A widget in general needs data to be useful. OpsBook provides the ability to get data from various sources, including RSS, databases, Feeds and basic HTTP URLs. But what if you need to get data from a custom source? For that matter, what if your custom widget needs to interact with some functionality on the server side?
One of the simplest and accessible means for web clients to interact with server side functionality is via custom servlets. Servlets are Java side code that needs to be deployed on the server, a process that typically requires IT know-how and access. The situation is further complicated by the fact that M3O is a J2EE application, one deployed as a EAR. Adding custom servlets to M3O requires some intricate “customization” of the EAR, a process that is both error prone, non-upgradable and not for the faint of heart.
Lucky for us, you don’t have to do all that to install your own M3O servlet. You can order your own OpsBook servlet on the side, courtesy of some OSGi magic and engineering foresight.
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When you connect a data query widget to a chart component, the chart component uses the schema or metadata of the data coming from the upstream data query component to aid configuration. Rather than expecting the user to know the names of the various fields in the data feed, pickers are provided that presents the fields and let the user choose from the set.
The wire is used to propagate data. It is also used by the framework to propagate metadata about the data. Just like the upstream widget (genenerated record) generates data to be consumed by the downstream widget (column chart), it can also generate metadata.
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Dilbert’s “Salary Theorem” states that
“Engineers and scientists can never earn as much as business executives and sales people.”
This theorem can now be supported by a mathematical equation based on the following two postulates:
As every engineer knows:
Since:
- Knowledge = Power
- Time = Money
- Knowledge = Work / Money
Solving for Money, we get:
- Money = Work / Knowledge.
Thus, as Knowledge approaches zero, Money approaches infinity, regardless of the amount of work done.
Conclusion:
- The less you know, the more you make
Previously, we introduced the basics of building a custom widget,starting with a simple widget template and some basic ANT scripts. The activity assume some reasonable knowledge of Flex and ActionScript, the implementation technology of OpsBook widgets but did not attempt to explain the widget itself.
So what makes a bunch of Flex and ActionScript code a widget that OpsBook understands?
What is a widget?
A widget is a component in an OpsBook page that can be wired or chained to another. Widgets are building blocks that wired together defined the look and behavior of the page. While widgets are typically thought of as visual, OpsBook widgets may be purely functional and thus invisible on the page. Even widgets that are visual may be instantiated and configured to be invisible.
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DISCLAIMER:
This is not a supported or documented feature for release 2.1.1; but if you absolutely MUST do it for PoC or demo purposes, the following are the instructions for adding (or even changing) images used for book, page or icons in Ops Book.
There is tentative plans to provide a supported mechanism in 2.2.
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M3O (and Ops Book) supports a multi-layer access control mechanism that allows very flexible configuration and control of who has access to what actions and artifacts. Access to actions are defined by the role conferred to the user. Access to artifacts are defined by basic sharing attributes and also by a rather novel use of tagging.
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M3O Operations Book is designed with a framework for extensible widget support. Ops Book widgets are basically Flex components, built to a specific interface as defined by the Ops Book application. Widgets can be dynamically added to the Ops Book application, without the need to restart the application server.
Assuming a reasonable knowledge of ActionScript and FlexBuilder, a simple “Hello World” widget can be created and deployed in a matter of minutes. The first step is to download the following Widget Build Script and Flex Project Template. To start, identify or create a directory to serve as the development source folder for your widgets. I will use C:\widgets for the purpose of this post. Download the 2 files into the designated development directory.
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