Using Web Services to Integrate with Questionmark Perception

Transcription

1 Using Web Services to Integrate with Questionmark Perception Steve Lay, Integrations Product Owner 2012 Users Conference New Orleans March 20-23

2 Synopsis Questionmark provides a wide array of methods for integrating with and extending the capabilities of its Open Assessment Platform. This session will provide a brief overview of the key integration methods a deep-dive into some of the most powerful options take an under-the-hood look at several real-world applications There will be ample opportunity to ask questions. Recommended Experience Level: Intermediate/Advanced

3 Agenda Available Integration Methods Pros and Cons of Using Web Services Introduction to QMWISe Real-world Applications Future of Web Services

4 Available Integration Methods

5 Integration Methods Industry Standards AICC SCORM HR-XML (IMS LTI) Specialized Connectors Sharepoint SAP Moodle Blackboard APIs QMWISe (Web Service) PIP (Perception Integration Protocol) Slide 5

6 Integration Documentation Integrating With QMP ctice_guides/integrating/content/welcome.htm AICC ge_base/integrating/aicc/aicc502.aspx SCORM ge_base/integrating/overview/integrate504.aspx PIP Reference ct_guides/pip/content/welcome.htm

7 Open Assessment Platform You ve seen many examples of embedded assessments New plans to integrate at deeper levels with Social Networking apps Corporate portals Partner portals User Experience Web Services APIs Security Business Layer Data Layer

8 Open Assessment Platform User Experience Web Services APIs Security Questionmark applications Business Layer Third-party applications Data Layer Slide 8

9 Pros and Cons of Using Web Services

10 Pros Deeper and broader integrations Standards and PIP are basically limited to launching and tracking Services can be consumed within other portals Mashups Services can be consumed by third party reporting and/or dashboard apps Business Intelligence Relatively mature standards for interoperability SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol REST Representational State Transfer

11 Cons Not all 3 rd parties have complementary service or ways to rapidly consume services Different platforms/tools handle same protocols differently E.g. SOAP in Java versus.net Developer community is most helpful in overcoming these interoperability challenges Not the most efficient way to move large volumes of data

12 Introduction to QMWISe

13 Hello QMWISe! 1. You need a license that allows QMWISe for thirdparty applications 2. Create a special user for your custom application and assign it appropriate permissions 3. Configure the QMWISe security settings 4. Generate the checksum used in QMWISe security headers 5. Get a SOAP library suitable for use in your custom application 6. [Generate a SOAP client] 7. Write a small test program to call GetAbout

14

15

16

17 Generating the Checksum What is the checksum? A simple token used to obfuscate the QMWISe administrator s password with a similar complexity to MD5 (but it isn t actually MD5) Where do I get it? You can generate it using a special purpose test harness distributed with Perception evaluation installer OnDemand users can request Technical Services to generate a checksum Keep it safe! But you can revoke it simply by changing the administrator s password in Enterprise Manager

18 SOAP Libraries C#/.Net Built in support for SOAP web services Uses WSDL to generate client classes Java Apache Axis (org.apache.axis.wsdl.wsdl2java) PHP Built-in SOAP support but typically turned off in PHP configuration Generates classes dynamically from WSDL Python Various SOAP libraries but SUDS is the best for this application Generates classes dynamically from WSDL JavaScript: A serious challenge, best avoided (more on this later)

19 Java Example java org.apache.axis.wsdl.wsdl2java --output WebRoot/WEB-INF/src --verbose ls -l WebRoot/WEB-INF/src/com/questionmark/QMWISe/ total rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 Administrator.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 Administrator2.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 Answer.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 Answer2.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 Assessment.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 AssessmentBlock.java... [snip] -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 QMWISe.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 QMWISeLocator.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 QMWISeSoap.java -rw-r--r-- 1 swl10 staff Jul 2009 QMWISeSoapStub.java... [snip]

20 Working Example (Python) user$./hello -u qmtestintegration c xxxx (Version){ MajorVersion = 5 MinorVersion = 3 BuildVersion = 1 BuildString = " " BuildDate = " " LicenseText = "Questionmark Perception Licensed for use by Questionmark for demonstration purposes. QMWISe is copyright (c) Questionmark Computing Limited " QMDboLib = " " } Hello QMWISe!

21 Real-world Applications

22 PeopleSync Conceptual Diagram

23 QMWISe PeopleSync Methods Varies depending upon requirements Tends to utilize any methods relating to Participants and Groups Optionally, some solutions also create schedules

24 Story 1 - Automatic Synchronization System automatically creates participants and enrolls them in appropriate groups based on data in HR system Could optionally create schedules Sync jobs are scheduled to run at certain times of day or regular intervals

25 Each job has a configuration interface.

26 Process and Methods

27 Working Example user$./peoplesync -u qmtestintegration -c xxxx people.csv Checking Group: Manufacturing Checking Participant: t.bartlett Creating Participant: t.bartlett Checking Group: Sales Checking Participant: m.ashley Checking Group: Administration Checking Participant: a.hurst Updating Participant: a.hurst Checking Participant: e.thompson Checking Participant: e.arroyo Checking Participant: c.marshall Checking Participant: e.ferguson Checking Participant: c.welch Checking Participant: a.marshall Checking Participant: e.vincent

28 Story 2 Upload or input rosters and create schedules Instructor or administrator uploads a roster of enrollments for a given course or program Each roster is represented in EM as a unique root group Course/program is already associated with specific Participants are created for entire roster Schedules are created for entire roster for all associated assessments

29 Process and Methods

30 Teacher adds students to each class to build the roster Registering a student automates a number of things: Creates participant account if it doesn t already exist Add participant as member of class group Creates a schedule for participant Prevents more than one participant record from being created for the same individual

31

32 Working Example: Basic LTI user$./qmpserver -u qmtestintegration c xxxx Test server running [13/Mar/ :51:58] "POST /bltiprovider/ HTTP/1.1" [13/Mar/ :00:24] "POST /bltiprovider/ HTTP/1.1" [13/Mar/ :03:08] "POST /bltiprovider/ HTTP/1.1" 200 -

33 Story 3 Launch and Track with SAP Connector Schedules (Connectors) Moodle Connector Blackboard Connector Utilize two important concepts/techniques Access to a QMP schedule from a 3 rd party Returning results to a 3 rd party ResultSync

34 Accessing a Schedule from 3 rd Party GetAccessScheduleNotify Utilizes PIP

35 SAP Connector - Process and Methods

36 ResultSync

37 QMWISe ResultSync Methods GetResultList GetAssessmentResult or GetResult GetAssessmentResultListByGroup GetAssessmentResultListByParticipant GetAssessmentResultListByAssessment GetResultListByGroup GetResultListByParticipant GetResultListByAssessment

38 Examples of ResultSync SAP Connector uses GetResultListByParticipant BB Connector uses Notify parameter in PIP GetResultListByGroup Moodle Connector uses GetResultListByParticipant

39 Story 4 Exposing Schedules and Results in a Portal Using QMWISe you can create custom workflows for many of the functions performed in Enterprise Manager Custom portals can integrate Perception directly into the day-to-day activities of the user Web services can be used to replace the Enterprise Manager interface completely Access URLs can be used for SSO linking Light-weight mash-ups of user interface elements could push some integration functions into the browser itself

40 Sharepoint Page Viewers

41 Future of Web Services

42 Slide 42

43 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso " standalone="yes"?> <service xml:base= xmlns:atom= xmlns:app= xmlns=" <workspace> <atom:title>default</atom:title> <collection href="odataconsumers"> <atom:title>odataconsumers</atom:title> </collection> <collection href="odataproducerapplications"> <atom:title>odataproducerapplications</atom:title> </collection> <collection href="odataproducerliveservices"> <atom:title>odataproducerliveservices</atom:title> </collection> </workspace> </service>

44 QMWISeR <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?> <service xml:base= xmlns:atom= xmlns:app= xmlns=" <workspace> <atom:title>default</atom:title> <collection href="participants"> <atom:title>participants</atom:title> </collection> <collection href="results"> <atom:title>results</atom:title> </collection> <collection href="groups"> <atom:title>groups</atom:title> </collection> </workspace> </service>

45 Scalability Built In <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="yes"?> <feed xml:base= xmlns:d= xmlns:m= xmlns=" <title type="text">results</title> <id> <updated> t17:31:41z</updated> <link rel="self" title="results" href="results" /> <entry> </entry> <entry> </entry> <entry> </entry> <entry> </entry> <link rel="next href=" oken=1,2,1,2510" /> </feed> Slide 45

46 QMWISeR and the Zones Business Layer Presentation Layer Questionmark s Portal Config Zone 3 rd Party User Interfaces (inside or outside our portal) Other UIs QMWISeR People Zone Other UIs QMWISeR Services (WCF Services) Authoring Zone Business Logic Other UIs QMWISeR Delivery Zone Other UIs QMWISeR Analytics Zone Database Layer Data Layer Database Questionmark User Interfaces use Microsoft s Model View Controller (MVC) User Interface QMWISeR are REST (resource based) web services exposed for customer s integration Slide 46

47 RESTful Interface Individual Access Control SOAP is ideal for B2B links with system-based security REST over https can use basic user/password OAuth signing could also be used in future JSON or XML? Web developers may be able to use JSON directly from the web page General-purpose tools and libraries Atom and OData can be processed by general purpose tools designed for discovering, managing and reporting on data

48 QMWISeR in Safari

49 QMWISeR in Excel Slide 49

50 Next Steps

51 Community Spaces

52 developer.questionmark.com

53 Open Development Projects Community Editions Free, Open Source early and often Steve Lay Developer site Development Projects Supported stable release Web Site Slide 53 Copyright Questionmark Corporation and/or Questionmark Computing Limited, known collectively as Questionmark. All rights reserved. Questionmark

54 Thank you