Roadmap: Callback on tag value update / PubSub
Jean-Denis
funding (and thanks for the blog).
I had a question about the current API and the FluidInfo/DB roadmap:
I noticed that there currently is no mention of pub/sub on objects or
tags for updates. The more I think about FluidDB and its
implications, the more it occurs to me that apps will want to be
notified when some of their underlying data is updated (or when some
tags are added to an object that they have an interest in).
E.g., assuming some social network, X, uses FluidDB to store/represent
friend relationships. Now, Company A has built an app that relies on
this friend information from X. When a user of X adds a friend, X
updates the relevant objects in FluidDB (that of the user and the new
friend), it stands to reason that A should find out about this change
via a subscription mechanism (i.e., tell me whenever a friend tag is
changed for such-and-such user), as opposed to having to poll every
once in a while to see if anything underneath has changed. Standard
poll v. push.
Obviously, this would turn FluidDB into a mix of a DB and an internet
scale message queue, but it would seem pretty necessary to any real-
time or near real-time app, which is the way a lot of the web is
moving.
Just curious what your current thoughts are to these kinds of needs.
Best,
Jean-Denis
Esteve Fernandez
sorry for the (extremely) slow response. I thought I replied, but it
turns out I never hit "send" :-/
On Tue, Jun 1, 2010 at 2:46 PM, Jean-Denis <jean...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I really love the project. Kudos on a great idea and congrats on the
> funding (and thanks for the blog).
Thanks a lot :-) It's been a long way, we're really excited about the future.
> I had a question about the current API and the FluidInfo/DB roadmap:
>
> I noticed that there currently is no mention of pub/sub on objects or
> tags for updates. The more I think about FluidDB and its
> implications, the more it occurs to me that apps will want to be
> notified when some of their underlying data is updated (or when some
> tags are added to an object that they have an interest in).
It's a good suggestion, a database for real time data is the natural
next step for FluidDB. There are plans for an XMPP (Jabber) front-end
which would support notifications. However, many other protocols have
surfaced since we wrote that roadmap: webhooks, websockets and
pubsubhubbub.
I'm not sure which one is the best, but we'll probably support
webhooks first, as it seems the easiest to implement, i.e. "give me a
URL where I can POST results as they come".
Our architecture should be able to support async notifications (after
all, it's all powered by message queues, in our case AMQP :-)), and
it's definitely in our roadmap, but we just got funded and need more
people to implement that and many other features we too would like to
see in FluidDB. BTW, we're hiring! http://fluidinfo.com/jobs/
Thanks a lot for your very valuable suggestions, and sorry for the
really late response.