http://ofbiz.116.s1.nabble.com/Loading-standard-web-application-tp4705628p4705695.html
Should we not rather exchange in the Jira or at least put a reference to this thread for easier future recall of history?
> Hi James, hi Taher,
>
> in general, I think it's helpful to have the possibility to load applications the "Tomcat way". If you want to extend functionality by dropping a
> third party WAR without setting up another Servlet container it would be possible with this change. The patch seems to be lightweight and if there
> are no unwanted side effects, why not add it?
>
> It's much easier to do it this way instead of making OFBiz ready to be deployed in any servlet container (I guess).
>
> Best regards,
>
> Michael
>
>
> Am 07.05.17 um 09:23 schrieb Taher Alkhateeb:
>> Hi James,
>>
>> Is it correct to assume that the purpose of this solution is to allow you
>> to login to OFBiz and other systems using a unified account? If the answer
>> is yes, then doesn't it seem a little strange to have that service embedded
>> inside OFBiz when it is serving other accounts of other systems?
>>
>> Sorry for the many questions :) just trying to wrap my ahead around your
>> vision on this.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Taher
>>
>> On Sun, May 7, 2017 at 9:44 AM, James Yong <
[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Taher,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the review.
>>>
>>> My use case is to run CAS SSO on OFBiz, to avoid another Tomcat instance.
>>> But I won't commit the patch if others doesn't need it.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> James Yong
>>>
>>> PS: I can run standard web application in earlier OFBiz versions.
>>>
>>> On 2017-05-07 14:09 (+0800), Taher Alkhateeb <
[hidden email]>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Hi James,
>>>>
>>>> I saw the patch and it seems to be in proper order.
>>>>
>>>> However, the issue still remains of why and what. Your patch is
>>> essentially
>>>> turning OFBiz into a partial web server by calling the "addWebapp()"
>>>> method. You want to do that so you can put an external web application
>>>> inside the code base to run side-by-side with OFBiz.
>>>>
>>>> What I understand from this is that you want to have two webapps running
>>>> together, and then communicating with each other over the wire. In other
>>>> words, we have almost no integration between the two applications.
>>>>
>>>> So I will try to ask this question in reverse: Why do you want to run a
>>>> standard Tomcat webapp inside OFBiz? What do you want to "share"? And
>>> also,
>>>> what is forcing to take the route of an independent webapp as opposed to
>>> an
>>>> integration solution on the API level?
>>>>
>>>> On Sat, May 6, 2017 at 7:17 PM, James Yong <
[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Created a JIRA issue and upload a patch at
>>>>>
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/OFBIZ-9347>>>>>
>>>>> On 2017-05-06 19:27 (+0800), "James Yong"<
[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>>> Thanks Taher.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Those are the big pictures. For now, need to work on the smaller
>>> issues.
>>>>>> So I will start with the patch for the loading of standard web
>>>>> application.
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> James Yong
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2017-05-06 18:48 (+0800), Taher Alkhateeb <
>>>
[hidden email]>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>> Hi James,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I guess we can start discussing this at a more detailed level once
>>> you
>>>>> have
>>>>>>> a PoC or more elaborate exploration of the exact "why" and "how".
>>> All
>>>>> good
>>>>>>> initiatives !
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Taher Alkhateeb
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Sat, May 6, 2017 at 7:41 AM, James Yong <
[hidden email]>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>> Hi Taher,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Thank you also for the thoughts shared in the 'Loading standard
>>> web
>>>>>>>> application' and opening the discussion.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Instead of converting OFBiz fully into a single web application,
>>> i
>>>>> suggest
>>>>>>>> we can have build functions:
>>>>>>>> 1. to compile OFBiz into a WAR. This build-WAR function is
>>> optional
>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> used only when the developer needs to deploy OFBiz WAR in a
>>> separate
>>>>>>>> Servlet Container. Only the necessary files will be added to the
>>> WAR
>>>>> file.
>>>>>>>> 2. For deployment to different SIT / UAT / Production
>>> environment.
>>>>>>>> 3. Accessed through Screens with OFBiz standalone running. i am
>>>>> thinking
>>>>>>>> of a studio plugin but will discuss it another time.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I haven't looked at Birt but i guess it can be embedded into an
>>>>> existing
>>>>>>>> web application. Some apps like CAS SSO doesn't allow embedding
>>> out
>>>>> of the
>>>>>>>> box and has to be run as a standard web application.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> When using OFBiz WAR, any standard web applications dependency
>>> can be
>>>>>>>> deployed alongside. So should be no problem to support the
>>> loading of
>>>>>>>> standard web application in the plugins in OFBiz standalone.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> There should also be no impact if we add Tomcat SSO now. When
>>>>> deployed as
>>>>>>>> OFBiz WAR, Tomcat SSO will be irrelevant. Any SSO requirements
>>> will
>>>>> be
>>>>>>>> specific to the J2EE container or via another standard web
>>>>> application like
>>>>>>>> CAS SSO. But adding Tomcat SSO to OFBiz standalone, we can solve
>>> the
>>>>>>>> problems listed in
https://issues.apache.org/>>> jira/browse/OFBIZ-6963
>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>> James Yong
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 2017-05-06 09:37 (+0800), Taher Alkhateeb <
>>>>>
[hidden email]>
>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>> Hmmm, I'm not sure, but on first glance I'm not sure the best
>>> way
>>>>> to
>>>>>>>>> integrate is by dropping in a war file? Maybe a more robust
>>>>> solution is
>>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>>>> have an integration with the engine on the API level and
>>>>> instantiate it
>>>>>>>>> from within OFBiz within its own control servlet. For example,
>>>>> take a
>>>>>>>> look
>>>>>>>>> at how BIRT is deployed.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> So yeah my proposal is more work, but a cleaner integration
>>>>> solution
>>>>>>>> IMHO.
>>>>>>>>> On Fri, May 5, 2017 at 8:06 PM, James Yong <
>>>
[hidden email]>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> Hi Taher,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I am trying to develop an OFBiz plugin that consists of
>>>>>>>>>> a) Camunda workflow engine (published as a WAR); and
>>>>>>>>>> b) OFBiz web app that make use of the workflow engine.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Allowing OFBiz to load standard web applications will allow
>>> me to
>>>>>>>> achieve
>>>>>>>>>> the above setup using only 1 plugin, making things easy for
>>>>> end-users.
>>>>>>>> They
>>>>>>>>>> only need to download that plugin, and not worry about
>>> deploying
>>>>> the
>>>>>>>>>> Camunda workflow engine (published as a WAR) on his/her own,
>>> as
>>>>> the WAR
>>>>>>>>>> file can be downloaded automatically via gradle script during
>>>>> OFBiz
>>>>>>>>>> starting up.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>>> James Yong
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On 2017-05-05 18:07 (+0800), Taher Alkhateeb <
>>>>>>>>
[hidden email]>
>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>> This topic is very much linked to the previous thread that
>>> you
>>>>>>>> started
>>>>>>>>>>> earleri "Tomcat SSO" so they might as well be one topic. I
>>>>> think I
>>>>>>>>>> answered
>>>>>>>>>>> most stuff in that thread.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> However, I would add that in my opinion, maybe it would be
>>>>> simpler
>>>>>>>> if we
>>>>>>>>>>> avoid implementing it in this fashion (ofbiz webapp +
>>> standard
>>>>>>>> webapp)
>>>>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>>>>>> instead treat all of OFBiz as a single webapp by
>>> refactoring
>>>>> the
>>>>>>>> catalina
>>>>>>>>>>> container. Having two ways of doing the same thing is
>>> perhaps
>>>>> an
>>>>>>>> added
>>>>>>>>>>> complexity and more cognitive load on people for no added
>>>>> value that
>>>>>>>> I
>>>>>>>>>> can
>>>>>>>>>>> think of. Unifying, on the other hand, would be a huge
>>> added
>>>>> value
>>>>>>>> IMO.
>>>>>>>>>>> My 2 cents .. and thank you for bringing up this discussion
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> On Fri, May 5, 2017 at 11:35 AM, James Yong <
>>>>>
[hidden email]>
>>>>>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> I am looking into allowing OFBiz to load standard web
>>>>> application
>>>>>>>> where
>>>>>>>>>>>> there is no controller.xml and the jar files residing in
>>>>>>>> web-inf/lib
>>>>>>>>>> folder.
>>>>>>>>>>>> Proposing to add an attribute named 'type' to the
>>> 'webapp'
>>>>> tag at
>>>>>>>>>>>> ofbiz-component.xml, i.e.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> <webapp name="myapp"
>>>>>>>>>>>> type="standard" <--------------- new proposed
>>>>> attribute
>>>>>>>>>>>> title="Myapp"
>>>>>>>>>>>> server="myapp-server"
>>>>>>>>>>>> location="webapp/myapp"
>>>>>>>>>>>> mount-point="/myapp"/>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> This new attribute will help to differentiate standard
>>> web
>>>>>>>> applications
>>>>>>>>>>>> from those in OFBiz, and allows Catalina Container to
>>> load
>>>>> them
>>>>>>>>>> accordingly.
>>>>>>>>>>>> When type="standard", will load as standard web
>>> application.
>>>>>>>>>>>> When type is empty, load according to OFBiz way.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Any feedback is welcome.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>>>>> James Yong
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>
>