Hi David, The quick (and simple) answer is that we chose to use Angular Universal to support better SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Angular Universal allows spiders (or other tools) that cannot run Javascript to still work with DSpace 7. Without Angular Universal, if something could not support Javascript, it would not be possible to use DSpace 7....and that would even include screen readers or specialized browsers (or similar tools) that do not support Javascript. With Angular Universal, if you are using a tool that doesn't support Javascript, you are still able to interact with the application as if it were plain HTML (though not all features are available).
You are correct that the design is such that the (new) Angular-based UI is for the UI code only...all the application logic is in the new REST API. Much more of the history of this decision can be found in this summary page: https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/DSPACE/DSpace+7+UI+Project+Plain+Language+Summary Additional presentations (with high level diagrams of the design) can be found at https://wiki.lyrasis.org/display/DSPACE/DSpace+Release+7.0+Status Hopefully that helps provide a quick overview! Tim ________________________________ From: dspace-tech@googlegroups.com <dspace-tech@googlegroups.com> on behalf of dc...@prosentient.com.au <dc...@prosentient.com.au> Sent: Wednesday, September 9, 2020 7:18 PM To: dspace-tech@googlegroups.com <dspace-tech@googlegroups.com> Subject: [dspace-tech] Insight into DSpace 7 Hi all, A while ago, I heard “DSpace 7 will use Angular for the UI”. I assumed that meant an Angular application run in the browser. However, DSpace Angular appears to use Angular Universal, so it’s still going to be run server-side - just using Node.js. Is that idea that DSpace Angular (via Angular Universal) will provide the presentation layer while DSpace REST API provides the application layer? I’m curious about the choice of Angular Universal. Is the idea that it’s easier to write a UI in Javascript than JSP? Having separate servers for the front-end is interesting. I could see the merit of running up multiple DSpace Angular servers to sit in front of the DSpace REST API. That could certainly help with availability. It looks like DSpace Angular is going to be serving static assets directly, but doesn’t that seem inefficient in comparison to using Nginx or Apache httpd? Or is the idea that most production installs will use a caching proxy like Varnish or CloudFront in front of DSpace Angular? I’m curious to hear more! David Cook Software Engineer Prosentient Systems 72/330 Wattle St Ultimo, NSW 2007 Australia Office: 02 9212 0899 Online: 02 8005 0595 -- All messages to this mailing list should adhere to the DuraSpace Code of Conduct: https://duraspace.org/about/policies/code-of-conduct/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DSpace Technical Support" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dspace-tech+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com<mailto:dspace-tech+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dspace-tech/056501d68707%24fac56690%24f05033b0%24%40prosentient.com.au<https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dspace-tech/056501d68707%24fac56690%24f05033b0%24%40prosentient.com.au?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- All messages to this mailing list should adhere to the DuraSpace Code of Conduct: https://duraspace.org/about/policies/code-of-conduct/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "DSpace Technical Support" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to dspace-tech+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/dspace-tech/DM5PR2201MB11484C6F05E81347091A7528ED270%40DM5PR2201MB1148.namprd22.prod.outlook.com.
