Building Applications on Yahoo!
Photo credit: jurvetson (http://ow.ly/1046)
University of Michigan Hack U ’09
Erik Eldridge
Yahoo! Developer Network
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Why is Yahoo! opening up?
• A history of supporting open technology– Apache, MySQL, PHP, JavaScript,
BSD/Linux, to name a few
• A history of hacking
• Yahoo! wants to share its audience
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Before I continue…
• These slides are online here:slideshare.net/erikeldridge
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Yahoo!’s Open Stack
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What is the Yahoo! Application Platform?
• It’s a way to run apps on Yahoo!
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3 views of YAP: My Y! screenshot
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3 views of YAP: canvas screenshot
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3 views of YAP: y! metro
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Yahoo! Application Platform (YAP)
• Optimized for speed and security (YML, Caja)• Uses raw Javascript, CSS, and HTML, and
Yahoo! Markup Language (YML)• Supports OpenSocial JavaScript API
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How do I use it?
YDN Open App
+
Your server
+
Your code
=
Your app on Yahoo!
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Example: OpenSocial Activities
<script>
var params = {};
params[opensocial.Activity.Field.TITLE] = 'title';
params[opensocial.Activity.Field.BODY] = 'body';
var activity = opensocial.newActivity(params);
opensocial.requestCreateActivity(
activity,
opensocial.CreateActivityPriority.LOW,
function(){});
</script>
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Example: Screenshot of results
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What did we do?
<script>
var params = {};
params[opensocial.Activity.Field.TITLE] = 'title';
params[opensocial.Activity.Field.BODY] = 'body';
var activity = opensocial.newActivity(params);
opensocial.requestCreateActivity(
activity,
opensocial.CreateActivityPriority.LOW,
function(){});
</script>
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App Updates
Updates from YAP are distributed across Yahoo!• Properties, e.g., Mail, Profiles, Buzz, etc.• Clients, e.g., Messenger, Toolbar• Externally through Updates API
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What does YAP do for me?
• Hundreds of millions of Yahoo! users
• Instant publication
• Secure, Standard JavaScript, HTML, CSS
• OpenSocial JS API
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Resources
• developer.yahoo.com– /dashboard– /yap– /yap/yml– /social– /forums
• Caja project• iframe security
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Thank you!
• If you have questions later:– Twitter/IRC: erikeldridge
