Ensemble 10.3 Released – Overview Demo

Tom Quigley just published an excellent viewlet on the brand new Ensemble 10.3. His demo highlights how straight forward it is to inject content into any web application.

Here is a brief summary of Ensemble:

Ensemble is a reverse proxy through which end users view Web applications. For example, a customer might control access to and collect analytics on their wiki by proxying it through Ensemble. They might also use Ensemble to inject existing portlets or widgets into new Web applications.

When injecting content into new applications, Ensemble users can choose between JavaScript Injection, which is widely useable but requires changes to the application source code, or Web Injection, which allows source code to remain untouched. Web Injection can also be used to tweak styles, fix JavaScript collisions, and more.

Fusion Middleware Keynote by Thomas Kurian

In today’s keynote Thomas gave a detailed overview about Oracle’s middleware stack. From the Enterprise 2.0 space he highlighted the integration between WebCenter, Universal Content Management, and Beehive.

If you missed the session, you can access the recorded presentation from the OpenWorld Keynote page on OTN.

Oracle JDeveloper 11g Announced

In the Developer Keynote Ted Farrell announced Oracle JDeveloper 11g and ADF 11g. The release date is October 1. While this release doesn’t contain full SOA and WebCenter capabilities, the production version of JDeveloper and ADF allows you to get started with actual development. As the SOA and WebCenter pieces become available you can easily add them to your ADF applications.

From the Demo Pods: Live Video Integration with WebCenter Spaces

Our WebCenter Spaces demo pod has a web cam attached to and demonstrates how you can integrate live video chats into your web applications. We use a solution provided by TokBox.

The photo below features two WebCenter product managers: Christian Hauser and Sanjay Khanna. Come to the demo pod and meet them, see other excitng capabilities WebCenter Spaces can provide, including threaded discussions, blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, and linking.

ADF Methodology – Unconference Session

Unconference sessions provide yet another great way to hear/learn from experts, as well as to contribute to share your experience. Here is the list of unconference sessions at this year’s OpenWorld.

The keeps changing and growing, but from today’s snapshot the ADF Methodology and the Enterprise 2.0 ones sound really interesting.

When and Where?

Moscone West 3rd Floor:
Monday, Sep 22, Overlook I: Overlook I: Enterprise 2.0: What is is, and how you’ll fail. (by Brian “Bex” Huff)
Wednesday, Sep 24, Overlook I: ADF Methodology Workgroup (Lead: Chris Muir)

Competitors, FUD, and the Future

The other day, Vince Casarez, Vice President for Product Management, responsible for the portal products at Oracle, published a post on the official WebCenter blog, http://blogs.oracle.com/webcenter. In the note, titled You can tell how worried a competitor is by how much FUD they spread… Vince makes it clear what we mean by developing and supporting the acquired portal products for at least another 9 years. Then, he goes into details about the products in our Enterprise 2.0 family.

If you’re a WebLogic Portal, Aqualogic User Interaction (WebCenter Interaction), or Oracle Portal customer, this post is for you. Here’s an excerpt:

Let me start here. Oracle has clearly stated that Oracle Portal, Oracle WebLogic Portal, and Oracle WebCenter Interaction & Collaboration (formerly ALUI) will continue to be developed and supported for at the MINIMUM of 9 years. This means that there will be both major and minor releases of these products going forward. And when we get close to this 9 year time horizon, as we do for every product, we’ll survey the customers and extend the time if that’s their recommendation.

And again, if you’re fortunate enough and you’re coming to Oracle OpenWorld to San Francisco next week, you can talk to Vince as well as the experts of each of these products directly.

Build the Coolest WebCenter Application Ever – in 60 Minutes

Before Oracle OpenWorld 2008 kicks off in a week’s time in San Francisco, I plan to post a couple of highlights from the WebCenter space. This is the first one in the series.

At a conference of this size, one of the toughest challenges is how to best spend your time, what is really worth attending. My number 1 pick is hands down the WebCenter hands-on session. You get a chance to see and touch the product, experience it first hand, and last but not least get a chance to talk to people who build it: you can meet the WebCenter curriculum team.

When and Where?

Sunday, September 21, 2:30pm-3:30pm, Marriott, Golden Gate C1
Tuesday, September 23, 11:30am-12:30pm, Marriott, Golden Gate C1
Tuesday, September 23, 5:30pm-6:30pm, Marriott, Golden Gate C1

So – what is this year’s hands-on all about? It’s a brand new application built especially for the OOW WebCenter hands-on session that has one key objective: to impress you in less than an hour. The scenario is very original, quote from the hands-on document:

El Piju – Company Profile: Natural building is all about achieving sustainability through the use of minimally-processed, plentiful, and renewable resources as well as recycled or salvaged materials that produce healthy living environments. El Piju is your company for environmentally sensitive design and expert guidance on locating the resources you need to construct your sustainable home for the 21st century. What is your vision for your home or office? Let our team of ecologists, architects, and engineers help you make that vision a reality.
The El Piju application provides you with information about the company’s use of natural building materials and related projects. Once authenticated, you can select any of the construction materials used by El Piju, specifically, adobe, cob, cordwood, rammed earth, or straw bale, and access information about it. Search for articles, photographs, and other resources for that natural building material. Do you have a technical question or simply want to read what others have to say? El Piju’s site includes a discussion forum for each construction type. The application also includes a portlet that displays pictures with captions to provide visual examples of each building material. Browse through the pictures in the portlet by clicking the thumbnails.

How cool is this!

From a technical perspective, here are the topics covered in the hands-on session:

• Documents
• Discussions
• Tags
• Links
• Search
• Oracle Composer
• Portlets
• Inter-component communication

And last, but not least, the screen shot of the application.

And if you’re looking for a special mission, try to find out the story behind the company’s name.

Dedicated Blog for OpenWorld Visitors

If you’re coming to San Francisco to attend Oracle OpenWorld in a couple of weeks, the blog you definitely want to check out is the official blog of all things Oracle OpenWorld. It’s an excellent collection of very useful information from technical bloggers to exploring and tablehopping in San Francisco.

Portal Related Sessions at Oracle OpenWorld 2008 in San Francisco

I created a simple Google Calendar containing the sessions from this year’s Oracle OpenWorld that are related to the Portal, Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 technology space. You can use your own RSS reader, iCal, or simply the native HTML calendar of google.

Use the Content Catalog to find other sessions that are of interest to you.

Sunday, September 21

11:45am S299324: Sanjay: Transform Your Siebel Data with Web 2.0: Use Oracle WebCenter to Create a True Next-Generation Interface

11:45am S299504: Jim, Maiko, Brian: Build the Next Generation of Composite Applications with Oracle WebCenter, SOA, and Enterprise 2.0

2:30pm S299712: Hands-on Lab: Oracle WebCenter Suite–Enterprise 2.0 at Your Fingertips

2:30pm S300200: Eric: Oracle Fusion Middleware: A Set of Tools for Your Enterprise

4:00pm S301162: Eric: Building Very Rich Portals with Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g

Monday, September 22

11:30am S299317: Rahul: Oracle WebCenter and Beyond: Oracle’s Vision, Strategy, and Road Map for User Interaction

11:30am S301790: Eric: Oracle Portal Products (Oracle Portal, Oracle WebCenter Suite, and Products from Stellent and BEA): Which One Should You Use?

1:00pm S298738: Lynn, Jennifer: The Oracle Fusion Development Platform

2:30pm S299492: George, Christina: A Web 2.0 Developer’s Dream Realized: Ultimate Component Reusability

4:00pm S298501: Josh: Guide to the Oracle Portal Road Map for Oracle WebLogic Portal Customers

5:30pm S298423: Terry Olkin: Introducing Oracle Beehive

5:30pm S298498: Ajay: Road Map and Future Directions for BEA AquaLogic User Interaction Customers

Tuesday, September 23

9:00am S298499: Skip, Peter Laird: Deploying a Web-Oriented Architecture with Oracle WebCenter, Oracle WebLogic Portal, and Oracle WebCenter Interaction

11:30am S298497: Bob Fraser: No REST for the Weary: REST APIs and the Activity Stream

11:30am S299712: Hands-on Lab: Oracle WebCenter Suite–Enterprise 2.0 at Your Fingertips

1:00pm S298495: The Art of the Mash: Oracle Ensemble and New Integration Patterns

5:30pm S299712: Hands-on Lab: Oracle WebCenter Suite–Enterprise 2.0 at Your Fingertips

Wednesday, September 24

9:00am ADF methodology unconference

9:00am S299480: George, Maiko: Build Composite Applications Your End Users Will Actually Use

11:30am S299325: Manish: Web 2.0 in the Enterprise: Balancing Participation and Security

1:00pm S297844: Vince, Billy Cripe: Reshaping Your Business with Web 2.0

1:00pm S298495: Tom Quigley: The Art of the Mash: Oracle Ensemble and New Integration Patterns

1:00pm S299323: Manish: Oracle Applications Unlimited and Web 2.0: You Can Have It Now

1:00pm S300017: Eric: Building Very Rich Portals with Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g (IOUG)

5:00pm S299506: Revathy, Kundan: Oracle Composer Puts Your Users in the Driver’s Seat with Multilayered Customizations

Thursday, September 25

9:00am S299489: Christian: Build an Enterprise 2.0 Social Network with Oracle WebCenter

9:00am S299563: Rashmi: Integrating Oracle Business Intelligence Suite Enterprise Edition Plus with Your Applications

9:00am S300478: Duncan, Sten Vesterli: Choose Your Weapon: An Overview of Oracle Development Tools

10:30am S298639: Ann Fellman: Enterprise 2.0: Best Practices for Winning Management Acceptance and Driving User Adoption

12:00pm S299510: Skip: Increase Business Agility: Give Your Users the Web 2.0 Services They Need Now

1:30pm S298403: Padmaprabodh Ambale: Opening Up Oracle Application Framework Applications Through Web Services and Portlets

1:30pm S298496: Steve Hamrick: Do-It-Yourself IT: Oracle WebCenter Powers the User-Driven Workplace

1:30pm S298500: Marcus: Oracle Weblogic Portal: Using the WSRP Standard to Interoperate and Federate Content and User Interfaces

3:00pm S298502: Eddie: Give Users What They Want: Web-Based Data Access and Rich Internet Applications

Oracle Portal 11g New Features

We’re about to post the updated Oracle Portal Statement of Direction on the Oracle Portal page on OTN. Oracle Portal 11g is part of Fusion Middleware 11g, and will be released at the same time, currently scheduled for the first half of calendar year 2009. Here is the summary of the planned new features in the 11g version:

• Oracle Portal 11g will be integrated with WebLogic Server.
• Extend support for open industry standards:
  • WSRP 2.0 (Web Services for Remote Portlets)
  • JSR 301 (Portlet Bridge for JavaServer Faces)
    • Build new portlets with JSF
    • Turn JSF pages and oracle ADF task flows into standards-based portlets
    • Bring existing JSF applications into Oracle Portal 11g
    • Available with Oracle WebCenter Suite
• Oracle Portal will be able to consume the Enterprise 2.0 services offered by Oracle WebCenter. These services include: Discussions, Wikis, Search, Presence, Instant Messaging, Email, and Document Library.
• Content integration
  • Expose content from 3rd party document management systems in Oracle Portal via portlets (using WSRP 2.0 and JSR 301).
  • Build portlets in JDeveloper that utilize JCR 1.0 (JSR 170) adapters to connect to content management systems.
  • Available adapters (with Oracle WebCenter Suite): Oracle Universal Content Management, Oracle Content DB, Oracle Portal, and file system. Additional adapters (Documentum, SharePoint, Lotus Domino) are available from our partners.
• Extend Core Portal Functionality
  • Omniportlet enhancements, including enhanced support for complex Web Services.
  • BPEL-based process content routing & approval
  • Support for new Document Type Declarations: HTML 4.01 Strict, XHTML 1.0 Transitional, and XHTML 1.0 Strict
• Streamline management and administration
  • Performance metrics available in Enterprise Manager interface
  • Improved Lifecycle Support — Export/Import
• Simplify and extend security
• Deeper integration with Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g