Expressroom Architecture

Expressroom^® is a totally XML-based content management system, implemented in 100% pure Java that provides capabilities starting with content creation, and ending with delivery of that content to the intended destination in the proper format.

The Expressroom architecture is organized in several large groupings of functionality:

• Client Tools
  
• Asset Manager
  
• Deployment System
  
• Page Server


• Expressroom and XML


• Expressroom and Java

Client Tools

Expressroom provides a continuum of client-side offerings to cater to any user of the Expressroom system. Starting from a browser-based content entry environment, Java applications, and augmentation of existing third-party applications Microsoft® Word, Expressroom client tools enable your users with whatever tool makes sense for them.

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The Expressroom Asset Manager provides the collaborative framework within which all content and site components are created. It also provides a user-selectable secure environment in which user authentication, access control, versioning, and check-in/check-out control reside, and along with a "file system"-like abstraction under which the users data repository of choice (file system, Oracle, Sybase, SQL Server) can live.

The Expressroom Asset Manager is a powerful and flexible XML-based content management system, written entirely in Java, that provides a broad spectrum of features and is accessible via a rich, 100% Java API.

The Asset Manager is commonly viewed as a secure, distributed file system. The file system perception is mainly because the Expressroom GUI applications all provide a file chooser that presents the contents of the Asset Manager as if they were on a disk. The Asset Manager offers a hierarchical namespace that mimics common file systems in use today. Therefore, users are presented with a familiar user interface in which to interact with the Asset Manager. In addition, Expressroom users have access to the Asset Explorer to browse the database, in a familiar, file-based browser environment.

The Asset Manager is distributed, and can be accessed over any TCP/IP network; however, client/server communication is handled internally to the Asset Manager API. Users and programmers do not need to concern themselves with the details of setting up a remote connection since the API handles it behind the scenes.

Because the Asset Manager is accessible via a network, security is of great concern. Not only does access to the asset store require an authenticated login (using a username/password pair), the Asset Manager can also be configured to use SSL, ensuring secure and encrypted data transfers.

The Asset Manager supports managed-collaboration via a thorough check-in/check-out model that prevents simultaneous updates to an asset. All assets in the Asset Manager are versioned, and earlier versions of any asset are easily accessible. In addition, the Asset Manager supports user and group-based permissions and allows access to assets to be controlled via access control lists (ACLs).

The Asset Manager also includes a powerful asset deployment engine that allows assets to be replicated from a staging server to one or more production machines with a single API call.

Often used in conjunction with the deployment engine, is the Asset Manager s snapshot and rollback capability. The Asset Manager allows users to take a "snapshot" of the asset store at any time, in essence, recording the state of all assets within the asset store at that moment. (Users can name these snapshots for easier retrieval later on.) If at some point in the future a need arises to get the asset store back to a known state, the Asset Manager can be instructed to "rollback" to a specific snapshot.

The Asset Manager also contains a powerful state-based workflow engine. Using workflow templates graphically defined in the Workflow Template Builder application, content and collections of content, are automatically routed from user to user. Users are alerted of new work assigned to them through the WorkList Manager application as well as through asynchronous notifications sent to users through mechanisms such as e-mail and cellular phone messages.

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The Expressroom deployment system is implemented as an extension to the Asset Manager. This powerful extension provides for transactional, real-time deployment of a site from one Expressroom Asset Manager to one or more specified target Asset Managers. Expressroom users can augment or implement site-specific policy, or even their own deployment extension, if needed.

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The Expressroom Page Server enables any JSDK 2.0 (and above)-compliant servlet runner to become part of the Expressroom system. The Page Server handles the "just-in-time" rendering and delivery of pages to the site visitor. Super-fast page delivery is enabled through a unique, multi-tiered caching system. This seemingly impossible duality of "just-in-time" delivery and caching is enabled by tight coupling with the deployment system. Upon succesful completion of a deployment operation, events are triggered that automatically cause stale pieces of the cache to be flushed. Thus, the reader of an Expressroom-powered site is always viewing the freshest possible content in the most rapid time it can be made available.

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Expressroom fully exploits the power of XML to allow you to structure and define a content model that makes sense to you, using words that are familiar to your organization. When content is entered into the Expressroom system, the XML defintion enables the Expressroom user to re-purpose that content to any endpoint. The use of XML in Expressroom doesn't stop at content, in fact, with Expressroom, the entire site is defined using Expressroom objects described in open, industry-standard XML.

Expressroom is the only content management system built that fully exploits the advantages of XML. Not only does Expressroom store all content using 100% pure XML, but all site objects are also stored in XML. This "pure XML" approach:

• Allows Expressroom based sites to be viewed as easily on wireless devices such as personal digital assistants (PDAs), browsers, cell phones as on the Web, because content and presentation are stored separately.
  
• Enables powerful personalization. Each document or piece of content in Expressroom is broken into elements and each element has a user-defined description. This means that once your viewers have completed a profile on your site then, parts of their profiles, for instance the type of content that they like, can be matched with the descriptions of your content elements. Expressroom can then provide targeted content to your viewers by their subject matter preferences and by their device preferences.
  
• Allows for content syndication. Have you ever thought about syndicating your content to other Web sites and using your content as a new revenue stream? Using XML to store your content lets you do this.

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Expressroom is a true object-oriented content management system. From the language it is implemented in to the language it uses to describe content, it adheres to this nature. This object-oriented nature provides an open and easily extensible environment for the Expressroom user, without forcing platform, database, or application server choice.

Expressroom is implemented in 100% pure JavaTM and runs on the Java 2 platform. Expressroom is a platform-independent, object-oriented, XML-based content management system. These attributes were goals before Expressroom was implemented and drove the choice of Java as an implementation language and as the platform upon which Expressroom runs.

Since the Expressroom client tools are implemented in Java, they can run unchanged on many different platforms. The Expressroom server components run within a servlet-running environment in close conjunction with the Web server.

The pervasive use of Java in Expressroom extends to the server side and, because of it, programmers can easily add customized enhancements. These enhancements are authored in well understood, documented, open standards. The J2EE programming environment makes it easy to plug in additional functionality directly within Expressroom.

For Expressroom and for you, Java is a big plus that enables you to move your business in the direction you want, while keeping pace with the rapid expectations of the Internet.