Sakai and uPortal 4

Sakai and uPortal 4

Jennifer Bourey, Software Developer, UniconSteve Swinsburg, Software Engineer, ANU

12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16 2

12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16

Framework

Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocallerid_man/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nocallerid_man/



JSR-286

• Resource URLs• AJAX Request handling• File downloads

• Inter-Portlet communication• Eventing• Public render parameters

• JS/CSS in <head>

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JSR-286

• Caching Enhancements• ETags for resource responses• Public/private scoping for shared data• Callbacks allow the portlet decide if it should

re-render

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Spring 3

• Portlet 2.0 MVC Support• REST client & server support• Autowiring to reduce XML Configuration• Easier to override functionality• Significantly reduces the quantity of XML• Makes framework development faster and

easier

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Smaller Codebase


Rendering Pipeline

• Refactored using standard JDK libraries• Componentized and Spring-configured• Advantages• More configurable and modifiable• Each component participates in cache key

generation

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Bookmarkable URLs

• Reflect navigation state in the URLs• Browser controls work as expected• Multiple windows work as well!

• Allow users to bookmark URLs• Log-based statistics tools will be much

more useful

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Administrative Tools


Administration Overview

• User experience redesign• Spring Webflow-based portlets• Standard user interfaces• Less code duplication

• Re-usable javascript components

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Administration Overview

• Persistence layer upgrades• Enforce relational constraints• Provide better cross-database support• Better caching, locking, and performance• Smaller codebase with better test coverage

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Re-usable Webflows


Re-usable JavaScript


Groups Administration


Groups-Permissions Integration


Permissions Administration


User Administration


User Interface


Internationalization

• Single unified messaging file used for all• Webflows, JSPs, XSLT, JavaScript

• Updated message codes for portlets and theme

• Automated translation of new messages

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Mobile Support


Integration

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Grouper Integration

• Browse, search, and view Grouper groups from uPortal

• Assign uPortal permissions and distribute content using Grouper groups

• Administer Grouper groups from uPortal

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Single Sign-On

• CAS• CAS 3.4.3 bundled with uPortal• CAS Clearpass module and configuration

included• Shibboleth• Authentication• SAML attributes

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Event-based Search API

• Portlets can participate in search results through standard JSR-286 events

• Existing support for• User Directory• Google Search Appliance• WYSIWYG content portlets

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REST Services

• New REST services for accessing information about• Users, groups, permissions

• Still in development

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Content Creation

• Re-usable publishing types for• WYSIWYG content creation• Google Gadgets• Auto-graphing SQL• Image / IFrame

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Integration Portlets

• Provide an interface, common implementations, proxied authentication

• Jasig integration portlets include• Web Proxy, XSLT• Calendar (iCal, CalDAV, Bedework)• News (RSS/Atom)• Video (RSS/Atom, YouTube feeds)

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Courses Portlet


Future Directions


Layout Refactoring

• Update model and persistence layers• Support more than one layout per user• Allow layout customization from a mobile

device

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Groups and Permissions

• Refactor Groups and Permissions APIs• Reduce the use of static method calls• Introduce support for generics• Increase ability to unit test portal code

• Spring Security integration• Replace custom uPortal authentication APIs• Use Spring Security method-level

annotations

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Statistics

• Improvements to uPortal stats recording API

• Build reporting portlets

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REST Services

• Create REST services for uPortal entities, permissions

• Allow richer integration with external tools• Easy way for portlets to access portal

specific data

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Following uPortal

• Nightly Build• https://up40-nightly.jasig.org

• Community Calls• Project updates and community demos

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https://up40-nightly.jasig.org

https://up40-nightly.jasig.org


Following uPortal

• Social Networking• http://twitter.com/uportal• http://www.facebook.com/uPortal• http://www.youtube.com/uportal

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http://twitter.com/uportal

http://twitter.com/uportal

http://www.facebook.com/uPortal

http://www.facebook.com/uPortal

http://www.youtube.com/uportal

http://www.youtube.com/uportal


OVERVIEW

What we wanted to achieveBasic LTISakai Connector PortletThe Basic LTI Portlet for uPortal

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What we wanted to achieve• Bringing a portal online at ANU• Link together existing systems• “One stop shop” for services• IMS Basic LTI provider support in Sakai• Render Sakai tools outside of Sakai portal• And external tools inside Sakai

• Works in Sakai 2.6 onwards (possibly earlier)

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Basic LTI• Specially crafted HTTP request, signed

by OAuth• Hashes the params, inserts additional ones

• Many external integrations use a similar approach• params + secret + timestamp + checksum• Basic LTI formalises this into a proper spec

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Basic LTI request

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http://localhost:8080/imsblti/provider/sakai.resources

context_id:901868c8-ea8c-45b9-a329-2ab8a1ab702clti_message_type:basic-lti-launch-requestlis_person_contact_email_primary:[email protected]_person_name_full:Steve Swinsburglti_version:LTI-1p0oauth_consumer_key:my.anu.edu.auoauth_nonce:1276220159279202000oauth_signature:sppLAK277l5OldQOXl3MaAdXwUA=oauth_signature_method:HMAC-SHA1oauth_timestamp:1276220159oauth_version:1.0resource_link_id:Pluto_29_u24l1n19_tool_consumer_instance_guid:my.anu.edu.auuser_id:e58d8daa-f9bf-482f-9b18-2c654f19e565


Basic LTI in Sakai• Initial Basic LTI implementation in Sakai

namespaced users and sites to keep them sandboxed away from general population.

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Basic LTI in Sakai• New users/site not ideal for integrating

systems that share information• Modified Basic LTI to allow clean

passthrough• ... skips namespacing, uses data as-is• One additional property in

sakai.properties

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Sakai connector portlet• Uses SOAP web services to get

additional info from Sakai• sites user has access to• pages and tools in a given site• internal uuid

• User configures portlet• Portlet performs the Basic LTI

launch45


Sakai connector portlet

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Set custom title & frame height

Choose site

Choose tool


Sakai connector portlet

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SCREENCASTSakai Connector Portlet

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12th Sakai Conference – Los Angeles, California – June 14-16 49


Basic LTI portlet for uPortal• Pure Basic LTI consumer• Pluggable architecture for

connecting to any Basic LTI provider• Sakai, Peoplesoft, Chemvantage,

Noteflight, Standard, Wimba, standard.• Registers as a portlet type• Runtime configuration

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DEMOBasic LTI Portlet

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QUESTIONS

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https://wiki.jasig.org/display/PLT/Sakai+connector+portlet

https://wiki.jasig.org/display/PLT/Basic+LTI+Portlet

Technology

Sakai and uPortal 4