Catalog Zero overview

Catalog Zero is a Project Zero application that allows users to share packaged Project Zero applications and services. A live beta of Catalog Zero is running here. Anyone using the Catalog Zero Web interface can browse, download, rate, and comment on packages. Authorized users can upload and manage packages. Catalog Zero provides an easy-to-use interface tailored to the Project Zero experience. It provides support for uploading Project Zero packages as well as an Ivy repository interface. The following sections of this article provide information about Catalog Zero.

Prerequisites

The following software is required to run Catalog Zero on your local workstation:

• Project Zero Eclipse Plug In or Command Line Interface
• MySQL 5.0.3 or later
• Firefox 2 or Internet Explorer 7

Catalog Zero uses the following packages (in addition to zero.core):

zero.catalogApp

A Project Zero application that enables sharing packaged Project Zero applications and services.

zero.service.catalog

The REST-based back end for Catalog Zero.

zero.data

Provides persistent for Catalog Zero metadata.

zero.services.comment

Works with the comment widget to enable users to post a comment on an item.

zero.services.rating

Works with the rating widget to enable users to rate an item with a 1 to 5 rating.

zero.widgets.comment

Works with the comment service to provide the ability to display and create comments about an item.

zero.widgets.rating

Works with the rating service to enable users to apply a rating to an object.

Installing Catalog Zero

You can either download Catalog Zero from the command line interface or from SVN into Eclipse.

Downloading from the Command Line Interface

zero install zero.catalogApp

The new zero.catalogApp application directory is created.

Downloading from Subversion (SVN) into Eclipse

To download the Project Zero source code from Subversion into Eclipse, check out the the zero.catalogApp project as a new Eclipse project from the SAMPLES tree in SVN.

Setting up the database

Setting up the database in Eclipse (MySQL)

To set up a database with Eclipse, use the following steps:

1. Copy the MySQL connector jar file (<MySQL-Tools>/java/lib/mysql-connector-java-x.y.z.jar) into the zero.catalogApp/lib directory.
2. Open the zero.catalogApp project and right click build.xml.
3. Select Run As -> Ant Build_..._. (There are two Ant Build options, so make sure you select the one with the ellipsis.)
4. Uncheck any existing options and check create-mysql.
5. Open the Properties tab of the Ant Build dialog and uncheck Use global properties.
6. Add a property named user with the value root.
7. If you have set a MySQL root password, add a property named password with the value being the MySQL root password.
8. Click OK. The script will attempt to connect to the database using the credentials provided and set up the database with all the required tables.

Setting up the database using the command line interface

To set up the database with the command line interface, use the following steps:

1. Copy the MySQL connector jar file (<MySQL-Tools>/java/lib/mysql-connector-java-x.y.z.jar) into the zero.catalogApp/lib directory (if it is not already there).
2. From the zero.catalogApp directory, run the following:

zero create-mysql -user root -password rootpassword -debug

If there are any errors, drop the database before attempting to try again. This can be done using the delete-mysql command.

Using the Catalog Zero Ivy repository

To configure Project Zero to use the Catalog Zero Ivy repository, use the following steps:

1. See the Dependencies article on remote repositories to configure a new remote Ivy repository.
2. Add the new Zero repository http://localhost:8084/repository/ to your remote repository chain.

This sets Ivy to search the catalog repository when it resolves dependencies.

Running Catalog Zero

You can run Catalog Zero in either Eclipse or using the command line interface.

Running Catalog Zero in Eclipse

To run Catalog Zero in Eclipse, use the following steps:

1. To run zero.catalogApp, right click on the project and select Run As->Project Zero Application.
2. The catalog runs on port 8084, so go to one of the following locations to use the Web interface:

• http://localhost:8084/index.html
• http://localhost:8084/indexDebug.html

Running Catalog Zero using the command line interface

To run Catalog Zero using the command line interface, use the following steps:

1. Change into the zero.catalogApp directory.
2. Type

   zero run

   .
3. The catalog runs on port 8084, so go to the following location to use the Web interface:

• http://localhost:8084/index.html

Using Catalog Zero

The Catalog Zero Web interface is designed to be intuitive as the following graphic shows.

If you don't find it to be intuitive, please let us know in the Development forum! However, the following sections of this article provide instructions to get started.

Browsing packages

Click Show Description, to see more details on the package. You can also see download instructions for a package by clicking the Get it Now button.

Clicking a package name opens a new page with more detail about the package.

Downloading packages

Rating and commenting

To rate or comment on a package, you must sign in as a registered user. Catalog Zero uses the Project Zero file-based user security service. Users are configured in the /CatalogApp/config/zero.users file. See the File-based user service article for information on adding additional users. For test purposes, you can sign in using the ID test and password password.

To rate a service, click on the number of reviews beside the stars. The number of stars can then be selected by clicking and dragging the mouse.

Comments can be added from the Details page of a package. Click on the Comments tab beside the package description.

Uploading packages

To upload packages, you must sign in as an authorized user. Catalog Zero uses the Project Zero file-based user security service. Users are configured in the /CatalogApp/config/zero.users file. See the File-based user service article for information on adding additional users. To have upload authority, a user must be in the IBM group. For test purposes, you can sign in using the ID brett and password password.

To upload a package, you first have to create one. See the Packaging to publish section of the Dependencies article in the Core Developer's Guide for information on creating packages.

Note: Currently, the catalog only supports uploading .zip files.

Once you have created a package, you can upload it by signing in to the catalog and clicking Upload Package in the upper right of the catalog home page. Find your package file (probably in the export directory of your application) and click Upload. The file is uploaded, and information is extracted from the ivy.xml file of the package to prepopulate the catalog entry. You can change the package summary and description. When ready, click OK. Your package is now available for others to browse and download.

Uploading new releases