Application integration
In the scope of the strategic further development of the product FirstSpirit the Application integration is essential.
For this reason, an interface has been created as a part of FirstSpirit Version 4.2 Release 4 which enables partners to realise fully independent individual application integrations for FirstSpirit. An application integration API can be accessed, born of practical experience of application integration of the core product, and which has, therefore, already been tried and tested in practice.
In conjunction with the add-on interface (FirstSpirit modules) also long established in the FirstSpirit product, product add-ons can be developed, which seamlessly integrate into the FirstSpirit application integration infrastructure.
The true potential of the application integration lies in particular within the domain of FirstSpirit development partners. With the Application integration API, a powerful tool has been made available to them, with which they can realise specialised integration solutions in their own particular areas of expertise.
At this point, however, it should be noted that Application integration is a highly complex topic which, even after a development period of more than two years, is still not fully developed, as experience with it in turn opens up an increasing number of new applications.
Even at the level of the core product, development of FirstSpirit application integration has a long way to go before it is completed, and is still in full swing. Nevertheless, e-Spirit has made the decision to release an interface for application integration at the earliest possible date, in order to allow partners to realise their own application integrations as quickly as possible.
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However, this decision in favour of early API release was also accompanied by the need to water down the maxim of long-term safeguarding of interface stability explicitly defined when developing FirstSpirit (see also page API documentation): The interface made available with FirstSpirit Version 4.2 Release 4 will continue to be developed in following versions, and it will very probably become necessary for changes to be made to the module implementation. Each development partner who undertakes an implementation based on the application integration API of FirstSpirit Version 4.2 Release 4 should be aware of this fact! |
On the other hand, the opportunity is there to flexibly respond to and to provide optimal support to additional, previously unthought-of use scenarios of application integration at the API level.
With FirstSpirit Version 5.0, a revised Version 2.0 of the API satisfying the long-term stability criteria will be available for Application integration. It will then be serviced and further developed according to the familiar strategies of maintaining stable APIs in FirstSpirit.
Access API
The Application API is one of the most important point of entry to the Application integration. Using this API application tabs, located in the applications' area of the FirstSpirit JavaClient, can be controlled. The Application API is part of the Developer API.
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Since the Application API is only preliminary at the moment, it is not yet subject to the demands for stability as the Developer API is. |
The most important parts of the documentation about the FirstSpirit Application API can be found in the package de.espirit.firstspirit.client.gui.applications:
You can find a simple example for opening an application tab of the type BrowserApplication here:
Geolocation Showcase
FirstSpirit JavaClient with Google Maps implementation
e-Spirit decided to make the source code of an example implementation accessible, to show FirstSpirit development partners the potential of the FirstSpirit Application integration. For this reason, you can find a Google Maps integration with a special input component CUSTOM_GEOLOCATION in the Sample implementations for components.
ClientPlugin
Another component of the Application integration is the option to integrate a ClientPlugin into the JavaClient. By this means it is possible to integrate a module into the client, by using the Public Hotspot of FirstSpirit, which is initialised already while starting the JavaClient. This can then control for example application tabs.
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Since the ClientPlugin API is only preliminary at the moment, it is not yet subject to the demands for stability as the Developer API is. |
The most important parts of the documentation about the FirstSpirit ClientPlugin API can be found in the package de.espirit.firstspirit.client.plugin: