HyperContent 2.0

Common Solutions Group

September 21, 2005

Alex Vigdor, Columbia University

What is HyperContent?

• A platform for managing web sites in a distributed environment

• A stable, scalable Java web application

• A solution designed by and for Higher Education

• Truly open source (MIT License)

• A JA-SIG sponsored project

Key Features

• Edit and publish sites from a web browser• Store XML and publish XML, HTML or PDF• Keep a history of file revisions• Enforce granular permissions• Set up approvals, notifications and schedules• Publish locally, over NFS, FTP or SFTP • Automatically generate navigation and site maps

A little background• Under continuous development since May 2002 at

Columbia University• In production at Columbia since early 2003• Sponsored by the JA-SIG since March 2004• Implemented by 6+ other schools• Over 50 web sites currently published with v1.4• v1.x implemented as a uPortal channel• Version 2.0 is a standalone web application with

integrated web server, workflow engine, and cluster-capable batch processing

Business model• Columbia has a web production group offering

– project management– information architecture – graphic design– site implementation– training & support

• Content experts author and publish their own sites• 5 central FTEs service dozens of departments • the eServices Integration group at the University

of Hull offers a similar centralized web production service using HyperContent

Content Authoring tools

• WYSIWYG HTML & XML editing• Image convert, crop and resize• Drag & drop navigation and site map management• Dublin Core metadata• vCard contact information w/LDAP lookup• Multilingual spell checker• Upload & download arbitrary file types• Plain text editing for any text file type

Architecture: Foundation• Repository API with versioning, locking, searching

and metadata support– implementations include local, FTP & SFTP

• Asynchronous processing engine – automatically distributes batch rendering and publishing

jobs across server clusters

• Event-driven workflow engine– Flexible XML scripts configure events, schedules, work

queues, and sequences of commands that may send e-mails, trigger batch jobs, move work between queues, or execute any custom plug-in

– Event & handler model supports loose coupling with other systems

Architecture: Web Content• Extensible rendering pipeline configuration

– filters for XML Includes, XSL transforms, Velocity templates, image resizing and watermarking, and more

– persistent caching maximizes performance– recursive dependency analysis guarantees content

freshness

• Integrated HTTP 1.1 server – tuned for dynamic content management

• HTML form input binding– bind individual inputs to specific processors– processors can expire inputs to prevent re-submission

Architecture: Enterprise• Pluggable authentication

– Uses JAAS LoginModules– Compatible with JA-SIG CAS

• LDAP support– Grab display name, notification e-mail address– Manage contact info and directories on web sites

• External web and file server support– Use network mounted drives, FTP or SFTP

• uPortal support– Feed XML or XHTML to uPortal, use single sign-on

for transparent security

Roadmap

• The Version 2 beta cycle is winding down, will be final this month

• Upcoming development priorities include– Next-generation XML/HTML WYSIWYG

editor– WSRP and UDDI portlet publishing– Integration with JA-SIG Groups & Permissions– WebDAV support

For more informationVisit http://hypercontent.sourceforge.net

contactAlex Vigdorav317@columbia.eduHyperContent Architect & Project Manager

Web site screenshots

GUI Screenshots

The end