OpenSocial Container: Apache Shindig

Apache Shindig is an open source project that helps you start hosting OpenSocial apps quickly by providing the code to render gadgets, proxy requests, and handle REST and RPC requests. On the Apache Shindig website you'll find information on how to checkout the source and build your own Shindig server as well as how to contribute to the Shindig project. Apache Shindig's goal is to allow new sites to start hosting social apps in under an hour's worth of work.

• Apache Shindig
• Overview
• Getting Started

Shindig Container

Apache Shindig is a container for hosting social application consisting of four parts:

• Gadget Container JavaScript
  Core JavaScript foundation for general gadget functionality (read more about gadget functionality). This JavaScript manages security, communication, UI layout, and feature extensions, such as the OpenSocial API.
• Gadget Rendering Server
  Used to render the gadget XML into JavaScript and HTML for the container to expose via the container JavaScript.
• OpenSocial Container JavaScript
  JavaScript environment that sits on top of the Gadget Container JavaScript and provides OpenSocial specific functionality (profiles, friends, activities, data store).
• OpenSocial Data Server
  An implementation of the server interface to container-specific information, including the OpenSocial REST APIs, with clear extension points so others can connect it to their own back ends.
   

Shindig Components Overview

Server Side

• Persistent Data Loading Mechanism.
• Gadget Rendering Infrastructure.
• OpenSocial server side implementation.

Client Side

• Gadget container (gadget.js), fully OpenSocial gadget compliant.
• OpenSocial container.
• JSON, Restful container and Caja support.

Reference Implementation

Apache Shindig is the reference implementation of OpenSocial API specifications, versions 0.8.x and 0.9.x, a standard set of Social Network APIs which includes:

• Profiles
• Relationships
• Activities
• Shared applications
• Authentication
• Authorization

OCLC is currently using the Apache Shindig 3.0 implementation for the WorldShare Platform.