System and method for providing extensible controls in a communities framework

Abstract

A communities framework is disclosed which contains resources in a repository. The repository contains data stored in nodes wherein each node has data associated with a collaboration resource and each resource has a set of properties or attributes. A server can provide a content object for wrapping the node wherein the content object defines the type of resource contained by the data in the node. An extensible control is provided that performs operations on the node thereby providing an interface to manipulating the node's data. The extensible controls can allow developers to easily create new resources. A generic control can further wrap the extensible control and be adapted to provide an abstracted interface to the content object. An extensible portlet can implement the extensible controls in order to provide users with the ability to add new properties and edit existing properties of the resource.

1 . A method of providing extensible controls for a communities framework, said method comprising: 
 maintaining data in a plurality of nodes within a content repository, each node associated with a specific data type and having one or more properties;    providing an extensible control that includes a set of create, read, update and delete (CRUD) methods for performing operations within said content repository; and    defining an interface that extends said extensible control, said interface including a plurality of methods annotated with at least one annotation, said annotation associated with the properties of said nodes.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said interface is defined by a developer and associated with a new data type wherein annotations of said interface are associated with the properties of said new data type.  
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein said properties are comprised of a name and a value.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the specific data type includes a node and an object class associated with said node.  
   
   
       5 . A system for providing extensible controls for a communities framework, said system comprising: 
 a content repository containing data stored in a plurality of nodes, each node associated with a specific data type;    a server in communication with said content repository, said server providing an extensible control containing methods for performing create, read, update and delete (CRUD) operations on the data in said content repository;    wherein the methods of said extensible control are annotated with a set of annotations that define said extensible control's runtime behavior.    
   
   
       6 . The system of  claim 5  wherein said plurality of nodes further includes properties comprised of a name and a value.  
   
   
       7 . The system of  claim 6  wherein said annotations of the methods on said extensible control are associated with the properties of said node associated with the specific data type.  
   
   
       8 . The system of  claim 5  wherein a new data type is defined by implementing said extensible control and calling the methods of said extensible control.  
   
   
       9 . The system of  claim 5  wherein said annotations define said specific data type programmatically.  
   
   
       10 . The system of  claim 5  wherein input from the annotations are used by the extensible controls in order to create the structure of a new node and store the new node in the repository.  
   
   
       11 . The system of  claim 5  further comprising: 
 a community accessed via a portal provided by said server, the community maintaining user membership and including one or more members having access to the content repository and capable of sharing the data in the content repository.    
   
   
       12 . A computer readable medium having instructions stored there, which when executed by one or more processors, cause a system to: 
 maintain data in a plurality of nodes within a content repository, each node associated with a specific data type and having one or more properties;    provide an extensible control that includes a set of create, read, update and delete (CRUD) methods for performing operations within said content repository; and    define an interface that extends said extensible control, said interface including a plurality of methods annotated with at least one    annotation, said annotation associated with the properties of said nodes.