Interacting with our existing codebase and date?
nsheth
that are more interesting, how do I interface with my existing website
and database? I already an existing website, and want to use
OpenSocial as an additional mechanism by which users can interact with
the content and functionality I already offer.
I don't see the "approved" way to do this - a couple thoughts:
Should I wait for the OpenSocial Data API's? How will that work? The
current documentation shows that we write our apps as Google Gadgets,
and all the code runs client-side. To use the data apis, will we
specify some sort of callback function somewhere a la facebook?
Alternately, perhaps I can embed an iframe in the Content section of
the gadget, pointing towards custom-built pages on my site. Though, I
still don't know how to handle authentication. Will I need to build
my own system to handle that?
Thanks for any input!
Arne Roomann-Kurrik (Google)
be able to make server to server calls to interact with OpenSocial
data. Until then, you have a couple of options:
1.) Use the _IG_Fetch functions that are part of the Google Gadget
spec:
http://code.google.com/apis/gadgets/docs/remote-content.html
I've seen developers pull templates down from their remote site using
this method, and then populate the templates with data using the
JavaScript api.
2.) Create your own JSON based API and use <script> includes to pull
data down.
3.) Use a cross domain JS library to forward information. I believe
that Dojo has functions for this.
Currently, authenticating requests made in this manner is not
supported, but we are working hard to allow third party servers to
verify that calls are legitimate and coming from the Orkut API. Be
aware that until requests are signed, any data sent back to your
servers at this time may have been modified by a third party, and
stick to storing user data using the persistence (fetch/
updatePersonAppData) calls on the Orkut end.
~Arne
Sizhao Yang
Zao