Help with our use case

[Chris Kohlhardt]

Based on our integration with Confluence, we think our use case when
integrating with other platforms looks something like this:

1) User is editing a document in Home Application
2) User indicates desire to add a diagram to the Home Application
document
3) User is directed to Gliffy to create a diagram
4) User returns to the Home Application with the Gliffy document
inserted into the document as an image.

After spending some more time looking at the OpenSAM spec, I'm having
a hard time seeing how this use case would work. I've identified the
following issues:

a) The Home Application needs a way to indicate that a new document
should be created in the launch link CGI parameters.
b) The Home Application needs a way to indicate that an existing
document should be opened in the launch link CGI parameters.
c) The Productivity Application needs to be able to provide the Home
Application with a way to access a read-only version of the document.
(a static image, in our case)

To further illustrate the point, please take a look at our Confluence
integration in our wiki sandbox (click the 'Add Diagram' link):
http://wiki.gliffy.com/display/sand/Home

- Am I missing something? Is this use case accounted for in the
OpenSAM spec and I just overlooked it?
- If the OpenSAM spec doesn't currently support the use case above,
can we extend it to support it?

thanks!

-chris

[Tom Snyder]

This scenario has not been spec'd out yet. There are several possible
approaches. Here is what we are considering. Please let us know what
you think.

Note that your scenario involves 3 applications - the Home application
that stores the documents and launches App 1, Productivity Application
1 that is editing document /docs/outsidedoc, and Productivity
Application 2 that is editing something inside document /docs/
outsidedoc, call it /docs/insidedoc. Gliffy would be Productivity
Application 2.

1] User launches Productivity Application 1 from their Home
Application, either on a new document or to edit an existing document.
User is now editing document stored at WebDAV URL /docs/outsidedoc.
2] From within Productivity Application 1, user launches Productivity
Application 2 (Gliffy). It either passes Gliffy the WebDAV URL of an
existing document (stored at the Home Application) or of the new
document to create. Call this WebDAV URL /docs/insidedoc.
3] User edits /docs/insidedoc and saves it from Gliffy.
4] Since Productivity Application 1 launched the edit window for
Productivity Application 2, they notice that the window has closed and
queries the Home Application server to see if /docs/insidedoc has
changed. If so, it reloads the contents of /docs/insidedoc that it
displays within /docs/outsidedoc.

Considerations:
A] Productivity Application 1 needs a UI to launch Productivity
Application 2.
B] Productivity Application 1 will use the Home Application's Launch
Dispatch service, since only the Home Application knows for sure the
up-to-date list of apps to launch and how to launch them. This is not
yet spec'd.
C] Productivity Applications 1 and 2 need to agree on the format of /
docs/insidedoc that is displayed within Productivity Application 1.
This will almost always be .HTML or .JPG. It could also be an IFRAME
showing a rendering directly from Productivity Appliction 2.

Once these mechanisms are in place, App 1 can launch any App 2 and App
2 can be launched from any App 1, which is the "connectedness" we are
striving for.

[Chris Kohlhardt]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your detailed response.

A few follow up questions to make sure I understand:

1) Is it assumed that the Home Application is always the authoritative
document store?
2) In your example, would it be possible for Productivity Application
1 to launch Productivity Application 2 WITHOUT the Home Application
getting involved? Where would document storage take place in this case?
3) Perhaps this is off-topic, but how difficult is it to implement
WebDAV? On the surface, the spec appears to be fairly complex, and
I'm concerned this requirement would be off-putting for new adopters.

thanks

-chris