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Re: [wsrp-interfaces] Re: [wsia][wsrp][wsrp-wsia joint interfaces]:Analternative

From
Michael Freedman <>
Date
2002-06-17T18:50:58+00:00
ID
Thread
Re: [wsrp-interfaces] Re: [wsia][wsrp][wsrp-wsia joint interfaces]:Analternative
Jeff,

  A couple of changes/additions to represent my point of view
-- i.e. a move away from terminology that represents producer things as
objects and towards representing terminology as references [from the perspective
of the consumer]:

client = an end user

consumer = an intemediary responsible for the aggregation
and control of heterogeneous producer services, responsible for the interaction
between the client and the producer services placed on the clients application
interface.

producer = a container of producer services.  
the WSIA/WSRP compliant service.  As consumers are anticipated to
be aggregators, a producer represents 1 or more entity types.

producer service = the WSIA/WSRP compliant service
( aka. portlet )

entity type = a specific identifyable consumable function
of a producer.  Producers publish  its entity types to consumers. 
Consumers reference entity types to address its producer requests.

entity = a consumers particular usage of an entity type. 
Consumers are anticipated to be aggregators, including aggregating multiple
distinct instances or producer's entity type.  The entity represents
each of these uses.  From a producer perspective, the entity identifies
a particular consumer usage.  Producers will typically use this ID
as a key to per usage state. 

reference:  A reference is an ID passed from the
consumer to the producer to identify something known to consumer but maintained
by the producer.

persistence reference:  A reference to persistent
state managed by the producer.  Typically, a consumer will maintain
a persistence reference for entities.

conversation reference:  A conversation reference
is an ID that represents a particular (type of) conversation between the
consumer and the producer.  There are 4 converstation IDs:  consumer
to producer (application), thread of a consumer to a producer (session),
consumer to an entity (entity), and thread of a consumer to an entity (entity
session).

application reference:  A conversation between a
consumer and a producer.  This conversation spans all consumer runtime
use and all producer entities of this consumer.  For convenience [in
making this unique], this ID is derived from the consumerID created by
the producer during regristration.

session reference:  A subconversation within an application
conversation between a consumer and a producer.  As such it is a shared
scope between all entities within a given producer that a consumer chooses
to group together.  This can be all the entities of the producer,
a subset of entities, and even at the extreme one session per entity. 
Typically, a consumer/producer sessions scope will be tied to a session
maintained between the client and the consumer.

entity reference:  A conversation between a consumer
and a particular instance of an entity [type].

entity session reference:  A conversation within
a session with a particular instance of an entity [type]

 

 

template = a producer service, with initial settings
specified

entity = an instance of a producer service ( potentially
based on a template )

transient entity = an instance of a producer service

persistent entity = an instance of a producer
service + persistent data

session scope = is a shared scope between all
entities within a [given] producer that a consumer chooses to group together. 
This can be all the entities of the producer, a subset of entities, and
even at the extreme one session per entity.  [Typically, a consumer/producer
sessions scope will be tied to a session maintained between the client
and the consumer.]

Jeff Broberg wrote:
 

Mike -

I agree.  The current model, while clearly understood
by many, I believe is being interpreted in slightly different ways, enough
so, to be causing all the confusion and concern you mentiono.  I still
believe a very high level diagram of the relationships between the client
- consumer - producer would be extremely beneficial.  I am not sure
how to draw that, as each conference call, the diagram I draw is different
from the one before.  So for me, to get this all straight, I quess
it comes down to definitions.  And from those definitions we can determine
relationships, etc.  So, I took the liberty of using some of the statements
that you made in your email, to see if they are agreed upon or not. 
This will also be helping for the definitions in the glossary.  So
here goes:

client = an end user

consumer = an intemediary responsible for the aggregation
and control of heterogeneous producer services, responsible for the interaction
between the client and the producer services placed on the clients application
interface.

producer = a container of producer services

producer service = the WSIA/WSRP compliant service ( aka.
portlet )

template = a producer service, with initial settings specified

entity = an instance of a producer service ( potentially
based on a template )

transient entity = an instance of a producer service

persistent entity = an instance of a producer service
+ persistent data

session scope = is a shared scope between all entities
within a producer that a consumer chooses to group together.  This
can be all the entities of the producer, a subset of entities, and even
at the extreme one session per entity. While,
I know some of the definitions are terse, I am trying to see if the relationships
are correct.  Because half the battle during these discussions is
trying to understand what everyone is saying, especially when we are all
working off of various interpretations of what the terms actually mean. 
So, please, let me know, where my interpretation is wrong, and hopefully
from these definitions, the relationships will be evident, and our efforts
can proceed.jeff

-----Original Message-----

From: Michael Freedman [mailto:]

Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 9:59 PM

To: wsia; WSRP; ;



Subject: [wsrp-interfaces] Re: [wsia][wsrp][wsrp-wsia
joint interfaces]:

An alternative

 

I understood from the draft that a persistent entity referred
to "remote portlet logic" + persistent data.   But does persistent
entity also refer to

a particular consumer reference of such a thing? 
My read of the spec was it did not -- that a transient entity did this. 
I.e. I want to be able to

have 2 portlets in a consumer that share the same persistence
record.  I have noticed that transient enitites (and objects in general)
seem to be

leading to a lot of confusion in our expert group. 
My proposal is an attempt to look at our problem from a different perspective
to see if we end up

with something less confusing to ourselves and then hopefully
to others.  So as I e-mailed in another message, I suggest we look
at things less like

objects and more as scopes (references).

Furthermore I wasn't trying to say that one model has
fewer references then another.  You are correct that the number of
references are the same.

The difference is the number of reference that are maintained/managed. 
When the consumer (is a portal) supplies the references, these references

will likely be able to be (er)constructed vs. maintained
in some sort of key map table.  Likewise, the producer will only maintain
those keys that

are pertinent to it.  I.e. if there is no transient
state it merely ignores the reference vs. had to figure out it should manufacture
a constant

dummy one for the consumer.

Lastly, I think we are on the same page regarding sessions. 
I agree that the session scope is a shared scope between all entities within
a producer

that a consumer chooses to group together.  This
can be all the entities of the producer, a subset of entities, and even
at the extreme one session

per entity.

In the end, my proposal is just a concrete attempt at
asking ourselves should we look at the problem a little differently since
the current model

continues to generate confusion and concern?  At
the least, I hope that looking at this problem from another perspective
allows us to clarify/improve

the current draft.  However, I am also open to going
down this/a different path if we feel like the end result is simpler or
less confusing.

     -Mike-

 

 

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