A modest DLM enhancement

[Drew Wills]

Hey folks,

I'd like to make a modest enhancement to DLM.  I've prepared a JIRA and
a patch (attached to JIRA):  http://www.ja-sig.org/issues/browse/UP-2117

Here's the description...

*****
DLM already has the ability to remove channels that the user isn't
authorized to render from the fragments it manages. Many people
appreciate this feature quite a bit; it allows them, for example, to
create a single 'Students' tab that contains some content that's only
delivered to first-term freshmen.

I'd like to enhance DLM to do the same for the header and footer areas.
This change would allow me to place links/tools/content in the header or
footer that only authorized (administrative or managerial) users could
access.
*****

Here's a more concrete example of how this change will be helpful...

JHU, Gary Thompson, and I just got done creating a portlet for Fragment
Administration.  It's a channel that gets put in your header area when
your layout gets created from your templateUser.  But -- based on the
enhancement described above -- it will only appear in the UI if you've
been authorized to render it.

If it does render, it loops the fragments defined in dlm.xml to evaluate
(for each) if you're authorized to edit that fragment.  It compiles a
list of the fragments you can edit, sorts them, then presents them in a
drop-down list at the top of your layout.

When you select a fragment and click the 'Edit' button, you get logged
in as that fragment owner (ServletFilter + RemoteUserSecurityContext
does the magic).

While you're logged in as the fragment owner, a corresponding
FragmentAdminExit portlet appears in your header area.  This portlet
allows you to click a button and log back in as yourself.

I know JHU is eager to this technology as well.

drew wills

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[Eric Dalquist]

Sounds interesting.

So this doesn't add content to the header/footer from DLM fragments. It
just extends the 'don't show if not authorized' logic to the entire
layout instead of just DLM fragments?

-Eric

Drew Wills wrote:

> Hey folks,
>
> I'd like to make a modest enhancement to DLM.  I've prepared a JIRA
> and a patch (attached to JIRA):  
> http://www.ja-sig.org/issues/browse/UP-2117
>
> Here's the description...
>
> *****
> DLM already has the ability to remove channels that the user isn't
> authorized to render from the fragments it manages. Many people
> appreciate this feature quite a bit; it allows them, for example, to
> create a single 'Students' tab that contains some content that's only
> delivered to first-term freshmen.
>
> I'd like to enhance DLM to do the same for the header and footer
> areas. This change would allow me to place links/tools/content in the
> header or footer that only authorized (administrative or managerial)
> users could access.
> *****
>
> Here's a more concrete example of how this change will be helpful...
>
> JHU, Gary Thompson, and I just got done creating a portlet for
> Fragment Administration.  It's a channel that gets put in your header
> area when your layout gets created from your templateUser.  But --
> based on the enhancement described above -- it will only appear in the
> UI if you've been authorized to render it.
>
> If it does render, it loops the fragments defined in dlm.xml to
> evaluate (for each) if you're authorized to edit that fragment.  It
> compiles a list of the fragments you can edit, sorts them, then
> presents them in a drop-down list at the top of your layout.
>
> When you select a fragment and click the 'Edit' button, you get logged
> in as that fragment owner (ServletFilter + RemoteUserSecurityContext
> does the magic).
>
> While you're logged in as the fragment owner, a corresponding
> FragmentAdminExit portlet appears in your header area.  This portlet
> allows you to click a button and log back in as yourself.
>
> I know JHU is eager to this technology as well.
>
> drew wills
>

[Drew Wills]

Eric Dalquist wrote:
> Sounds interesting.
>
> So this doesn't add content to the header/footer from DLM fragments. It
> just extends the 'don't show if not authorized' logic to the entire
> layout instead of just DLM fragments?
>

Almost...

With this change, the 'don't show if not authorized' logic applies to:
   - DLM fragments
   - the 'header' and 'footer' folders

It does not apply to tabs in your own layout -- if you (somehow) add a
channel you're not authorized to render to your own layout, you'll still
get gears.

drew wills

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[Eric Dalquist]

Sounds good to me. +1 for including it.

What are the scope of the changes involved? Just want to get an idea if
this is a 3.1 only thing or something that could possibly be included in
a 3.0.x release too.

-Eric

Drew Wills wrote:

> Eric Dalquist wrote:
>> Sounds interesting.
>>
>> So this doesn't add content to the header/footer from DLM fragments.
>> It just extends the 'don't show if not authorized' logic to the
>> entire layout instead of just DLM fragments?
>>
>
> Almost...
>
> With this change, the 'don't show if not authorized' logic applies to:
>   - DLM fragments
>   - the 'header' and 'footer' folders
>
> It does not apply to tabs in your own layout -- if you (somehow) add a
> channel you're not authorized to render to your own layout, you'll
> still get gears.
>
> drew wills
>

[Cris J Holdorph]

+1

Drew Wills wrote:

> Hey folks,
>
> I'd like to make a modest enhancement to DLM.  I've prepared a JIRA and
> a patch (attached to JIRA):  http://www.ja-sig.org/issues/browse/UP-2117
>
> Here's the description...
>
> *****
> DLM already has the ability to remove channels that the user isn't
> authorized to render from the fragments it manages. Many people
> appreciate this feature quite a bit; it allows them, for example, to
> create a single 'Students' tab that contains some content that's only
> delivered to first-term freshmen.
>
> I'd like to enhance DLM to do the same for the header and footer areas.
> This change would allow me to place links/tools/content in the header or
> footer that only authorized (administrative or managerial) users could
> access.
> *****
>
> Here's a more concrete example of how this change will be helpful...
>
> JHU, Gary Thompson, and I just got done creating a portlet for Fragment
> Administration.  It's a channel that gets put in your header area when
> your layout gets created from your templateUser.  But -- based on the
> enhancement described above -- it will only appear in the UI if you've
> been authorized to render it.
>
> If it does render, it loops the fragments defined in dlm.xml to evaluate
> (for each) if you're authorized to edit that fragment.  It compiles a
> list of the fragments you can edit, sorts them, then presents them in a
> drop-down list at the top of your layout.
>
> When you select a fragment and click the 'Edit' button, you get logged
> in as that fragment owner (ServletFilter + RemoteUserSecurityContext
> does the magic).
>
> While you're logged in as the fragment owner, a corresponding
> FragmentAdminExit portlet appears in your header area.  This portlet
> allows you to click a button and log back in as yourself.
>
> I know JHU is eager to this technology as well.
>
> drew wills
>

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[Drew Wills]

Eric Dalquist wrote:
> Sounds good to me. +1 for including it.
>
> What are the scope of the changes involved? Just want to get an idea if
> this is a 3.1 only thing or something that could possibly be included in
> a 3.0.x release too.
>

There's a delta attached to the JIRA:
http://www.ja-sig.org/issues/browse/UP-2117

It amounts to 46 lines of Java added to the
DistributedLayoutManager.java file.

drew wills

PS:  It would be shorter (and easier to read) if the w3c DOM API didn't
return instances of NodeList that don't implement List.



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[Mark Boyd]

NIce addition Drew. One thought though. Having channels added into the header and footer area of the layout causes everyone to get them in their layout in the DB regardless of whether they can use them or not. I added a feature to DLM some time ago allowing such channels to be referenced in the theme stylesheet via their functional name rather than require that they be channels located in the user's layout. This makes use of the transient layout manager for instantiating them and using them during the user's session without adding bulk to their layout. Have you investigated use of that approach to alleviate adding more to the headers and footers?

Mark

On Mon, Jul 21, 2008 at 3:01 PM, Drew Wills <awills@...> wrote:

Eric Dalquist wrote:

Sounds good to me. +1 for including it.

What are the scope of the changes involved? Just want to get an idea if this is a 3.1 only thing or something that could possibly be included in a 3.0.x release too.

There's a delta attached to the JIRA: http://www.ja-sig.org/issues/browse/UP-2117

It amounts to 46 lines of Java added to the DistributedLayoutManager.java file.

drew wills

PS:  It would be shorter (and easier to read) if the w3c DOM API didn't return instances of NodeList that don't implement List.

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[Drew Wills]

Mark,

I'm not familiar with all the pieces of the picture you describe.

So when you reference a channel this way in the theme stylesheet, what
does the XSL look like?  Not like this, I presume...

     <xsl:copy-of select="//channel[@fname = 'fragment-admin']"/>

That's how the 'fragment-admin' does it, and it's also similar to the
way the 'Login' channel gets pulled into the layout.

Once or twice in the past I've herd other folks describe a feature I'd
really like to see:  the ability to add channels to a DLM fragment that
'percolate' up to the header or footer.  So if you're an admin and you
(therefore) get the Administration fragment, part of what you get could
be the 'fragment-admin' channel which appears in the header/sidebar area.

drew

Mark Boyd wrote:

> NIce addition Drew. One thought though. Having channels added into the
> header and footer area of the layout causes everyone to get them in
> their layout in the DB regardless of whether they can use them or not. I
> added a feature to DLM some time ago allowing such channels to be
> referenced in the theme stylesheet via their functional name rather than
> require that they be channels located in the user's layout. This makes
> use of the transient layout manager for instantiating them and using
> them during the user's session without adding bulk to their layout. Have
> you investigated use of that approach to alleviate adding more to the
> headers and footers?
>

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