Using the ALI Activity Stream API

To add a new story to a users Activity Stream, send a POST request containing the necessary data to the story server URL.

The post must use the following syntax:

POST http://${STORY_SERVER_URL}/api/story/v1/activities/${USER_ID_TYPE}/${USER_ID_PREFIX}/${USER_ID_SUFFIX}

<soc:activity xmlns:soc="http://social.bea.com/activity">
  <body><![CDATA[${EVENT}]]></body>
</soc:activity>

Variable	Description
STORY_SERVER_URL	The URL to the story server, typically, %HOSTNAME%:21030/activityservice.
USER_ID_TYPE	The type of user identifier that follows; acceptable values are: username (login name), UUID, & ID (portal object integer ID). Note: These strings must be lowercase.
USER_ID_PREFIX	The identifier of the user that the story is about; in the case of domain qualified names, this is the domain name. (For example, bea\jking will be represented as .../username/bea/jking in the post URL.)
USER_ID_SUFFIX	(Optional.) In the case of domain qualified names, this is the username; omitted in all other cases.
EVENT	The story itself (the CDATA envelope is optional if the story does not include any markup).

Note: The Activity Stream API is protected by ALI security. Access is restricted to portal users by login token verification or basic authentication. For details, see Configuring Web Services that Use the ALI Activity Stream API.

The response will include one of the following HTTP codes:

201 // story successfully created
401 // authorization failed
404 // story user not found
400 // other error, including XML syntax errors

The response body uses the following syntax:

<soc:activity xmlns:soc="http://social.bea.com/activity">
    <body>post content</body>
    <userId>4258</userId>
    <senderFullName>Joe King</senderName>
    <senderIP>10.60.28.195</senderIP>
    <userUUID>E523D1A7-475E-0B4D-76CA-6F9001480000</userUUID>
    <userFullName>Joe King</userFullName>
    <version>v1</version>
</soc:activity>

The post can be implemented in many ways, as shown in the examples that follow.

HTML/JavaScript Example

The simple HTML/JavaScript example below posts a story entered by the user.

<script type="text/javascript">
	// Get the gatewayed URL - This will give us authentication and prevent cross domain POST errors.
	var activitystreamBaseURL = "<pt:common.url xmlns:pt='http://www.plumtree.com/xmlschemas/ptui/' pt:href='http://bfraser03.bea.com:21030/activityservice/api/story/v1/activities/'/>";
	// Get the sender's full name.
	var senderName = "<pt:common.userinfo pt:info='FullName' xmlns:pt='http://www.plumtree.com/xmlschemas/ptui/'/>";
    
	var portalURL = "http://bfraser03.bea.com:8080/portal/server.pt";

	function sendStory() {
		var to = document.getElementById('to').value;
		var message = linkedName() + ' wrote: '
				+ document.getElementById('message').value;

		doRestCall(
				'POST',
				activitystreamBaseURL + 'username/' + to,
				'<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>'
						+ '<soc:activity xmlns:soc="http://social.bea.com/activity">'
						+ '<body><![CDATA[' + message + ']]></body>'
						+ '</soc:activity>');
	}

	function doRestCall(requestType, postURL, xml) {
		var xmlhttp;
		// Get the XMLHttpRequest object -- needs to work for IE and non-IE browsers
		if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
			xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
		} else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
			xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHttp");
		}
		// Set the callback as an anonymous funcion
		xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function() {
			if (xmlhttp.readyState == 4) {
				var str = '<div>';
				// We should get 201 CREATED on successful POST
				if (xmlhttp.status == 201) {
					str = str + 'Message sent!';
				} else {
					str = str + 'ERROR: ' + xmlhttp.status + '</div><div>'
							+ xmlhttp.responseText + '</div>';
				}
				document.getElementById('output').innerHTML = str;
			}
		}
		xmlhttp.open(requestType, postURL, true);
		xmlhttp.setRequestHeader("Content-Type", "text/xml");
		xmlhttp.send(xml);
	}

	function linkedName() {
		// This function returns viewing userÕs name hyperlinked to their homepage.
		var nameurl = senderName.replace(" ", "_");
		nameurl = nameurl.toLowerCase();
		var link = '<a href="' + portalURL + '/user/' + nameurl + '">'
				+ senderName + '</a>';
		return link;
	}
</script>
<div>Send a message to: <input id="to" type="text" size="30"/></div>
<div>Message: <input id="message" type="text" size="40" /></div>
<div><a href="#" onclick="sendStory();"> send it! </a></div>
<div id="output"></div>

Java Example

The Java example below sends the message “Check out the <a href=\"http://www.bea.com\">BEA</a> home page!”.

ActivityStreamUtil.java

/* Copyright (c) 2008, BEA Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. */

package bea.sample.activitystream;

import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.*;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.auth.AuthScope;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.*;

public class ActivityStreamUtil {

	public static HttpClient CreateAuthenticatedClient(String username,
			String password) {
		HttpClient client = new HttpClient();

		// This is promiscuous be careful
		client.getState().setCredentials(AuthScope.ANY,
				new UsernamePasswordCredentials(username, password));
		// Send credentials with request without waiting for challenge
		client.getParams().setAuthenticationPreemptive(true);

		return client;
	}

	public static PostMethod CreateActivityStreamPost(String url, String body) {
		PostMethod postMethod = new PostMethod(url);
		RequestEntity requestEntity = null;
		try {
			requestEntity = new StringRequestEntity("<activity><body><![CDATA["
					+ body + "]]></body></activity>", "text/xml", "UTF-8");
		} catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
			e.printStackTrace();
		}
		postMethod.setRequestEntity(requestEntity);
		return postMethod;
	}
}

ActivityStreamPost.java

/* Copyright (c) 2008, BEA Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. */

package bea.sample.activitystream;

import java.io.IOException;

import org.apache.commons.httpclient.*;
import org.apache.commons.httpclient.methods.PostMethod;

public class ActivityStreamPost {
	public static final String ACT_USERNAME = "username";
	public static final String ACT_ID = "id";
	public static final String ACT_UUID = "uuid";

	public static void main(String[] args) {
		// Post to the guest user by name from the administrator account.
		String host = "localhost:21030";
		String userIDType = ACT_USERNAME;
		String userID = "guest";
		String username = "administrator";
		String password = "admin";
		String url = "http://" + host
				+ "/activityservice/api/story/v1/activities/" + userIDType
				+ "/" + userID;
		String message = "Check out the <a href=\"http://www.bea.com\">BEA</a> home page!";
		HttpClient client = ActivityStreamUtil.CreateAuthenticatedClient(
				username, password);
		PostMethod post = ActivityStreamUtil.CreateActivityStreamPost(url,
				message);
		try {
			int status = client.executeMethod(post);
			if (status == HttpStatus.SC_CREATED) {
				System.out.println("Post successful");
				System.out.println(post.getResponseBodyAsString());
			} else {
				System.err.println("Method failed: " + post.getStatusLine());
			}
		} catch (HttpException e) {
			System.err.println("Fatal protocol violation: " + e.getMessage());
			e.printStackTrace();
		} catch (IOException e) {
			System.err.println("Fatal transport error: " + e.getMessage());
			e.printStackTrace();
		} finally {
			post.releaseConnection();
		}
	}
}

.NET Example

The .NET (C#) example below sends the message ’Greetings from .NET!”.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Text;
using System.Net;
using System.IO;

namespace ActivityServiceTest
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string url = "http://localhost:8090/activityservice/api/story/v1/activities/username/bea/nsuravar";
            string username = "test";
            string password = "plumtree";
            string data = "<soc:activity xmlns:soc=\"http://social.bea.com/activity\"><body>Greetings from .NET!</body></soc:activity>";
 
            HttpWebRequest request = (HttpWebRequest)WebRequest.Create(url);
            request.Method = "POST";
            request.Credentials = new NetworkCredential(username, password);
            request.ContentLength = data.Length;
            request.KeepAlive = false;
            System.Net.ServicePointManager.Expect100Continue = false;
            Uri uri = new Uri(url);
 
            NetworkCredential Credentials = request.Credentials.GetCredential(uri, "Basic");
            
            request.ContentType = "text/xml;charset=UTF-8";
            
            if (Credentials != null)
            {
                byte[] credentialBuffer = new UTF8Encoding().GetBytes(
                    Credentials.UserName + ":" +
                    Credentials.Password);
                request.Headers["Authorization"] =
                    "Basic " + Convert.ToBase64String(credentialBuffer);
            }
         
            StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(request.GetRequestStream());
            writer.Write(data);
            writer.Close();
             
            try
            {
                WebResponse response = request.GetResponse();

                 byte[] ByteArray = response.Headers.ToByteArray();
                using (StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(response.GetResponseStream()))
                {
                    while (reader.Peek() != -1)
                    {
                        Console.WriteLine(reader.ReadLine());
                     }
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Console.Write(ex.ToString());
            }
        }
    }
}

Parent topic: About the ALI Activity Stream API

AquaLogic User Interaction Development Guide

Using the ALI Activity Stream API