Managing Content in uPortal

Susan BramhallYale University ITSTechnology and Planning

Who am I?

• Yale University Portal Implementer

• Occasional contributor to uPortal

• Early adopter of Distributed Layout Manager

• Grandmother

What Will I cover?

• The layout manager’s job

• An overview of uPortal layout managers

• Distributed Layout Manager basics

• Introduction to uPortal users and groups

• How to create layout fragments

• How user content changes and managed content changes interact

What does the user see?

• We want to– Push content to users based on who they are

– But, allow users to choose what they see

• How?– By working with the layout manager

The LayoutAn xml tree of generic folders and channels

folder (tab)

folder (column)

channelchannelchannel

folder (column)

folder (tab)

folder (column)

channelchannel

folder (column)

folder type=“root”

folder (tab)

folder (column)

channelchannel

The Layout Manager’s Job

To direct the show the Layout Manager must

• Know where to start

• Have rules to follow to include the right content and exclude everything else

• And where each segment goes

Of Fragments and Templates

• A template is a starting point for personal layout

• A fragment is a living segment of pushed content

Publish, Subscribe, , Pull

• Publishing is what an administrator does

• Subscribing is what a user does

• Administrators can also PUSH content

• Pull = Subscribe

Concepts

Fragments and TemplatesPublish and SubscribePush and Pull

• Audience

• Precedence and Restrictions

Which Layout Manager?

• Simple Layout Manager (SLM)– uPortal 1.0 to present

• Aggregated Layout Manager (ALM)– uPortal 2.0 to present

• Distributed Layout Manager (DLM)– uPortal 2.5 to present

Simple Layout Manager• uPortal 1.0 – 2.5 but no longer default

• Based on completely templates

• Allows personal layout for each user

• But personalized layout is a copy

• New content in template is lost on users who have customized

SLM Example:

Aggregated Layout Manager

• uPortal 2.0 – now • Will NOT be the future default• Based on fragments (think tab) and

templates• Can push fragments • Can subscribe to whole fragments • Allows personal layout for each user but

fragments are read only

ALM as Distributed:

ALM major overhaul:

Distributed Layout Manager

• Default in uPortal 2.6

• Templates and Fragments– Fragments can be modified

– Cannot subscribe to a fragment (yet)

• Allows personal layout for each user and user changes are merged with changes to fragments

DLM as it appears in uPortal Head

Steps to Pushing DLM Fragment

1. Define the fragment in dlm.xml

2. Login as the fragment owner and set up the layout

Define the Fragments

• dlm.xml configuration

• Each Fragment definition includes– An owner

– Precedence

– Audience

Audience

• Everyone needs the right audience!

• Built-in evaluators

• Extensible API

• Boolean expressions

What do we know about the user?

Defining the audience

Built in Audience Evaluators

• GuestUserEvaluatorFactory

• AllUsersEvaluatorFactory

• GroupMembershipEvaluatorFactory

• PersonEvaluatorFactory

User Attributes

• IPerson is the basic user object

• Attributes come from jdbc or ldap

• Or any other source you invent

PersonDirectory.xml

• API allows extension

• Spring configurable beans – CachingPersonAttributeDaoImpl– MergingPersonAttributeDaoImpl– JdbcPersonAttributeDaoImpl– LdapPersonAttributeDaoImpl

PersonEvaluator Audience

• Tabs based on Person attributes

• PersonDirectory Flexibility

compositeGroupServices.xml

• Starts with Local groups from

uPortal database

• Includes comments for – LDAP group service (beware)– File System group service– Person Attribute Group service (PAGS)

GroupMembershipEvaluator Audience

• Tabs based on Group

Precedence and Restrictions

• Administrator sets parameters

• User works within boundaries

• End result is pushed content merged with personal changes

Create the Fragment Content

• dlm.xml is complete

• Login as fragment owner

• Use preferences channel to create content for the fragment

• Header and footer will be removed and other content will become the fragment

Practical DLMSee DLM Administrators Guide at

http://www.ja-sig.org/wiki/x/pjQ

Experiment in the quickstart…1. Login as news-lo/news-lo. See

preferences.2. Login as student / student. See changes. 3. Go to preferences, see merging personal

changes with pushed fragment