJAXto enable rich, interactive, highly responsive Web UI • Use of Semantic Tags and Microformats to enable dynamic augmentation with contextual menus or information

7. Agenda • Overview of Web 2.0 • About AJAX • About Rest and Others • Application of AJAX, REST in ATOM / RSS and Web 2.0

8. What is AJAX ? • AJAX is the acronym for Asynchronous JavaScript and XML • The purpose is to create more dynamic and responsive web pages • It is also about building web clients in a Service Oriented Architecturethat can connect to any kind of server: J2EE, PHP, ASP.Net, Ruby on Rails, etc. • AJAX involves existing technology & standards: JavaScript and XML • Pattern: Page view displayed in a web browser retrieves data or markup fragmentsfrom a service and refreshes just a part of the page • AJAX is non-trivial, it requires deep and broad skills in web development ...... but the benefits to be gained can be huge compared to classic web applications • AJAX enables major improvements in responsiveness and performance of web applications, e.g. used at Yahoo! Mail, Google Maps, live.com, and others • AJAX is NOT hype – it is very real and very useful for highly interactive applications

9. AJAX compared to classic Web UIs service Server Browser Server Browser In the typical web application, each request causes acomplete refresh of the browser page An Ajax application begins the same way. After the initial page loads, Javascript code retrieves additional data in the background andupdates only specific sections of the page • Ajax forces you to think about discrete services. • It may drive requirements for new services from your IT department

10. AJAX In a Nutshell • Ajax isn’t just a technology. It’s really several technologies, each flourishing in its own right, coming together in powerful new ways. Ajax incorporate • standards-based presentation using XHTML and CSS • dynamic display and interaction using the Document Object Model • data interchange and manipulation using XML and XSLT • asynchronous data retrieval using XMLHttpRequest • and JavaScript binding everything together.

13. Traditional Model for Web Applications Vs AJAX model

14. Agenda • Overview of Web 2.0 • About AJAX • About Rest and Others • Application of AJAX, REST in ATOM / RSS and Web 2.0

15. What is REST ? • REST is the acronym for “Representational State Transfer“ • It is the architectural model on which the World Wide Web is based • Principles of REST • Resource centric approach • All relevant resources are addressable via URIs • Uniform access via HTTP – GET, POST, PUT, DELETE • Content type negotiation allows retrieving alternative representations from same URI • REST style services • are easy to access from code running in web browsers, any other client or servers very popular in the context of AJAX • can take full advantage of the WWW caching infrastructure • can serve multiple representations of the same resource • More info: http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm

16. Agenda • Overview of Web 2.0 • About AJAX • About Rest and Others • Application of AJAX, REST, ATOM / RSS and Web 2.0

17. Application In IBM Portal – An Example • w3 portal for all IBM employees • > 340,000 users • Portlets provide essential information • Highly personalized - displays the right info to the right users at the right time • End-user customizable - users can create custom pages • Has become a key tool for every IBMer • Major productivity gain • Targeted info delivery to users • Users can easily find the apps they need

18. composite applications role-based process- driven in context Portals provide governedbusiness mashups combining public information, enterprise apps and data Rich Clients Thin Clients Security-Rich Composite application or view, that assembles and delivers services in the form of portletsin the context of a business process Mobile Clients Critical enabler: Openness Standards based access to integration and innovation

19. Application of Web 2.0 / AJAX / REST in WP and related Products • WP6 allows User Contribution to portal sites through both WCM and PDM • WP6 enables Situational Development through Composite Application Templates and through Lotus Designer / Portlet Factory / Forms Designer • WP6 allows users Taking Control of their pages and choose content (if allowed by admin) • Custom AJAX Portlets can be written today to run on WebSphere Portal, e.g. using the Dojo framework and widgets or the AJAX support in RAD • WP6 exploits AJAX for context menus, search menu, and some admin portlets • WebSphere Portlet Factory can generate AJAX Portlets with incremental update and autocomplete • IBM is strongly engaged in Dojo (see http://dojotoolkit.org/ ) as major contributor

20. Application of Web 2.0 used in WebSphere Portal 6 • REST Servicesto open up portal for mashup applications – services for server persistence, portlet settings and user profile access to simplify Web 2.0 application development • AJAX Portlet Programming Model Extensionsbased on Dojo+IBM Extensions • Client Side Aggregation and Customization using REST Services for better UX and improved performance • AJAX Client Side Feed Consumption to enable highly efficient integration of information through feeds (Atom and RSS) • Semantic Tagsto allow smart markup to enable value add by portal, e.g. dynamic menus • Client Side C2A/Property Broker and Drag & Dropbased on Semantic Tags integrated with server side property broker and C2A support to enable cross-portlet interaction locally in the browser as well as with server side code • Sample AJAX Portlets with source showcasing the new capabilities to demonstrate and give samples to customers for how to exploit all the above • Integration, Aggregation and Customization of Google Gadgets

21. REST style Web Services exposing Portal to Mashups • Goals: • Separate portal user experience from portal data • Expose relevant data separately for use by other apps ( Mashups) • Public REST style Web services for • Access to Navigation Node Hierarchy • Access to Page Definitions • Access to User Profiles • Access to generic Content Persistence • Access tomarkup fragments of individual portlets • Mashups can use these services to implement custom applications leveraging portal infrastructure services • WebSphere Portal’s Web 2.0 Client Side Aggregation uses these services as well

22. IBM Collaboration Services, Feeds and Application Examples Calendar Services Domino Product: Common PIM Portlets for Mail and Calendar Access Mail Services Sametime IM Service Custom Situational Application: Simple AJAX Mail / Cal summary views with awareness Conference Service Awareness Service Connections Activity, Blog Services Geneva Portlets, Notes Plugin, Sametime Plugin, Desktop Integration Persona, Community Services Quickr Team Space Services Documents Services Custom Situational Application: Problem tracking application allowing to see author presence and location in map and contact via IM WebSphere Portal Search Service Contacts Service Persistence Service Portal Services Product: WebSphere Portal Client Side Aggregation Portlet Service User Service Internet Services Maps

23. Web 2.0 Fragment Model • Simple and extensible Web 2.0 fragment programming model • Agnostic of how fragments are generated, may be • generated by portlets on WebSphere Portal • generated by PHP code on Web.0 or PHP servers • generated by .NET servers • Can start simple, with option to grow more sophisticated • (1) Basic fragments – HTML only • (2) Slightly more advanced – add use of Semantic Tags • (3) More advanced – add use of Dojo and custom JavaScript • Fragments can use public JavaScript interfacesto conveniently invoke WebSphere Portal’s REST-style Web services

24. Web 2.0 Fragment Programming Model Web 2.0 Fragment Basic Intermediate Semantic Tags Advanced … … … … Dojo Widget Markup JavaScript Functions REST Calls to Portal Services User Profile Access Settings Access Persistence Service Access REST Calls to other Services, e.g. other WPLC services Weather Info, News, Sports, … CRM, HR, … Services etc

25. Web 2.0 Client Side Aggregation (CSA) uses AJAX, XML, Dojo, JS • Browser-side Aggregation, Navigation and Customization • Superior user experience • Highly reactive and direct user interface • Many actions possible without server roundtrips • Avoids page flickering • Accesses and manipulates portal information through REST services • Renders XML obtained from the server on the browser side • Implemented using AJAX, XML, Dojo, and JavaScript • Improved performance and scalability through • Reduced server side processing - offloads rendering to browser • Reduced bandwidth requirements between server and browser • Reduced client-side processing – mostly fragment reloads, few page reloads • Improved cachability, all artifacts can be cached independently

26. AJAX based Client Side Aggregation in the Web Browser REST-accessible Markup Fragments from WP Portlets or any other URL Atom / RSS Feeds Services created with Google Gadgets WSRP Services

27. Other Web 2.0 Capabilities - Semantic Tags, Context Menus and Drag&Drop Conference Participants IBMST Thomas SchaeckST 5 Technology Park Dr 555-5555ST Westford, MAST GroupST LocationsST‘ Click to dial D&D D&D • Extensible set of tag types such as person, address, phone number, document, ... is used to mark content elements with types (semantic tagging) • Behaviours like e.g. context menus, annotations, highlighting, drag & drop, etc can be applied to everything that is semantically tagged

28. Other Web 2.0 Capabilities - Semantic Tags (Portal-Independent Technology)

29. AJAX based RSS/Atom Feed Consumption • Allow simple consumption and display of Feeds in portal pages • Atomfeeds • RSS feeds • Implemented using AJAX, Dojo and JavaScript • Gets settings defining the feed to display from portal • Retrieves feeds from origin servers via AJAX proxy • Renders feeds in the browser rather than causing server load

30. AJAX RSS/Atom Feed Consumption directly from Origin

31. Google Gadget Integration • Enable customers to easily integrate Google Gadgets into portal pages From an end user perspective, Google Gadgets integrated in WebSphere Portal behave just like local portlets: viewable and customizable like any local portlet • If allowed by admin, users can drag Generic Gadget Portlets on their pages and select Gadgets to display from the Gadget Catalog • Gadget Portlet initially lets user select the Gadget to display from the Gadget Catalog • Gadget Portlet then displays the selected Gadget • User can view and customize the selected gadget like any local portlet • Administrators can pre-define Gadget Portlets for the portlet palette • Generic Gadget Portlet is pre-configured by the admin to connect it to a certain gadget, e.g. an admin could create a “Map Portlet” by creating a Gadget Portlet and connecting it to the Google Maps Gadget • Users can then select such pre-configured Gadget Portlets from the palette and drag them onto their pages like any local portlet

32. Google Gadget Integration – A Gadget integrated in Portal as a portlet

33. Google Gadget Integration – Selecting a Gadget to integrate into Portal as a portlet

34. IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets Architecture Google RSS Feed listing available gadgets IBM Portlet for Google Gadgets Configuration Mode Google Gadget Customize Mode Customize Mode View Mode View Mode

35. AJAX Portlets using Dojo

36. Web 2.0 Portal Architecture Quickr (Wikis, Blogs, Lists, Doc Libs, Discussions) Connections (Activities, Blue Pages, Social Bookmarks, Blogs) HTML+Dojo+JS Fragments (from J2EE,.NET,PHP, HTTP or other Server) Feed Service WSRP Service Connections Portlets MyPlaces Portlet WSRP Consumer AJAX enabled JSR 168 Portlets Classic JSR 168 Portlets AJAX Feed Consumer AJAX Fragment Consumer AJAX Programming Model Extensions (Dojo Framework & Widgets + AJAX.0 + REST accessor JS functions + Semantic Tags + Client Side Click-2-Action) REST style Portal Services (Persistence, User Profiles, Portlet Settings, Navigation, Pages, etc) WebSphere Portal Foundation WebSphere Application Server

37. Conclusion • Web 2.0 is important for the enterprise • AJAX and REST are important technologies related to Web 2.0 • IBM uses Web 2.0 concepts and technologies successfully in its intranet • WebSphere Portal already today in WP 6 provides Web 2.0 capabilities and leverages Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX • Future releases of WebSphere Portal will add more Web 2.0 features and expand use of AJAX and REST • WebSphere Portal will integrate with Lotus Connections and Lotus Quickr

38. AJAX Development – Real Example

39. Introduction This article introduces the idea of integrating Ajax into your portal applications. Since there are many Ajax articles already available (see Resources), we assume that you understand the basics of Ajax. This includes what Ajax means, how it got its name, the fact that it's not new, and how Google brought this technology into the mind set of every executive and technologist on the planet. My intention is to equip you with useful information related to using Ajax in your portal applications, so when the CTO's office asked if your portal applications are Ajax enabled, you can stand up and say, “Definitely.” Therefore, this article describes areas to consider if you decide to inject Ajax into your portal. While the focus is on portal applications, the tips are generally applicable to most complex applications. This article also prepares you for a future tutorial, in which we will detail the creation of an Ajax portlet application. Note - much of what you see and read about Ajax is not really Ajax; it's Dynamic HTML, or DHTML. Ajax, in its proper sense, consists of a single JavaScript object called XMLHttpRequest. This class provides a background communication channel to a server and for the resulting response. Everything else, including drag-and-drop, DOM updates, styling, and all the other things that make everyone go "ohh and ahh", is DHTML.

40. When is Ajax and Portal a good fit ? One of the most expensive actions in a portal environment is to refresh the page. When the user clicks a link or takes some other action on the page, the portal processes theactionPerformed()methodfor the target portlet and thedoView() methodsfor each portlet on the page. Then, it aggregates the results and sends the entire HTML document down to the browser. While caching can reduce a lot of the overhead, there is still a lot going on.You could use Ajaxto handle many of the user interaction events in the background, and then to update portions of the page,without requiring a full portal refresh cycle. This technique greatly improve the end-userexperience by increasing theresponsiveness of individual actions, and the overall application performance. In many circumstances, using Ajaxcontributes to a cleaner overall architecture of your application. Having a secondary Ajax controller (such as a servlet or Web service) forces a stronger separation of your model code. When applying a full Ajax controller design to your application, you should let the Ajax controller handle all basic user input actions and segmented display updates. Only use the portal actionPerformed() method for page-level transitions or to process major state changes.

41. When is Ajax and Portal NOT a good fit ??? So, why would you not want to use this new fangled paradigm in rich internet applications? All the weekly technical magazines insist that this is the way to go, and besides, your boss told you to use it because it's "one of our business goals." OK, we won't tell you not to use it, but we do want you to know about some potential pitfalls: Using multiple controllers (for example a portlet, a servlet, and a Web service) adds to the complexity of the application. Using Ajax forces a lot of logic to be processed on the client. JavaScript can be difficult to debug, especially in a cross-browser environment. Accessibility issues and mobile devices can force you to have redundant code. Because many screen readers and other assistive devices do not support JavaScript/Ajax, you need to provide alternate functionality. Your application might not require extra data updates to the browser between pages. So with all that said, you might decide that Ajax isn't for you and you will find another article to read. Wait, that's no fun. Read on, my friend, this stuff is way too cool not to add to your applications. The bottom line is to take it slow. Find an application that could use a little kick, and add a dash of Ajax to a user form or wizard. Once you get your feet wet and understand how a little effort can produce some effective user enhancements, you will be ready to really add some magic to your portal applications.

42. Design Considerations • When you add Ajax to a portal application, you are effectively adding multiple controllers to the classic MVC pattern. This decision has the potential benefit of forcing a cleaner separation of the model logic. The downsides are the added complexity and the unavoidable requirement to break the controller apart into these three aspects: • The portlet • The servlet or Web service • The JavaScript-based client • The basic premise of using Ajax in a portal application is the need for a separate controller. Under normal circumstances, you use a servlet to perform the communications with the Ajax client. You can either bundle the servlet with the portlet WAR file or include it as part of a stand-alone Web application. • Figure 1 shows potential Ajax server targets • If you bundle the servlet with the portlet WAR file, then you can share session data between the servlet and the portlet. The servlet, portlet, and the model code are tightly coupled. • If you do not need this level of coupling and the data and logic to be processed by Ajax are not dependent on the portlet, then you can create a stand-alone servlet or Web service to promote reuse.

43. Figure 1 shows potential Ajax server targets.

44. Ajax toolkits One of the downsides to implement Ajax is the difficulty inwriting good cross-browser JavaScript. There are many JavaScript and DHTML toolkits that provide Ajax abstractions. In fact, there are too many to test, to determine which one best fits your needs. As with all open source projects, there will likely be a shake-out over the next couple of years. A few of the most promising and well-designed toolkits that we have used are: Dojo, Rico, and DWR(see Resources). DoJo is preferred because it has an advanced Aspect-like architecture. DWR, or Direct Web Rendering, provides an easy mechanism to reference host-based JavaBeans from the client Javascript. Because there are many other good ones available,you need to determine what works for you.

45. Adding Ajax to a portlet application • To implement Ajax in your portal application, you need to follow a few simple steps. The following discussion assumes that you are bundling your Ajax servlet with your portlet WAR file. • Create and define the Ajax servlet. • Define a JavaScript reference variable that points to the servlet. • Load any external JavaScript files. • Implement the Ajax framework.

46. 1. Create and define the Ajax servlet • The process of bundling a servlet with your portlet WAR file is very straight forward; however, even seasoned portlet developers are not always sure of all the details. So, here are the complete and sordid details. • Define the servlet in the web.xml file, as in Listing 1 • Include the servlet JAR file or classes. Listing 1. Servlet mapping in the web.xml<servlet> <servlet-name>MyAjaxServlet</servlet-name> <display-name>MyAjaxServlet</display-name> <description></description> <servlet-class> com.ibm.ajax.MyAjaxServlet </servlet-class> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>MyAjaxServlet</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/Ajax</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping>

47. 2. Define a JavaScript reference to the servlet You need to define the global reference (see Listing 2) in the JSP file so that you have access to the portlet request library. After the global variable is defined, any JavaScript included can safely use it to point to the servlet. Listing 2. Global reference to the servlet.<script type="text/javaScript"> var PATH = "<%= request.getContextPath() %>"; var Ajax_SERVLET = PATH + "/Ajax"; </script>

48. 3. Load any external JavaScript files As with any external resource to be added to a portlet page, you must encode the URL and set the base context, as in Listing 3. Listing 3. Script to encode the URL and set the base context.<script type="text/javascript" src="<%=renderResponse.encodeURL( renderRequest.getContextPath() + "/js/myajax.js?v1.1.2")%>" > </script> Tip: By using a string argument on the JavaScript parameter, you force the browser to perform a cache refresh on each load. If you have JavaScript that might change frequently, this refresh forces browsers not to used old cached code. This example uses a version ID (?v1.1.2), but any string will work.

49. 4. Implementing the AJAX Framework • Making Ajax perform its magic consists of a few boilerplate actions. Here’s the overview. • Create a global XMLHttpRequest object variable. Because all communications are asynchronous, you must define a unique variable for each Ajax event. • Define an event to trigger the process. Typically, you use a JavaScript event in an input tag. For example:<input onChange='eventHandlerFunction()' ... > • Define a function to handle the event; specifically, implement these tasks: • Instantiate the XMLHttpRequest (xhr) object variable. Details of this are browser specific, which we will cover in the future tutorial. • Set the xhr callback function. xhr.onreadystatechange() • Set the servlet, type, and parameters. xhr.open(), xhr.setRequestHandler(), and xhr.send() • Define a call-back function to process the communication states and the response data. • This function handles the various communication state changes, such as when the call starts, when a connection is established, and when the response has been received. • Processing of the response typically consists of parsing the returned XML (or other contents), and using this data to update the DOM tree.