Weblog for the AMIS Technology corner
Posts tagged WebCenter
OOW 2009: Experiences with Oracle WebCenter 11g: Implementing SOA with a User Interface
Oct 14th
One of the sessions I am (co-)presenting at Oracle Open World 2009 is on ‘applying the concepts of SOA to and achieving the SOA objectives with User Interfaces’. What goes for SOA and typical programmatic (web)services can be applied to User Interface components to a large extent. Decoupling – cross location, cross technology, cross development team and deployment unit – and reusing based on clear interface definitions and encapsulation of implementation is also available for user interface development.
Our presentation – I am copresenting with my colleague Peter Ebell – introduced the SOA concepts and objectives and demonstrates the application of SOA to the UI, using first Portlets and then ADF Task Flows. Subsequently we introduce WebCenter – as the portlet-infrastructure for ADF and also as the real life example of the notion of reusable, independently developed user interface components. We will discuss the nature of the contract you define for such reusable UI services (parameters, events – inbound and outbound) and demonstrate the steps you have to go through to make it work. Finally we will go into ‘how to add a user interface to a SOA implementation’- or: when does a SOA artefact need a user interface.
You can find the presentation below, embedded from slideshare. You can also download the demo applications we use for this session.
Installing WebCenter 11g – Design Time and Run Time (and on Linux)
Jul 31st
Getting started with WebCenter 11g, released on July 1st 2009, is quite easy. What you have to do exactly depends on the environment you work in, the bits and pieces in WebCenter that you want to make use of and the other FMW components that are part of your technology stack. Note that most of the installation steps you have to go through for WebCenter 11g are the same as for SOA Suite 11g – both involve WebLogic 11g, the Repository (Creation Utility against an 11g database) and the creation of a dedicated domain on WebLogic.
If all you are looking for is fiddling around with WebCenter in an isolated development environment, there is a lot you can do by simply adding the WebCenter plugin to JDeveloper 11g (11.1.1.1.x). With the plugin installed, you can work with (most) WebCenter Services, ,most of the WebCenter Composer and Framework facilities – including run time page customization and consuming portlets. Just go to the Help Window in JDeveloper, select the Check for Updates option and select the WebCenter 11g extension to be installed. A JAR of some 150 Mb or so is downloaded, JDeveloper is restarted, the integrated WebLogic Server is extended with WebCenter functionality and you are ready for some WebCenter development.
You can also download the zip-file with the WebCenter extension for JDeveloper directly from the page at: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/jdev/101/update/fmw_products.xml. You can then install the extension using the option ‘local file’ and selecting the zip file.
A very useful article was published yesterday by George Maggessy on the installation of WebCenter 11g on a Linux box – see http://georgemaggessy.blogspot.com/2009/07/installing-webcenter-suite-11g-on-linux.html. He explains – and demonstrates through many screenshots – what the steps are (by and large the same as on Windows by the way) and what choices you have to make during the installation process.
Oracle WebCenter 11g – Foundation for Oracle Fusion Applications and possibly your ADF applications or Enterprise 2.0 Portal as well
Jun 24th
I have had a sweet spot for Oracle WebCenter for quite some time now. As early as 2007 I already did a presentation at ODTUG on WebCenter (10g). One of my main conclusion at the time was that while the product showed a lot of potential, it was certainly not ready for prime time. After that presentation, a guy came up to me, thanked me for the presentation then told me he was a product manager for WebCenter – and agreed with most of the things I had said. That was my first encounter with Peter Moskovits. Today, two years later, the situation has changed quite dramatically. WebCenter has evolved, as had ADF which is the foundation for WebCenter, and WC is now one of the cornerstones for Oracle Fusion Applications. WebCenter 11g is like the swan that started out as the ugly duckling. Well worth a look.
I was in a presentation today by Peter Moskovits and Christina Kolotouros, titled: A Marriage Made in Heaven – Enterprise 2.0 and ADF. They touted it as Part 2 of Steve Miranda’s talk on how Fusion Applications were built (see: http://technology.amis.nl/blog/5645/oracle-fusion-applications-it-is-for-real-and-impressive-too ). In this presentation, they explained the architecture of WebCenter, demonstrated the use of some of the essential facilities and clarified how the product can be incorporated in your own ADF development efforts.
WebCenter implements the (runtime) customization & personalization requirements, allows consumption of 3rd party external portlets (that also bridge technologies), provides many Web 2.0/E2.0 Services (Blog, Wiki, Content Integration, Tagging, Linking, Email/VOIP/IM integration, …) and Community Workspaces; Search and Recent Activities.
WebCenter lives on top of ADF which in turn adds productivity to ‘plain’ JSF – through rich components, declarative and visual development and especially the data controls and complex databindings they provide to tie business services based on various technologies to the rich components. It adds functionality in a number of steps to the ADF foundation.
Oracle Fusion Applications – it is for real! (and impressive too)
Jun 23rd
When Oracle started acquiring companies in the ERP space, they unfolded (the outline of) the Fusion strategy. With three aspects to it as I understood it: the Fusion Middleware stack, the integration of the acquired companies into the Oracle fold and the development of the next generation of Enterprise applications, duped Fusion Applications.
After some intial excitement and quite high expectations, the buzz subsided and Oracle became somewhat quiet. They did embed PeopleSoft, Siebel, Retek, JDEdwards and many others. They also went on developing and releasing Fusion Middleware. But the Fusion Applications were never heard about again. Or so it seemed. People even started to wonder whether they were for real. With the Applications Unlimited program – that guarantuess virtual everlasting support on all of the Oracle Apps products – and the AIA (Application Integration Architecture) that makes all Oracle Apps products work together, the necessity for Fusion Applications seemed somewhat less urgent. And indeed, no serious progress (or anything at all really) was visible at Oracle Open World 2008, even though in 2007 Larry had announced the first modules shipping in the Spring of 2008.
Here at the ODTUG 2009 conference, I have learned that Fusion Applications are for real. And I have seen them as well. And I was impressed. After several years of hearing, interpreting and to some extent telling the Fusion stories, now it all seems to come together. Next week (July 1st) we will have the big launch of Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g – with among other things the SOA Suite 11g, WebCenter 11g (Spaces, Framework, Services, Composer), WebLogic Server 10.3.1 and the next level of ADF 11g – and the Fusion Applications products are coming together rapidly as well. Oracle also has started to expose the Fusion Apps, recently at the Collaborate conference and this week also at ODTUG.
