[Mashup-dev] [ANN] WSO2 Mashup Server 1.5 Released

[Channa Gunawardena]

The WSO2 Mashup Server team is pleased to announce the release of the 
Mashup Server 1.5.

The WSO2 Mashup Server is a powerful yet simple and quick way to tailor 
Web-based information
to the personal needs of individuals and organizations. It has been 
released under the Apache
Software License 2.0.

This release can be downloaded from http://wso2.org/projects/mashup

WSO2 Mashup Server 1.5 - Release Note - 21st July 2008
======================================================================
"Create, deploy, and consume Web services Mashups in the simplest fashion"
 
The WSO2 Mashup Server is a powerful yet simple and quick way to tailor 
Web-based information to the personal needs of individuals and 
organizations. 
It is a platform for acquiring data from a variety of sources including 
Web 
Services, HTML pages, feeds and data sources, and process and combine it 
with
other data using JavaScript with E4X XML extensions. The result is then 
exposed
as a new Web service with rich metadata and artifacts to simplify the 
creation
of rich user interfaces.
 
The WSO2 Mashup Server will form the backbone of a become an ecosystem of 
community-developed services that will broaden the palette of capabilities 
for mashups and distributed applications.
 
WSO2 Mashup Server is released under the Apache License v2.0
 
Check out the project home page at http://www.wso2.org/projects/mashup for 
additional information.
     
--------------------------    
 Features List
==========================
* Hosting of mashup services written using JavaScript with E4X XML 
extension
    - Simple file based deployment model
* JavaScript annotations to configure the deployed services
* Auto generation of metadata and runtime resources for the deployed 
mashups
    - JavaScript stubs that simplify client access to the mashup service
    - TryIt functionality to invoke the mashup service through a web 
browser
    - WSDL 1.1/WSDL 2.0/XSD documents to describe the mashup service
    - API documentation 
* Ability to bundle a custom user interface for the mashups
* Many useful Javascript Host objects that can be used when writing mashups
    - WSRequest: invoke Web services from mashup services
    - File: File storage/manipulation functionality
    - System: Set of system specific utility functions
    - Session: Ability to share objects across different service 
invocations
    - Scraper: Extract data from HTML pages and present in XML format 
    - APPClient: Atom Publishing Protocol client to retrieve/publish Atom
                 feeds with APP servers
    - Feed: A generic set of host objects to transparently read and 
create Atom
            and RSS feeds
    - Request: Ability get information regarding a request received
* Support for recurring and longer-running tasks
* Support for service lifecycles
* Ability to secure hosted mashups using a set of commonly used security 
scenarios
* Management console to easily manage the mashups
* Simple sharing of deployed mashups with other WSO2 Mashup Servers
* Mashup sharing community portal (http://mooshup.com) to share and host 
your 
  mashups
 
 
--------------------------
New In This Release
==========================
* Request object
* Ability to secure hosted mashups using a set of commonly used security 
scenarios
* Ability to call secured services using the WSRequest host object
* Integrated Data Services Support (expose data locked up in DataBases, 
Excel spreadsheets and
CSV files with ease)
* OpenID login support
* Apache Shindig powered, Google compatible, per-user Dashboard and 
browser based editor support
for developing gadgets for hosted mashups (http://wso2.org/library/3813).
 
-------------------------
Known Issues
=========================
* Management Console was tested only on IE 6/7 & Firefox 1.5/2.0/3.0.
* Inter-service dependencies using the dynamically generated stubs may 
give 
deployment time errors. Workaround would be to save a local copy of the 
stub
in to the dependent service.
* JSON support lacks try-it support
* Mashup editor will convert &lt; and &gt; characters to < and > while 
saving the code in the 
server. This might result in malformed xml. Using these special 
characters with caution is adviced.
Refer http://wso2.org/jira/browse/MASHUP-607.
* Built-in samples cannot be secured - the built-in "sample" user does 
not have a keystore associated with it
(system services use the keystore of the primary account.)
 
---------------------------------
Future Directions
=================================
* Improved tooling support.
* An expanded toolkit of generic building-block services.
* Deep registry integration including governance, rollback, dependency 
analysis, etc.
* Lots more cool stuff.
 
------------------------
 Reporting Problems
========================
 
Issues can be reported using the public JIRA available at 
https://wso2.org/jira/browse/MASHUP
 
 
------------------------    
 Contact us
========================
 
WSO2 Mashup Server developers can be contacted via mailing lists:
For Users: mashup-user at wso2.org
For Developers: mashup-dev at wso2.org 
For details on subscriptions: http://www.wso2.org/projects/mashup#mail
 
Questions can also be raised in this forum: http://www.wso2.org/forum/226
 
 
------------------------
Training
========================
 
WSO2 Inc. offers a variety of professional Training Programs, including
training on general Web services as well as WSO2 Mashup Server, WSO2 WSAS,
WSO2 ESB, Apache Axis2, Data Services and a number of other products.
For additional support information please refer to  
http://wso2.com/training/course-catalog/
 
 
------------------------
Support
========================
 
WSO2 Inc. offers a variety of development and production support programs,
ranging from Web-based support up through normal business hours,
to premium 24x7 phone support. For additional support information
please refer to http://wso2.com/support/
 
Enjoy the Mashup Server!
 
- WSO2 Mashup Server Team