Grouper Developers Forum

[Emily Eisbruch <>]

Grouper Call 17-Feb-2010

 *Attending*

Tom Barton, U. Chicago  (Chair)  

Gary Brown, Bristol    

Michael P. Pelikan, The Pennsylvania State University  

Shilen Patel, Duke    

Chris Hyzer, U. Penn  

Tom Zeller, U. Memphis 

Ann West, Internet2 

Steve Olshansky, Internet2 

Emily Eisbruch, Internet2 (scribe)  

 

*New Action Items*

[AI] (Chris) will move forward with virtual subject attributes using _expression_ language.

[AI] (TomB) will send a note to the Grouper-users list summarizing planned enhancements for lite UI and asking for feedback.

*Carry Over Action Items*

[AI] (TomB) will investigate starting work on uPortal / Grouper integration     

 

**Discussion**

*Virtual Subject Attributes* 

Univ. of Geneva requested expressed interest in virtual subject attributes:  

https://mail.internet2.edu/wws/arc/grouper-users/2010-02/msg00024.html

The idea is to allow concatenation of several subject attributes to create a clearer display object in the user interface. So, for example, the subject might say “JoeSmithCentralIT” rather than “Joe Smith”.

Chris suggested this could be implemented for Grouper 1.6 using Java _expression_ Language (JEXL).

TomZ raised the possible longer-term solution of using Shib resolver.  This might be discussed further at SMM. 

There was a suggestion to allow the use of HTML. It probably makes most sense to let the deployer add this functionality if needed.

The smaller, incremental change using an _expression_ language will be made for now.

[AI] (Chris) will move forward with virtual subject attributes using _expression_ language.

*Lite UI Enhancements*

TomB has received feedback from folks at U. Chicago that the Grouper 1.5 Lite UI is good, but missing a few features they would like.

- the deletion mode should be made configurable

- For adding subjects, a cvs file is currently required; the ability to do a simple paste is desired. 

- Better “skinability” is needed, to make the Grouper UI look like the application with which it’s being used.

In response to the "skinability" request, Chris suggested a default be used for the text in the UI, with the ability provided to use nav.properties to override that default on an institutional basis or to control appearance group by group. TomB noted that if nav.properties is used for customization, it could be difficult to delegate in the case of decentralized institutions. Chris proposed allowing formatting flexibility via nav.properties (for centralized institutions) and using some other mechanism (such as CSS) to allow for  distributed control.

Other suggestions for enhancing the Lite UI:

- Adding more features to the advanced menu.   For example, show indirect memberships in the UI (currently it’s necessary to do an export to view indirect memberships). U. Wisconsin is interested in this enhancement.

[AI] (TomB) will send a note to the Grouper-users list summarizing planned enhancements for lite UI and asking for feedback.

*Ldappc-ng Discusssion*

https://spaces.internet2.edu/display/GrouperWG/LDAPPC-NG+Development

  

Q: How is the Provisioning Service Provider going to be picking up changes from  the notification queue or change log?

A: TomZ: That’s a challenge, since Shib is event driven. The resolver is not written to handle a subset of info from sources. Not sure how it will handle a subset.

There are challenges around getting data out of Grouper and into SMPL. What triggers should be used?  For Grouper 1.6, bulk sync could be used. Using a group filter expressed in XML, there is the ability to choose how to handle different groups, members, and stems.

It is hoped that SPML can be strengthened through use in open source projects, just as SAML was strengthened through use by Shibboleth. A disadvantage to SPML concerns the jar.

 

*Spring Member Meeting*

The Grouper Working Group at Spring Member Meeting will be Monday, April 26 from 10:30 to noon.  Because of  a shortage of middleware track session slots (7) versus the number of middleware sessions proposed (20), there will not be a track session from the Grouper developers. However, a proposed track session will be agendized and made part of the WG session.

A track session that will discuss Grouper use in a VO is "Identity Management for the LIGO Project"

http://events.internet2.edu/2010/spring-mm/agenda.cfm?go=session&id=10001063&event=910

Next Meeting: Wed., Mar 3 , 2010 noon ET

Emily Eisbruch, Technology Transfer Analyst

Internet2

office: +1-734-352-4996 | mobile +1-734-730-5749

Internet2 Spring Member Meeting
April 26-28, 2010 - Arlington, Virginia
http://events.internet2.edu/2010/spring-mm/