Future development MPDL

Software selection

We examine different software systems by means of their main functions and features for our extended user requirements in the area of web based access to XML-documents. The main new requirements are:

• state of the art web GUI
• datastore / repository functionality (user management, versioning of documents, history function)
• user notes / annotations within documents
• easy document uploads
• scalability

We limit the examination to four systems: Magnolia, mediaWiki, eXist and eSciDoc:

Basic information of the software systems

	Magnolia	mediaWiki	eXist	eSciDoc
Webpage	​here	​here	​here	​here
MPIWG installation	see ​here	see this ​TRAC	see ​MPDL system	test system: see ​Pubman

Basic needs

	Magnolia	mediaWiki	eXist	eSciDoc
Scalable	++	++	-	++
Stable	++	++	-	+
Performant	++	++	++	+
Customizable	++	++	++	++
In use at MPIWG	++	++	++	+
Free software	+	++	++	++

Datastore

	Magnolia	mediaWiki	eXist	eSciDoc
User management	++	++	-	+
Version control system	++	++	-	+
Index / Query system	++	++	++	++
Many document formats (xml, pdf, doc, html)	++	++	+	++
Discussions / Blogs	++	++	-	-

Extensions / Development

	Magnolia	mediaWiki	eXist	eSciDoc
Predefined extensions / templates	++	++	-	-
Programming	++ 1	++ 2	++ 3	+ 4
Index / Query system	++	++	++	++
Many document formats (xml, pdf, doc, html)	++	++	+	++
Notes / Annotations	-	-	-	-

Notes:
1: Freemarker, Java Server Pages, XSL/CSS, limited XPath (works also in JCR 2.0 ?)
2: php, Java over JavaBridge?
3: Java, XQuery / XPath, XSL / CSS
4: Java

MPDL software

	Magnolia	mediaWiki	eXist	eSciDoc
Get XML page fragment	-	-	++	-
Language technology	-	-	++	-
Document upload	++	++	- 1	+ 2
Web viewer	+ 2	+ 2	++	+ 2

Notes:
1: already implemented but not stable enough
2: has to be implemented (relative easy)

### temporary stuff ###

Functions which are not mandadory for our requirements are marked italic.

Magnolia

• Advantages
  • version control system with easy usable history functions (commercial EE version)
  • many installations and users worldwide
  • multimedia support (image, sound, video)
• Disadvantages
  • user interface: all web pages have to be implemented
  • XQuery support has to be implemented in Java (relative easy)

mediaWiki

• Advantages
  • version control system with easy usable history functions
  • many installations and users worldwide
  • user interface
    • already included (Wiki web pages)
    • simple (e.g. for data uploads)
    • user know the Wiki system
    • no extra web server
  • many extensions / templates
    • footnotes: ​internal, ​Cite
    • ​presentation of old books
  • multimedia support (image, sound, video)
• Disadvantages
  • XML/XSL/CSS support has to be implemented in Java (relative easy)
  • XQuery support has to be implemented in Java (relative easy)

eXist + Zope

• Advantages
  • some installations and users worldwide
  • XQuery/XPath support
• Disadvantages
  • not scalable for many documents (> 1000 XML documents)
  • not really stable
    • many system crashes at startup time (up to 2 days)
    • sometimes system crash when a document is uploaded
  • no usable version control system included, no history functions
  • user interface: all web pages have to be implemented

eSciDoc

• Disadvantages
  • not many users, installations and developers
  • performance of many queries not tested
  • very complicated: much work for administration and development (API etc.)
  • version control system: no easy usable history functions
  • user interface: all web pages have to be implemented
  • not many extensions / templates
  • XQuery support has to be implemented in Java (relative easy)