[OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] FW: Server-side OPAC development project: an introduction

[Lisa Hill]

Hi-
Just to reiterate what Bill said access to the template toolkit  on the KCLS Dev server can be found here:
http://devcatalog.kcls.org/eg/opac/home

We will configure test accounts later this week so you can take the my account features for a test drive.

If you would like a test account please email devcatalog at kcls.org<mailto:devcatalog at kcls.org>.

We would love to hear what you think.
Thanks
Lisa

Lisa Hill | Web Services Manager | Virtual Library Services
http://www.kcls.org<http://www.kcls.org/> and http://catalog.kcls.org<http://catalog.kcls.org/>
p: 425.369.3480 | f: 425.369.3407
.........................................................................................................................................................

King County Library System | 960 Newport Way NW | Issaquah, WA 98027



From: open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org [mailto:open-ils-general-bounces at list.georgialibraries.org] On Behalf Of Bill Erickson
Sent: Friday, March 04, 2011 8:44 AM
To: Evergreen Development Discussion List; Evergreen Discussion Group
Subject: [OPEN-ILS-GENERAL] Server-side OPAC development project: an introduction


Hi All,

As some of you may know from various IRC discussions, etc., Equinox (ESI) is partnering with the King County Library System to build a server-side (i.e. non-Javascript driven) Template Toolkit OPAC.  The purpose of this project is to re-architect the OPAC with a set of web development tools that will allow us to manage the logic of data retrieval and display on the server instead of in the client to provide a faster and more consistent OPAC experience.  This work will improve OPAC rendering across browsers as well as have a significant impact on overall performance, particularly for users on slower networks.  This approach has the additional benefit of using a platform which will make the OPAC more accessible and customizable to a wider group of developers and users.  While the core requirement of the project is to provide KCLS with a drop-in OPAC replacement, there is, in my opinion, a clear opportunity here for wider adoption of the new architecture by the Evergreen community at large.

The Architecture

We are replacing all of the Javascript data retrieval and display logic with mod_perl and Template Toolkit (http://template-toolkit.org/), which is an open source template processing system that is fast, flexible, and highly extensible.  The mod_perl code is responsible for retrieving and packaging data, then passing it off (through the blood-brain barrier, so to speak) to the template environment, which is responsible for display.  All in all, it’s pretty standard web development stuff and I look forward to discussing the architecture further for anyone that’s interested.

What’s the current status of the project?

ESI recently built a proof of concept (PoC) using a modified copy of the new KCLS skin.  (We removed all but the most trivial JS, sliced up the HTML templates to better suit Template Tookit, and began the process of moving inline CSS to external CSS files for general cleanliness and render speed).  A version of the PoC has been pushed to the KCLS development server at http://devcatalog.kcls.org/eg/opac/home for testing.  (Note, this is not intended to be a full-featured, bug-free environment.  It’s there to test our basic assumptions about performance and rendering.  Please be nice to KCLS’ servers).

We continue to add new features to the code, which lives in an an ESI Git branch:

http://git.esilibrary.com/?p=evergreen-equinox.git;a=shortlog;h=refs/heads/opac-tt-poc

The branch is kept up-to-date with Evergreen trunk and is trivial to install over an existing trunk install.  I can put a how-to on the wiki for anyone that is interested.

Why would the community want to use the code?

The obvious and immediate benefits are that the code will address the issues of performance and rendering mentioned above.  What’s more, the templates should be easier to navigate and customize, given the separation of data retrieval and display and the lack of external Javascript driving the display.  Template Toolkit also has a nice feature that allows for overriding individual templates, which will be a great tool for building local skins, especially if the templates are designed from the outset with that in mind.

What now?

ESI will continue adding features to this new OPAC.  To provide the best long-term flexibility, we will develop with the assumption that it could be merged into Evergreen at some point.

As a community, we should decide if this new architecture is a good path for Evergreen in general.  This doesn’t have to happen today, but deciding earlier gives us more flexibility and clearer goals in the short term.  Then we devise a plan for fostering the two projects in a way that allows them to grow together.

I look forward to your questions.

Thanks

-b

--
Bill Erickson
| VP, Software Development & Integration
| Equinox Software, Inc. / Your Library's Guide to Open Source
| phone: 877-OPEN-ILS (673-6457)
| email: erickson at esilibrary.com<mailto:erickson at esilibrary.com>
| web: http://esilibrary.com
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