orkut launch update

[Jason]

Hi Everyone!

Earlier today, the orkut developer blog officially confirmed that the
orkut platform will be rolled out to the remainder of its userbase
over the course of several days starting next week -- July 10 to be
precise. Please see the official post for more information including
general tips you should follow to ensure your applications are ready.
And, as always, feel free to reply to this post or join the ongoing
chatter in the OpenSocial IRC channel if you have any questions.

Post: http://orkutdeveloper.blogspot.com/2008/07/preparing-for-final-push.html

IRC: irc://irc.freenode.net/opensocial

- Jason

[Jason]

One last reminder: tomorrow begins the final push -- soon, your apps
will be available to the entire orkut user base!

For several last-minute tips on what you should do to prepare your
applications for the expected traffic increase ahead, check out the
latest entry in the orkut developer blog. It covers pre-loading, URL
rewriting, and caching and points to several other resources that
provide tips and tricks for combating latency in your applications.

http://orkutdeveloper.blogspot.com/2008/07/final-push-begins-tomorrow.html

As always, please feel free to post any questions or concerns you have
on this discussion board.

Cheers!
- Jason

[Dinesh Kumar Subramanian]

Hi Jason,

I have 2 important questions

1. what is the significance of having

<Optional feature="content-rewrite">
    <Param name="include-urls">.*</Param>
    <Param name="exclude-urls"></Param>
   <Param name="include-tags">.*</Param>
</Optional>

-- what I understand fro the document provided that having aconfiguration like above will let orkut proxy all the include urls and tags .... but that way i dont need to specify separate proxy code for my script , css, flash and image files.

-- If I am wrong please correct me.

2. Usage of preload tag
      <Preload href="http://www.example.com" authz="signed" />
    
     How can i pass parameters ....even if i use it in normal way how my params are going to pass in that preload.

Thanks
Dinesh

[Jason]

Hi Dinesh. I'll try to answer your questions below:

1. URL rewriting obviates the need to use gadgets.io.getProxyUrl.
Instead, the rewriting mechanism basically modifies all of the URLs in
your application so that they can be cached by orkut's immense
infrastructure. This way, the resources stored on your server are hit
less often (which is good for you) and render faster (which is good
for your users). So yes, I think you're general understanding is
correct.

The tag block above is used to indicate which URLs and elements to
include (or exclude) the rewriter should act on. For example, if you
want all of your images cached, you should place img in the 'include-
tags' Param element. If you want all URLs except those served from
mydomain.com, you should place .* in the 'include-urls' Param element
and mydomain\.com in the 'exclude-urls' Param element. You might want
to exclude certain URLs if they are already being served from a CDN,
for example. You may also find that the rewriter is not working
properly for certain URL schemes, so you would want to disable these
URLs as well.

2. It depends on your parameters. If all you need for your request is
the owner and viewer IDs and container name, then including
authz="signed" is all you need since orkut passes these with signed
requests. If you need arbitrary parameters (e.g. passing an arbitrary
tag to your server-side script), then you can't preload these
requests.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

- Jason

On Jul 9, 6:16 pm, "Dinesh Kumar Subramanian"

<dineshkuma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>
> I have 2 important questions
>
> 1. what is the significance of having
>
> <Optional feature="content-rewrite">
>     <Param name="include-urls">.*</Param>
>     <Param name="exclude-urls"></Param>
>    <Param name="include-tags">.*</Param>
> </Optional>
>
> -- what I understand fro the document provided that having aconfiguration
> like above will let orkut proxy all the include urls and tags .... but that
> way i dont need to specify separate proxy code for my script , css, flash
> and image files.
>
> -- If I am wrong please correct me.
>
> 2. Usage of preload tag
>       <Preload href="http://www.example.com" authz="signed" />
>
>      How can i pass parameters ....even if i use it in normal way how my
> params are going to pass in that preload.
>
> Thanks
> Dinesh
>

> On Wed, Jul 9, 2008 at 7:34 PM, Jason <apija...@google.com> wrote:
>
> > One last reminder: tomorrow begins the final push -- soon, your apps
> > will be available to the entire orkut user base!
>
> > For several last-minute tips on what you should do to prepare your
> > applications for the expected traffic increase ahead, check out the
> > latest entry in the orkut developer blog. It covers pre-loading, URL
> > rewriting, and caching and points to several other resources that
> > provide tips and tricks for combating latency in your applications.
>

> >http://orkutdeveloper.blogspot.com/2008/07/final-push-begins-tomorrow...

[Dinesh Kumar Subramanian]

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your reply.
1.
I have used this in my app

      <Optional feature="content-rewrite">
        <Param name="include-urls">.*</Param>
        <Param name="exclude-urls"></Param>
        <Param name="include-tags">.*</Param>
    </Optional>

can you tell me what change in the code will I see. For example does it change my script, img etc files to

<img src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fi_heart_apis.png" />

If so I dont see any change like that in sandBox.
If you can do let me know what effect or change will it have in the code.

2.

further will I be able to use swf  as proxy?url="swf link"  -- in that case how will the cross domain issue handled -- will the request to my server from flash treated as one from my domain or from gmodules.


Thanks
Dinesh

[Marshall]

To what percentage of Orkut users were apps available previous to
today? I'm wondering what type of increase we might expect.

[tsmt...@gmail.com]

Hi, I put in my app the Optional feature too, according to example
below (Dinesh's post) to put all of my code in orkut's cache. But I
don't see any change on my images too.

There are anymore that we can do?

thanks,
Thiago.

On 10 jul, 02:41, "Dinesh Kumar Subramanian" <dineshkuma...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>

> Thanks for your reply.
> 1.
> I have used this in my app
>       <Optional feature="content-rewrite">
>         <Param name="include-urls">.*</Param>
>         <Param name="exclude-urls"></Param>
>         <Param name="include-tags">.*</Param>
>     </Optional>
>
> can you tell me what change in the code will I see. For example does it
> change my script, img etc files to
>

> <img src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fi..."/>

>
> If so I dont see any change like that in sandBox.
> If you can do let me know what effect or change will it have in the code.
>
> 2.
>
> further will I be able to use swf  as proxy?url="swf link"  -- in that case
> how will the cross domain issue handled -- will the request to my server
> from flash treated as one from my domain or from gmodules.
>
> Thanks
> Dinesh
>

[BuboMe]

Would this work for Iframe Apps too? we basically have an iframe
pointing to an external site, wondering if that'd working.

On Jul 10, 5:41 pm, "Dinesh Kumar Subramanian"
<dineshkuma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>

> Thanks for your reply.
> 1.
> I have used this in my app
>       <Optional feature="content-rewrite">
>         <Param name="include-urls">.*</Param>
>         <Param name="exclude-urls"></Param>
>         <Param name="include-tags">.*</Param>
>     </Optional>
>
> can you tell me what change in the code will I see. For example does it
> change my script, img etc files to
>

> <img src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fi..."/>

> > > > > - Jason- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[aravi]

Hello!

I just noticed that my app which is among the most popular for english
speaking users comes somewhere in the last pages when i set my
language preference on Orkut to portuguese and went to the app
directory.

I though see all the other apps by companies like Rock You and Slide
and others on similar rankings for both Portuguese and English. What's
happening?

Must say Orkut's policy on these things as well as lot other stuff
like application submission reviews, availability in production, which
app goes first, the upcoming queue everything seems to be weird and in
the dark!

Really would like to know why Orkut couldn't do it as smoothy as
Facebook or My Space? And why certain app developers are punished
because of inconsistent policies and very little information.

On Jul 10, 5:34 am, Jason <apija...@google.com> wrote:
> One last reminder: tomorrow begins the final push -- soon, your apps
> will be available to the entire orkut user base!
>
> For several last-minute tips on what you should do to prepare your
> applications for the expected traffic increase ahead, check out the
> latest entry in the orkut developer blog. It covers pre-loading, URL
> rewriting, and caching and points to several other resources that
> provide tips and tricks for combating latency in your applications.
>

> http://orkutdeveloper.blogspot.com/2008/07/final-push-begins-tomorrow...

[Jason]

Dinesh and Thiago: Yes, it should change the URL of your resources to
use a proxy URL similar to the URL given in the article on latency
Tips for orkut.

http://code.google.com/apis/orkut/articles/latency.html#static

I just whipped up a quick application that included a static reference
to the Google logo and Firebug shows the URL rewritten as:

http://1.sandbox.gmodules.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fintl%2Fen_ALL%2Fimages%2Flogo.gif...

Keep in mind that you shouldn't need to add the Optional block in the
sandbox since rewriting is enabled by default. Even so, it should
still work if you include the block above, but if you don't see the
rewritten output, please reply with the URL of your application and
I'll look into it.

If you don't indicate otherwise, .swf files will be served from the
proxy just as images and other files are, meaning you may run into
cross-domain issues since the file is no longer being returned from
its original domain. (I'm not a Flash expert by any means, so perhaps
another user can help more with this cross-domain discussion). If this
is a problem, you can easily disable rewriting for certain elements
like object and embed. You may also consider using
gadgets.flash.embedFlash to embed your Flash movies.

- Jason

On Jul 9, 10:41 pm, "Dinesh Kumar Subramanian"
<dineshkuma...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>

> Thanks for your reply.
> 1.
> I have used this in my app
>       <Optional feature="content-rewrite">
>         <Param name="include-urls">.*</Param>
>         <Param name="exclude-urls"></Param>
>         <Param name="include-tags">.*</Param>
>     </Optional>
>
> can you tell me what change in the code will I see. For example does it
> change my script, img etc files to
>

> <img src="http://www.gmodules.com/ig/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.example.com%2Fi..."/>

>
> If so I dont see any change like that in sandBox.
> If you can do let me know what effect or change will it have in the code.
>
> 2.
>
> further will I be able to use swf  as proxy?url="swf link"  -- in that case
> how will the cross domain issue handled -- will the request to my server
> from flash treated as one from my domain or from gmodules.
>
> Thanks
> Dinesh
>

[Jason]

aravi: The directory tracks the popularity of applications by region
and displays the results appropriately depending on the display
language setting of the user. It makes sense that the top applications
in Brazil won't necessarily be the same as in India or other areas
since many applications are tailored for certain markets or users.

I am very sorry to hear that your experience up to now has been less
than satisfying. Rest assured that we are working very hard to improve
the platform and the process, but this takes time. However, we are
making great strides and I think you'll be much happier with the
platform going forward as we begin to roll out these incremental
improvements. But in the meantime, I thank you for sharing your
opinions, and I encourage you continue to do so. If you need the
record set straight about a certain issue, just post a new thread and
I'll do everything I can to assist.

- Jason

[tsmt...@gmail.com]

Hi jason! Thanks for reply.

Now it works, the problem was because i was put in the <Param
name="include-tags"> the .* and not the list of the tags.

One last question about this cache:
The parameters <Param name="include-urls"> and <Param name="exclude-
urls"> are using only to define where the content rewrite will be
apply on tags specified on <Param name="include-tags">. It is?

There are a way to specify how many time this content will be on
cache?

Thank you!
Thiago.

On 14 jul, 22:17, Jason <apija...@google.com> wrote:
> Dinesh and Thiago: Yes, it should change the URL of your resources to
> use a proxy URL similar to the URL given in the article on latency
> Tips for orkut.
>
> http://code.google.com/apis/orkut/articles/latency.html#static
>
> I just whipped up a quick application that included a static reference
> to the Google logo and Firebug shows the URL rewritten as:
>

> http://1.sandbox.gmodules.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.goog......

[Jason]

Hi Thiago. I apologize for not making this clearer before: yes, the
regular expressions placed in the include-urls and exclude-urls
parameters apply only to the elements listed in the include-tags
parameter. I'll make some edits to our documentation soon to make this
point more explicit.

At the moment, there is no way to specify the exact amount of time
that your resources are cached for but I believe this will be coming
soon. We'll likely post a new entry to the blog when this new
parameter is available.

http://orkutdeveloper.blogspot.com/

Cheers!
- Jason