Vince, What do you need from CMS that OFBiz is not providing (I understand that it could be a lot). I am doing a bunch of work with Dojo and OFBiz CMS right now and I can commit, so it may be possible to add what you need.
-Al On 9/13/07, Vince Clark <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Random musings that I would appreciate confirmation or clarification on > to close the loop on my understanding of this topic. > > Services can be called from either SOAP or XML-RPC clients, and the > OfBiz service engine will consume the request and respond with the > properly formatted output. This would be a simple XML formatted response > to an XML-RPC request, and for SOAP a wrapper with content inside based > on the WSDL. > > This will provide web services access to any service defined with > export="true", but realistically it will be necessary to create wrapper > services to get more sophisticated functionality such as calling > multiple services in a single request. This would probably include most > existing eCommerce functionality as it depends heavily on bsh scripts > that are not defined as services. > > So for example if I wanted to integrate with a CMS and have similar > functionality to OOTB OfBiz eCommerce, I would have three options: > 1) Write wrapper services that replicate current eCommerce functionality > (searches, storing items in shopping cart, shopping lists, checkout, etc.) > 2) Call existing services from SOAP or XMLRPC client and handle details > on the other end (looping thru categories, grouping products, etc.) This > could result in too much data being returned and may not be a good > option, and would still depend on option 1 to maintain shopping cart and > checkout. > 3) Forget the whole integration craziness and just "embed" the OfBiz > webstore in a CMS template. This seems like a much easier option as I > haven't even begun to ask about how sessions would be tracked for > shopping carts, checkout, etc., or user management between the two > systems. > 4) Forget an external CMS, and make the most of OfBiz CMS functionality > so as to avoid this whole topic altogether. > > One very important point this research exposed for me that I really need > clarification on. > BSH scripts are not typically defined as services. I only found one > example of a service defined with engine="bsh". It is in the common > component and is in services_test.xml. > Conceptually I understand why. Much of the functionality implemented in > bsh is to support rendering of the UI such as storing/retrieving values > from the context and performing searches. Is it correct to say that most > of these bsh scripts fall into the UI category as opposed to business > logic, and therefore do not qualify as a "service"? > > > David E Jones wrote: > > > > Actually I think at the minute that the XMLRPC automatic service > > mapping in OFBiz is better than the SOAP auto-mapping. > > > > The service engine will try for any service definition, but just be > > aware that the real world is not as simple as this. If you have to > > implement to a spec that you don't control you probably won't be able > > to use the automated mapping and you'll have to write wrapper services. > > > > -David > > > > > > Vince Clark wrote: > >> I am researching this topic and need some clarification on integration > >> options. > >> > >> As far as I can tell we can use either SOAP or XML-RPC. My > understanding > >> of web services is limited, but as I understand it any service in OfBiz > >> defined as "export=true" can be consumed as a web service via SOAP. If > >> this is true then it leads me to believe that there is much more > >> functionality available to the consuming application, a CMS for > example, > >> using SOAP as opposed to XML-RPC. > >> > >> There is a component available from OpenTaps called livecatalog that > has > >> some classes available for use with XML-RPC integration. Although upon > >> reviewing that code I cannot see anything specific to XML-RPC. Is the > >> purpose of this component to make some information more easily > >> accesssible, or is it targeted at XML-RPC integrations? > >> > >> This also leads me to the question, can any exported OfBiz service be > >> consumed with either SOAP or XML-RPC? Am I comparing apples to apples? > >> > >> Finally, the CMS we want to integrate is Joomla. Which should we use, > >> SOAP or XML-RPC? The latter seems to be better supported in Joomla, but > >> if my understanding of OfBiz services is correct, we will have much > more > >> functionality available to us if we use SOAP. > > -- > Vince Clark > Global Era > The freedom of open source. > (303) 493-6723 > (303) 455-2409 fax > [EMAIL PROTECTED] <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > www.globalera.com >
