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Difference between revisions of "PDS Architecture"

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* H2-Data Model
 
* H2-Data Model
  
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== Front End Components ==
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== Front End  ==
  
 
There are two front end components: a web client, and a browser extension.  
 
There are two front end components: a web client, and a browser extension.  
  
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[[Image:Higgins-client-2.0.213.png|center]]  
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[[Image:Higgins client 2.0.222.png|center]]  
  
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===Client===
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=== Client ===
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The client is written in HTML and JavaScript and runs in any desktop browser (e.g. IE, FF, Safari, Chrome). In the future we also plan to make it display well on the limited screen size of smartphone mobile browser (e.g. iPhone, Android, etc.).  
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===HBX===  
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The client is written in HTML and JavaScript and runs in any desktop browser (e.g. IE, FF, Safari, Chrome). In the future we also plan to make it display well on the limited screen size of smartphone mobile browser (e.g. iPhone, Android, etc.).
−
The Higgins browser extension makes possible functionality that isn't possible in a pure web app architecture. One kind of functionality is browser-side integration with other web APIs and sites. Shown above is a connector that imports the user's advertising preferences from Google's Ad Preference page (http://www.google.com/ads/preferences).
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 +
* [[Org.eclipse.higgins.js.pds.client | .js.pds.client]]
 +
 
 +
=== HBX ===
 +
 
 +
The Higgins browser extension makes possible functionality like browser-side integration with other web APIs and sites, scraping and form filling.
 +
 
 +
* .chrome.bx - Chrome-only Higgins Browser Extension
 +
* .js.pds.cde - Connection Data Engine 1. Loads CDE1-compatible JSON Scripts (See [[App-data vocabulary]]) from templates and uses them to implement auto-login, auto-registration, form filling, etc.
 +
* [[org.eclipse.higgins.js.pds.cde2|.js.pds.cde2]] - Connection Data Engine 2. Loads CDE2-compatible JSON Scripts (See [[App-data vocabulary]]) from templates and uses them to implement auto-login, auto-registration, form filling, etc.
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* .js.pds.connector.common
 +
 
 +
====Functionality====
 +
 
 +
=====Browser interactions=====
 +
When the user's browser lands on a new webpage it:
 +
* Determines if the current PDS user is currently logged in.
 +
** This requires there be a template for the current site (domain) and that it contains an IsLoggedIn script
 +
** It is possible that a different PDS user (not the current PDS user) is currently logged in.
 +
* If the user is not logged in then
 +
** It automatically logs the user in (or should it just auto-fill in the userid/password and wait for the user to click?)
 +
* Looks for every appropriate form on the page
 +
** Automatically fills in each form as best it can  -- this requires there be a template for the current site (domain) and that it contains a Fill script for this form (is there one fill script container with lots of per-form-submit-URL scripts? Or are there lots of Fill scripts each with an for-this-form-submit-URL attribute?
 +
* Waits for the user to submit a form (including a login form with or without a custom template?)
 +
** Scrapes the form submit data and writes it into the PDS. If it is a login form then it writes into the proxy object, else the corresponding context
 +
 
 +
=====Web client interactions=====
 +
When the user opens a connection editor page (e.g. to edit the nytimes.com connection):
 +
* The BX immediately starts a background process to login and scrape the latest data values from the site.
 +
** This is necessary because the user may have gone to the site directly (not using the PDS) and updated data values. A progress bar that shows this background process.
 +
* If the user edits an attribute it writes the updated attribute value to the site.
 +
** If this "write" operation happens before the background sync completes, there is some possibility for sync collisions and and confusion.
  
 
== Back End Components  ==
 
== Back End Components  ==
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*ADS
 
*ADS
  
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[[Image:Server 2.0.216.png|center]]  
+
[[Image:Higgins server 2.0.230.png|center]]  
  
 
===PDS===
 
===PDS===
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*.pds.client - wrapper around Open Anzo java client
 
*.pds.client - wrapper around Open Anzo java client
  
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===ADS===
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===Attribute Data Storage===
 
ADS Subcomponents:  
 
ADS Subcomponents:  
  
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== Data Model  ==
 
== Data Model  ==
  
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=== A Common Vocabulary ===
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Data attributes whether created by the user or imported from an external service are stored in a common data model. This allows them to be consistently displayed to, and in some cases edited by, the user irrespective of its original source. We call this the [[Persona Data Model 2.0]].  
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+
−
Data that is either created by the user and stored on the PDS or passes through the PDS intermediary on its way from the data source to the data consuming service can, in many cases, be mapped into a rich, common data model. This allows it to be consistently displayed (and in some cases edited) to the user irrespective of its original source. The common data model being developed for the purpose of representing people and their social networks is called the [[Persona Data Model 2.0]].
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−
 
+
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People play different roles and share different subsets of their social graphs and attributes depending on who they are interacting with. For this reason a single person is represented as a set of partial identities that are used in different situations. The heart of the model used by the personal data store and managed data stores is based on a set of containers called ''contexts.'' Each context holds a partial digital identity called a ''persona''. Each persona instance has a set of attributes and values. The contexts, personas and attributes adhere to the Higgins [[Persona Data Model 2.0]].
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−
 
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These contexts are usually displayed as digital card metaphors in a user interface. A context/card could hold the attributes of a person's driver's license, home address, credit card. They might simply hold a verified assertion that a person is over 21 years of age. Contexts may also be about the user's friends and colleagues.
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−
 
+
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The user can choose to collect sets of these cards (partial identities) into a ''persona-set''. For example the user could group together a home address card, an AMEX credit card, a proof of age-over-21 and a card holding a set of "shopping friends" into an "eCommerce" persona. This is done by tagging each of these cards with the "eCommerce" label. When the user goes to a new eCommerce site, it can "project" (either by form filling or something more sophisticated!) the minimal set of required attributes from these "eCommerce" cards to the site without tedious data entry.
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−
 
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If the user desires, they can give a semi-permanent (revocable) permission to the relying site, app or system to be able to access an approved set of attributes. The user can basically send a "pointer" to these cards to the relying site. The relying site can dereference the pointer and read (and in some cases update) selected attributes.
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−
 
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The [[Persona Data Model 2.0]] mentioned above builds on the [[Higgins Data Model 2.0]] which defines a small set of fairly abstract attributes.
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=== Naming: Entity and Context Ids ===
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−
@@@TODO: describe the notion of globally unique graph of UDIs; the fact that in Higgins 2.0 we are only allowing UDIs to be Linked Data URIs; the fact that there will be TWO separate APIs that clients can be built on; the first API provides data access to the local contents of the ADS; the second API provides access to the open web of data defined by (Linked Data) UDIs; the fact that the entire contents of the ADS can be treated as a cache of a (tiny) portion of the UDI web of data; need to describe the component that maintains the map from the URI of the external information resource vs. the URI of its data description (these are the WRONG terms) and a time-to-live; refresh algorithms; etc.
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[[Category:Higgins 2]]
 
[[Category:Higgins 2]]

Latest revision as of 12:12, 4 January 2012

{{#eclipseproject:technology.higgins|eclipse_custom_style.css}}
Higgins.funnell.PNG

This document describes the top level Higgins 2.0 PDS components under active development. Here are the bugzilla component names:

  • H2-Client
  • H2-HBX
  • H2-PDS
  • H2-PDS Support
  • H2-ADS
  • H2-Data Model

Front End

There are two front end components: a web client, and a browser extension.

Higgins client 2.0.222.png

Client

The client is written in HTML and JavaScript and runs in any desktop browser (e.g. IE, FF, Safari, Chrome). In the future we also plan to make it display well on the limited screen size of smartphone mobile browser (e.g. iPhone, Android, etc.).

HBX

The Higgins browser extension makes possible functionality like browser-side integration with other web APIs and sites, scraping and form filling.

  • .chrome.bx - Chrome-only Higgins Browser Extension
  • .js.pds.cde - Connection Data Engine 1. Loads CDE1-compatible JSON Scripts (See App-data vocabulary) from templates and uses them to implement auto-login, auto-registration, form filling, etc.
  • .js.pds.cde2 - Connection Data Engine 2. Loads CDE2-compatible JSON Scripts (See App-data vocabulary) from templates and uses them to implement auto-login, auto-registration, form filling, etc.
  • .js.pds.connector.common

Functionality

Browser interactions

When the user's browser lands on a new webpage it:

  • Determines if the current PDS user is currently logged in.
    • This requires there be a template for the current site (domain) and that it contains an IsLoggedIn script
    • It is possible that a different PDS user (not the current PDS user) is currently logged in.
  • If the user is not logged in then
    • It automatically logs the user in (or should it just auto-fill in the userid/password and wait for the user to click?)
  • Looks for every appropriate form on the page
    • Automatically fills in each form as best it can -- this requires there be a template for the current site (domain) and that it contains a Fill script for this form (is there one fill script container with lots of per-form-submit-URL scripts? Or are there lots of Fill scripts each with an for-this-form-submit-URL attribute?
  • Waits for the user to submit a form (including a login form with or without a custom template?)
    • Scrapes the form submit data and writes it into the PDS. If it is a login form then it writes into the proxy object, else the corresponding context
Web client interactions

When the user opens a connection editor page (e.g. to edit the nytimes.com connection):

  • The BX immediately starts a background process to login and scrape the latest data values from the site.
    • This is necessary because the user may have gone to the site directly (not using the PDS) and updated data values. A progress bar that shows this background process.
  • If the user edits an attribute it writes the updated attribute value to the site.
    • If this "write" operation happens before the background sync completes, there is some possibility for sync collisions and and confusion.

Back End Components

There are three back end components mostly written in Java and running in the cloud (e.g. Amazon AWS):

  • PDS
  • PDS Support
  • ADS
Higgins server 2.0.230.png

PDS

PDS Subcomponents:

  • .pds.usermanager.ws - simple web service to manage user accounts, change password, etc.

PDS Support

PDS Support Subcomponents:

  • .pds.client - wrapper around Open Anzo java client

Attribute Data Storage

ADS Subcomponents:

  • PLANNED: .ads.ld - Linked Data endpoint

Data Model

Data attributes whether created by the user or imported from an external service are stored in a common data model. This allows them to be consistently displayed to, and in some cases edited by, the user irrespective of its original source. We call this the Persona Data Model 2.0.

Retrieved from "https://wiki.eclipse.org/index.php?title=PDS_Architecture&oldid=283656"

This page was last modified 12:12, 4 January 2012 by Paul Trevithick. Based on work by Tom Carroll.

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