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UPortal5 The Path Forward

This document provides a summary of a presentation about uPortal 5 and the path forward. Some key points: - uPortal-start is a new Git repository that serves as the gateway for implementing uPortal 5. It includes configuration, data, skins, and deployment tools. - User-facing changes in uPortal 5 include improved accessibility, a favorites portlet with icons, an admin dashboard, and managing portlet permissions directly. - Developer and administrator changes aim to make uPortal easier to set up, configure, develop for, and deploy. This includes documentation, a new build system, simplified skinning, and baked-in Tomcat configuration. - The uPortal ecosystem is expanding with items

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msrkan
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114 views

UPortal5 The Path Forward

This document provides a summary of a presentation about uPortal 5 and the path forward. Some key points: - uPortal-start is a new Git repository that serves as the gateway for implementing uPortal 5. It includes configuration, data, skins, and deployment tools. - User-facing changes in uPortal 5 include improved accessibility, a favorites portlet with icons, an admin dashboard, and managing portlet permissions directly. - Developer and administrator changes aim to make uPortal easier to set up, configure, develop for, and deploy. This includes documentation, a new build system, simplified skinning, and baked-in Tomcat configuration. - The uPortal ecosystem is expanding with items

Uploaded by

msrkan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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uPortal 5:

The Path Forward

ESUP-Days | Apereo Paris • Feb 6th 2018 • Université Paris Descartes


Drew Wills • Unicon, Inc. • [email protected] • @droowills

“This is still a great adventure” -- Thierry Koscielniak


● uPortal Committer since 2004
● uPortal Steering Committee
● Apereo Fellow 2014
● Software Architect @Unicon
Agenda
● uPortal-start
● uPortal 5 for End Users
● uPortal 5 for Developers & Administrators
● uPortal Ecosystem
● uPortal 5.1 & Beyond
But First, a Brief Look Behind...
Important enhancements in uPortal 4.1 - 4.3

● Responsive Design
● Multi-tenancy
● 6-column layout option
● Improvements to admin interfaces
● Performance improvements
uPortal-start
What is uPortal-start?
● uPortal-start is a Git repository: https://github.com/Jasig/uPortal-start
● uPortal-start is new for uPortal 5
● It is the gateway through which you implement uPortal 5
● With it, you can create & maintain:
○ Your configuration
○ Your data
○ Your skin
○ Your deployments
● It includes a suite of CLI tools for managing these things
● You no longer need to fork, modify, or build core uPortal source files
● Everyone uses the same uPortal binaries, built & published by Apereo

(But it is still 100% possible to produce & use a private release of uPortal)
README.md
● The README file contains
comprehensive instructions for working
with uPortal-start
● https://github.com/Jasig/uPortal-start
uPortal 5 for End Users
New Standard for Accessibility
● uPortal 5 implements the WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility guidelines
● Significant auditing effort late 2016 - early 2017
● Significant number of (mostly minor) items remediated
● Applies to uPortal itself & all bundled content modules (portlets)

RÉFÉRENTIEL GÉNÉRAL D'ACCESSIBILITÉ POUR LES ADMINISTRATIONS (RGAA) VERSION 3 2017

https://references.modernisation.gouv.fr/rgaa-accessibilite/
Favorites portlet
● Added icons
● (Starts added later)
New Admin Dashboard
Manage CONFIGURE permission directly in the Portlet Manager
Other User-Facing Items
● Add more & better mobile icons
● Use AlternativeMaximizedLink in SiteMap for portlet that define one
● Increase size of flyout toggle button
● Add a lock icon ('fa fa-lock') to the portlet chrome of portlets that may not be
moved due to DLM restrictions
● Handle text overflow in portlet title
● Add sign in, create user, and sign out icons
● 63 bug tickets resolved!
uPortal 5 for Developers & Administrators
Principal aim of implementer-facing changes in uPortal 5
What does “Easy” mean?
● Reduce the Learning Curve -- make it easier for new developers to work with
● Easier to set up locally
● Easier to configure your implementation choices
● Easier to apply your skin
● Easier to develop new content components
● Shorten the Delivery Pipeline -- make it easier to deploy
● Easier to run in the Cloud
● Easier to update

If we accomplish these aims, you will be radically more productive and more
successful with uPortal 5 than with any previous version.
Documentation
En Français
● Merci beaucoup to Christian
Cousquer & Julien Gribonvald
● Available for both uPortal &
uPortal-start

http://jasig.github.io/uPortal/fr/
New Build System
● Build tools in use
○ Before: Ant & Maven
○ After: Gradle
● Build tools requiring download & install
○ Before: Ant & Maven
○ After: [None]
● Easier to use & understand
● More flexible
$ ./gradlew overlays:CalendarPortlet:tomcatDeploy
● More powerful
$ ./gradlew tomcatStart
● Much, much faster!
Simple Setup Process
Prerequisites:

● JDK 8
● Git client

$ git clone \
https://github.com/Jasig/uPortal-start.git

$ cd uPortal-start

$ ./gradlew portalInit portalOpen


Simple, Succinct Skinning Process
● Use uPortal-start to create a new skin:
$ ./gradlew skinGenerate -DskinName=<name>
● Edit the contents of skins/respondr/<name>/less:
○ variables.less -- colors, backgrounds, borders, etc.
○ skin.less -- override style rules as needed

● uPortal-start automatically compiles LESS sources from Bootstrap,


uPortal, and your custom skin whenever you build
Baked-in Tomcat Configuration
● uPortal-start can obtain Tomcat as a dependency from Maven Central
● It installs Tomcat (within the project)
● It applies libraries & configuration for uPortal:
○ JAR files in shared/lib/
○ Changes to files in conf/
○ JVM arguments (e.g. memory settings)
● The CLI provides tomcatStart & tomcatStop
● It also provides tomcatTar & tomcatZip
● This feature changes Tomcat configuration from an individually-managed
activity to a community managed activity
● This feature is optional (but highly recommended)
New Configuration Patterns
● uPortal 5 approaches configuration in a new way; it’s a significant departure
from the past
● Environment-specific settings are no longer “baked-in” during the build
process
● There are two primary types of configuration:
○ Java properties may be overridden with special properties files in the PORTAL_HOME directory
■ global.properties
■ uPortal.properties
■ [calendar.properties]
○ Spring beans may be introduced into the application context; once there, uPortal will find them
and use them appropriately
Package Once, Deploy Anywhere
● Because uPortal 5 builds are not environment-specific, you are free to deploy
the same build to DEV, TEST, PROD… anywhere!
● Use tomcatTar, tomcatZip, or (even better) leverate the Docker support
included with uPortal-start
uPortal-start knows how to build Docker images:

● uportal is the web server-only image


● uportal-cli includes the CLI tools
● uportal-demo is a demonstration (a.k.a.
“quickstart”) version of the portal

$ docker run -it -p 8080:8080 apereo/uportal-demo


Introducing Soffits

● New standard for pluggable content in uPortal based on HTTP


● No complicated request lifecycle
● Friendly to modern development frameworks (e.g. Spring Boot)
● Not required to run inside uPortal’s Tomcat container
● Not required to run inside the uPortal Java process
● No build, deploy, & restart required to see changes in development
● No need to stop and restart a running service to add new modules
● Not required to be Java-based
● Front-end technology agnostic

Soffit Sample Applications: https://github.com/uPortal-Project/soffit-samples


● Hypertext documentation for uPortal
REST APIs
● Simple UI for invoking APIs and
inspecting responses
● 23 APIs available!
uPortal Ecosystem
Bundle uPortal-home
Apereo theme
uPortal-home Next Steps
A few improvements we hope to make soon to uPortal-home in uPortal 5:

● WCAG 2.0 Level AA accessibility


● Supporting data in quickstart
● Support for Widgets
uPortal 5.1 & Beyond
Coming in uPortal 5.1 & Beyond
● Layout options based on CSS Flexbox
● Updated, REST-based sitemap portlet
● Content matching strategies based on contextual information and/or
Learning Analytics data

uPortal 5.1 available perhaps as early as late February!


uPortal Classic columns with unmatched portlets
Layout options based on CSS Flexbox
DLM Enhancements: Content Matching Strategies

● Choose user-specific fragment content based on pluggable strategies


● Leverage user attributes, group affiliations, portlet metadata, and even
Learning Analytics data
● Based on collaboration between three systems/components:
○ Learning Record Store
Captures learning data from the portal & other sources based on xAPI or IMS Caliper
○ Data Processing Engine
Evaluates data from the LRS to correlate portal content with user attributes & group
affiliations based on pluggable algorithms
○ uPortal Server
Is both one* provider of LRS data and the consumer of correlations from the Data Processing
Engine
“How can we use data to guide students to the things perhaps
they out to look at?” -- Michael Webb, Jisc
Recommender system
Questions?

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