On 9 Mar 2012, at 09:00, Jasha Joachimsthal wrote:

> Hi Richard,
> 
> hosting widgets is something we definitely need. We had this discussion
> earlier (last summer) but haven't had the time to actually build the
> functionality. There is already an issue for it:
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/RAVE-251
> Any input is welcome!

+1

> 
> Jasha Joachimsthal
> 
> Europe - Amsterdam - Oosteinde 11, 1017 WT Amsterdam - +31(0)20 522 4466
> US - Boston - 1 Broadway, Cambridge, MA 02142 - +1 877 414 4776 (toll free)
> 
> www.onehippo.com
> 
> 
> On 9 March 2012 00:15, Richard Kettelerij <[email protected]>wrote:
> 
>> Hi list,
>> 
>> I'm working with Rave for a few months now and was thinking about the
>> following new feature: ability to uploading widgets to the portal.
>> Currently widgets can only be added by URL. This raises the question, where
>> do you host your widgets? One can think of various solutions but having a
>> simple upload function available might come in handy.
>> 
>> Some thoughts:
>> - W3C widget can be uploaded as .wgt file

Paul and I were discussing this the other day - whether to upload a .wgt file 
or enter a URL to where a .wgt can be downloaded. I guess offering both options 
is probably best.

>> - OpenSocial widget can be uploaded as plain XML file, or as a zip file in
>> case additional resources (CSS, JS) are required.

Funnily enough I remember a conversation at the OpenSocial event in Utrecht 
about using W3C .wgt files to package OpenSocial gadgets for just this purpose.

And then a little while ago I saw the guys from SAP were generating OpenSocial 
.xml URLs from Wookie to embed W3C Widgets ...

Standards, eh?

>> - Rave contains a controller/servlet to serve the widget files, optionally
>> allow placeholder replacements.
>> - Rave treats uploaded widgets like any other widget, meaning a reference
>> (e.g. http://localhost:8080/widget-repo/mywidget.xml) to the uploaded
>> widget is stored in the widget database table.
>> 
>> What do you think?
>> 
>> PS: I noticed a recent discussion about widget catalogs. While
>> interesting, I expect a catalog to be a more heavy-weight solution. To be
>> clear I'm proposing a simple upload / widget hosting solution.

Yes, there are two discussions there really - about separating out the 
underlying repository (which wouldn't affect uploading particularly), and about 
connecting with external marketplaces/stores/whatever. For the latter you could 
just do copy-and-paste of the {download URL for the .wgt/gadget.xml URL} or 
something more integrated, but you still need a facility to let users upload 
widgets directly.

(Actually I can see  a future UC of portals where there is a policy that you 
can only install widgets from a particular store, either enterprise-wide or 
some sort of official or partner external service - for example provided as 
part of a service & support agreement - rather than by direct uploading, but no 
need to worry about that yet I think.)

>> 
>> Regards,
>> Richard

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