DSpace ClientUI built on RESTful API - GSoC 2011

Summary

Project Requirements

1. Client run interface
2. Attractive look and feel
3. Easy to customize

Features

User Documentation

1. Directory Structure

   1. index.html

      • initialization page for loading all necessary client scripts + basic document layout

   2. README

   3. ui/

      • top level folder containing interface resources

      1. ui/css/

         • styles and themes directory (default theme is redmond; other themes provided are smoothness and ui-lightness; more themes may be downloaded from http://jqueryui.com/themeroller/)
         1. ui/css/default.css (global styles)
         2. ui/css/jquery.css (jquery styles)
         3. ui/css/restclient-styles.css (RESTClient styles unified from dev/; see dev/ directory description for information on unification)

      2. ui/img/

         • images directory

      3. ui/js/

         • scripts directory
         1. ui/js/jquery-1.6.1.min.js (jQuery)
         2. ui/js/jquery-ui-1.8.13.min.js (jQuery UI)
         3. ui/js/jquery.tmpl.min.js (jQuery Templates)
         4. ui/js/jquery-firespark.js (jQuery FireSpark)
         5. ui/js/ckeditor/ (CKEditor directory)
         6. ui/js/restclient-jquery.js (RESTClient Extensions unified from dev/)
         7. ui/js/restclient-templates.js (RESTClient Templates unified from dev/)

   4. dev/

      • top level folder containing developer resources

      1. dev/styles/

         • individual styles directory (will be unified to ui/css/restclient-styles.css during build)
         1. dev/styles/home.css
         2. dev/styles/layout.css
         3. dev/styles/all-communities.css
         4. dev/styles/all-collections.css
         5. dev/styles/all-items.css
         6. dev/styles/all-users.css
         7. dev/styles/all-groups.css
         8. dev/styles/all-stats.css
         9. dev/styles/community.css
         10. dev/styles/collection.css
         11. dev/styles/item.css
         12. dev/styles/user.css

      2. dev/templates/

         • individual templates directory (will be unified to ui/js/restclient-templates.js during build)
         1. dev/templates/Account.js
         2. dev/templates/Browse.js
         3. dev/templates/Login.js
         4. dev/templates/AllCommunities.js
         5. dev/templates/AllCollections.js
         6. dev/templates/AllItems.js
         7. dev/templates/AllUsers.js
         8. dev/templates/AllGroups.js
         9. dev/templates/AllStats.js
         10. dev/templates/Community.js
         11. dev/templates/Collection.js
         12. dev/templates/Item.js
         13. dev/templates/User.js
         14. dev/templates/Group.js
         15. dev/templates/CommunityEdit.js
         16. dev/templates/CollectionEdit.js
         17. dev/templates/CommunityDelete.js

Customizations

Developer Documentation

Screenshots

Functional Specifications

1. Features to be supported
   1. Respository Browsing
   2. Repository Manipulation
   3. Content Searching
   4. Statistics
   5. Administration
2. Customizations to be supported
   1. Stylesheets (CSS)
   2. Layout
   3. Themes
   4. Internationalization

Project Timeline

Before May 24

1. Obtain access to :
   • Wiki
   • Project repository
2. Download, build and install local DSpace instance
3. Download, build and install DSpace REST module
4. Test and verify the installation
5. Go through the functionality of DSpace and DSpace REST API
6. Compare possible JavaScript UI frameworks -- Ext JS preferred

May 25 - June 15

1. Get familiar with DSpace REST API
   1. collections, communities, items and bitstreams
      • create
      • view
      • edit
      • delete
   2. users and groups
      • view
   3. search
   4. generating statistics

2. Decide the JavaScript Library to be used by discussing with the DSpace community: jQuery [decided by community]

3. Learn the jQuery JavaScript Library
   • Selectors
   • Actions and Methods
   • Events
   • UI Widgets
4. Design client run FireSpark framework supporting JavaScript UI for RESTful (JSON) services
5. Design generic Services and Workflows in FireSpark
6. Plan these extensions for RestClient
   • RESTUI.Resource.Load Workflow
   • RESTUI.Resource.Edit Workflow
   • RESTUI.Resource.Delete Workflow
   • ParseItemMetadata helper

June 15 - July 10

1. Implement extensions (Services and Workflows) to FireSpark in RESTClient to provide support for :
   1. Repository Browsing
      • Communities
        • All
        • Single
        • Subcommunities
        • Recent Submissions
        • Sort
      • Collections
        • All
        • Single
        • Sort
      • Items
        • All
        • Single
        • Read Metadata
      • Bitstreams
        • Download

July 11 - July 15

1. GSoC Mid Term Evaluations

July 15 - July 31

1. Implement extensions (Services and Workflows) to FireSpark in RESTClient to provide support for :
   1. Repository Manupulation
      • Communities
        • Edit
        • Delete
      • Collections
        • Edit
   2. Administration
      • Users
        • Login
        • Logout
        • All
        • Single
      • Groups
        • All
        • Single
   3. Content Searching
   4. Statistics
      • Reports (simple)
      • Charts and Visualization (simple)

August 1 - August 15

1. Enhancing the look and feel
2. Look into and improve scope for customizations
3. Improve the architecture of RESTClient and FireSpark
4. Testing
5. Complete Documentation
6. Final Improvements