1. Crash Course in FatWire
For Site Studio Developers
Brian “Bex” Huff
Chief Software Architect

2. Agenda
 WebCenter product comparisons
 Architectural overview
 Overview of site resources
 Site management tools
 High performance and cache strategies
 Security and Workflow
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3. Content, Sites, Or Portal?
 WebCenter Content (UCM / Site Studio)
 WebCenter Sites (Fatwire)
 WebCenter Portal
 When to use which?
• Oracle official direction statement
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4. UCM / Site Studio Architecture
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5. FatWire Architecture
Management Delivery
… …
Mobility Server Mobility Server
Mobile
Community Server Community Server Delivery
WEM
WEM Gadget Server Framework Gadget Server
Satellite
Framework Site
Server
Content Engage Engage Visitors
Managers
Content Server Content Server
Content Optimizer
Content Integration Platform
File …
Documentum SharePoint
System
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6. Typical Four-Tier FatWire System
Development QA / Testing Management Production / Delivery
Contributor
QA
Code Code Content
Code
Code Firewall
Developer Site Visitors
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7. Site Studio Resources
Project File
Sub-template
Section
Page Template File Element
Definition
File
Data Placeholders
File
Elements
Placeholder
Definition File
Region
Region Definition
Template Region File
File
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8. FatWire Resources
Attribute Asset
Asset
Type
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9. Everything is an Asset! Almost...
 MOST of the resources you use are “assets”
• Pages, stylesheets, content, templates, collections, queries
 Assets have “types”
• Image, press releases, copyright
• Like Site Studio “region definitions”
 Assets have “attributes”
• Title, body, image, alt image text, or even other assets!
• Like Site Studio” elements”, or metadata, or related content
 Attributes might have “attribute editors”
• Image picker, date picker, FCK Editor
• Like Site Studio “custom element forms”
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10. Content Assets
 Basic Assets
• Fixed number of attributes, rigidly defined
• Exactly like Site Studio data files
 Flex Assets
• Large / unpredictable number of attributes
• Allows for Faceted-based searches, depending on attributes
• Flex Families allow for parent/child relationships
• Children “inherit” values from parents through Flex Filters
• Can be wildly different asset types
• Slower but more powerful than Basic assets
 Examples
• Images, Press Releases, Content Body
• Thumbnails, HTML Conversions through Flex Filters
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11. Site Design Assets
 Templates
• Contain JSP, used to render asset or navigation into HTML
• Can specific to one type, or multiple, or all asset types
• “Whole Page” templates
 CSElement
• Element code (JSP, XML, HTML) stored in ElementCatalog table
• Utilities not specific to a template, page, or asset
 SiteEntry
• Needed for any page/template/item accessible by URL
• Pointer to the “real” asset
 Query
• Query that returns assets of a specific type (image, press release)
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12. Structure / Container Assets
 Site Plan
• The site hierarchy, including pointers to assets and templates
• Similar to Site Studio Project File
 Collection
• Ordered list of one type of asset
• Like a Site Studio “static list”
 Recommendation
• List of “flex assets” that are recommended based on targeting
 Dimension Set
• Links assets together that are semantically identical (like translations)
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13. Keep your Pages Straight!
 Page
• Result of a HTTP request
• An asset plus a “Whole Page” template
 Pagelet
• A “piece” of a rendered page: a “nested” template (like a placeholder)
• Has an associated asset, and template
• Can be cached independently of the page
 Page Name
• The “Label” used for the page: Home, News, Evets, etc.
 Page Asset
• Data stored in content server
• Contains the data about the page in the site plan
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14. How They Fit Together
 A Site Plan has Pages
• Like how a Site Studio Project File has Sections/Nodes
• Maps to a URL, can be called externally
 Pages have “Whole Page” Templates
• Maps to a URL, thus can be called externally
• Like a SS “Page Template”, used mainly for layout
 Templates have “nested Templates”
• Also called “Pagelets”, or sometimes “Slots”
• Asset / template combination
 Templates convert Asset Attributes into HTML
• Using JSP taglibraries
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15. Rendering Patterns
 Which “best practice” should you use?
 Page Detail
• Simplistic breakdown of site into regions
 Modular Design
• Breakdown further into reusable and cacheable components
 MVC
• For complex sites with lots of user interaction
 GST Site Foundation (GSF)
• A huge collection of best practices and sample code
• In use by many major clients
• Not officially supported... but...
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16. Advanced / Insight / Dash Contributor Interface
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17. WebCenter Sites 11g
 Dash UI deprecated in 11g
 Completely new contribution UI
• Drag-and-drop assets into web pages
• Thumbnails for asset templates
 One place to access:
• Bookmarked site pages
• Workflow tasks
• Checked-out content
• SmartLists for content groupings
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18. 11g Preview
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19. Publishing
 Static Export to Disk
• Render as instant screenshots based on template rules
 Export Assets to XML
• Export tool for archiving/migration
 RealTime Publishing
• Dynamic publishing, requiring workflow approval
• Publish immediately upon approval, or on a schedule
• Dependent assets must ALSO be approved!
• From DEV to CONTRIBUTION to DELIVERY environment
• Similar to Contribution / Consumption in Site Studio
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20. Dynamic Publishing
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21. High-Performance: Strategies
 Whole page caching
• Cache fully files (HTML/CSS/JS) in user’s browser or reverse proxy
 Page fragment caching
• Cache page “chunks” instead of whole pages
 Data caching
• Queries and ResultSets from the database
 Difficult to cache:
• Personalized content
• Frequently changing content
• Highly parameterized content
 Need to plan ahead to make resources “cachable”
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22. High-Performance: Site Studio
 Dynamic Publishing
• Need multiple “Consumption Servers”
• Expensive to scale to server-farm levels
 Static Publishing with SSPU
• Good for web farms, but unfortunately fairly clunky
• Consumes many resources to publish just part of the site
• Lose all benefits of dynamic content: search, forms, etc.
 Dynamic Publishing with Reverse Proxy
• Fairly common compromise
• But... Reverse proxy can only do “whole page” caching
• Personalization can be very complex
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23. Sample High-Performance Site Studio Architecture
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24. High-Performance: FatWire
 ResultSet caching
• Cache SQL queries to database until underlying DB is updated
 Satellite Server
• Like a “smart” reverse proxy
• Caches “pagelets” instead of pages
• Better for pages that change frequently
• Knows when assets and dependent assets are out of date
 inCache
• New in CS 7.6
• Adds dependency information to satellite server
• Knows which parent/child resources also need to be refreshed
• Also caches raw Java objects for faster template rendering
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25. Pagelet-Level Caching
Paragraphs
Web page Navigation
Titles
Template
Photos
Sections
Copyright
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26. Double-Buffered Caching
 Caching layer at both satellite server and content server
 Step-by-step process:
1. Page is updated, and published
2. Cache Manager flushes Content Server cache
3. Cache Manager updates Content Server cache
4. Cache Manager flushes Satellite Server cache
5. Satellite Server waits for a user request for the page
6. Satellite Server gets page from Content Server, and updates local cache
7. Future request come from Satellite Server cache
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27. Sample High-Performance FatWire
Satellite Server’s
caches have
Each cluster dependency
Content Server Cluster node has information as well.
dependency
information.
Clustered caches
Satellite
Server Local
cache
Content Content A
Server Server
Satellite
Local Local Server Local
cache cache cache
A
Local Local Satellite
cache cache Server Local
A cache
Content Content
Server Server A Satellite
Server Local
cache
Invalidation is based on
A dependency.
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28. High-Performance: WARNING!
 THERE IS NO SILVER BULLET!
• Just because FatWire is fast, doesn’t mean your site will be fast!
• Subtle low-level coding decisions can limit whole-site performance
 Strategies for enhanced performance
• Some design patterns do not scale!
• Focus on stateless web design
• Personalization is tricky to make stateless
 Two incredibly common problems:
• Undercaching:
• If a resource does not change frequently, CACHE IT!
• Overcaching
• Large cache filled with very similar items, and low cache hit rate
• Cache invariables at a low level, and assemble them of full page
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29. Security
 More fine-grained than site studio
• Users have roles
• Roles grant access to content, activities, or sites
• Every asset type (artwork, press release) can have separate role
 No built in low-level asset-level security for consumers
• Common customization to show different users different content
 LDAP integration
• Of course!
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30. Workflow
 States
• Current state of the asset
 Steps
• Similar to UCM: workflows have multiple steps
 Actions/Events
• Deadlines: action required by a certain date
• Delegation: assign task to another user
• Publish: item is ‘released’
 Participants and Events
• Role-based access to items
 New features:
• Automated workflows: publish without user intervention
• Full-page preview of future site look-and-feel
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31. FatWire Dev Tools
 Content Server Dev Tools
• Eclipse Plug-in
• Syntax highlighting
• Code completion
• CS Advanced UI View
• Preview Browser
• FW Log View
• Configure Log4J
• Wizards for creating new Templates and CS Elements
• Direct access to CS Documentation
• Tag Reference / JavaDocs
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32. Important JSP Tags
 Common tags for page control and display
• <ics:if />
• <ics:then />
• <ics:getvar />
• <ics:listloop />
• <ics:listget />
 Render assets on a page
• <render:satellitepage />
• <render:argument />
• <render:calltemplate />
• <render:gettemplateurl />
• <render:calltemplate />
• <render:stream />
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33. Important JSP Tags, cont.
 Load assets to the page, store in variables
• <asset:load />
• <asset:get />
• <asset:children />
• <asset:getsidenode />
• <assetset:setasset />
• <assetset:getattributevalues />
• <assetset:getmultiplevalues />
 Load navigation
• <siteplan:load />
• <siteplan:children />
 Recommendations / related content
• <commercecontext:getrecommendations />
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34. Important Resources!
 Oracle JumpStart Kit
• ~500Mb dev version of FatWire, plus some sample sites
• Available thru support, and OTN soon
 GST Site Foundation
• A community-driven collection of code and best practices
• Common assets, Friendly URLs, handy custom taglibraries
• http://www.gst-foundation.org/
 Online forums
• http://www.fatwirecommunity.net
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35. Questions?
 My Company: http://bezzotech.com
 My Blog: http://bexhuff.com
 My Self: bex@bezzotech.com
 Visit us in Booth 1179 on Main Street!
 For the latest version of this presentation, go to SlideShare:
http://slideshare.com/bexmex
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