C H A P T E R 8 - Content Validation Workflows

C H A P T E R 8

Content Validation Workflows

Content submitted to the Sun Java System Content Delivery Server goes through a validation process that is managed by the submission verifier workflows. A workflow typically includes steps to validate the content. Content that does not require special processing must be processed by the default workflow.

The workflows provided with Content Delivery Server are defined in the $CDS_HOME/deployment/deployment-name/conf/SubmissionVerifierWorkflows.xml file.

Workflows are provided for the following types of content:

Java technology-based applications (Java applications)

iAppli applications that use the DoJa library

Copyrighted externally hosted content

Other content

Use of the workflows provided with the Content Delivery Server is described in the Sun Java System Content Delivery Server Installation Guide. If these workflows do not meet your needs, you can create your own.

This chapter presents the following topics:

Creating a Content Validation Adapter

Creating a Workflow

Defining Criteria for the Workflow

8.1 Creating a Content Validation Adapter

A content validation adapter processes the content that is submitted to the Content Delivery Server according to the purpose of the adapter. Any preprocessing that is required before the content is accepted can be handled by an adapter. For example, adapters can be used to verify that the content meets the guidelines established by your enterprise, add code for digital rights management (DRM), or obfuscate the code.

Each step in a workflow must include the name of the content validation adapter to be run for that step. The following table describes the adapters provided with the Content Delivery Server.

TABLE 8-1 Content Validation Adapters
Adapter	Description
`APIFilterAdapter`	Verifies that only APIs allowed by the developer plan assigned to the developer who submitted the content are used. It also determines which devices support the APIs that the content uses.
`MIDletValidationAdapter`	Validates that the byte stream is a MIDlet application archive file.
`CopyrightAdapter`	Ensures that copyrighted content is not stored locally.
`IAppliValidationAdapter`	Validates that the byte stream is an iAppli application archive file.
`AddDerivedEditionAdapter`	Stores the edition that is published, stocked and downloaded.
`MIDletSigningAdapter`	Signs the MIDlet.
`MIDletPermissionsAdapter`	Adds permissions to the `MIDlet-Permissions` and `MIDlet-Permissions-Opt` attributes that are needed to run MIDlets that are instrumented with connected DRM agents.
`DRMAdapter`	Instruments a MIDlet with the DRM agent.
`MethodRedirectionAdapter`	Redirects certain method calls to methods that provide the special processing required by MIDlets instrumented with DRM agents.

If none of the adapters provided meets your needs, you can create your own adapter using the Content Validation API. See the Sun Java System Content Delivery Server Customization Guide for information on the Content Validation API.

If the adapter that you write needs values that cannot be known at the time the adapter is written, create a property file for the adapter. For example, if the adapter needs to know the location of a utility that it uses, create a property file that contains a property for the location. Set the location property to point to the directory that contains the utility on the system on which the adapter runs. Write the adapter to reference the location property when the location of the utility is needed. The property file that you create must be placed in the $CDS_HOME/deployment/deployment-name/conf directory.

If you create your own adapter, you must register the adapter by adding a statement in the $CDS_HOME/deployment/deployment-name/conf/SubmissionVerifierAdapters.xml file. If the adapter requires values in a property file, specify the name of the file in the property-file attribute. For example, if you create an adapter named MyValidationAdapter that requires a property file named Validation.properties, add the following statement to the file:

<adapter id="MyValidationAdapter"

    name="sample.package.MyValidationAdapter"

    propertyfile="Validation.properties"/>

8.2 Creating a Workflow

A workflow describes the steps taken to validate and protect content submitted to the Content Delivery Server. The following code example shows the workflow for externally hosted copyrighted content.

CODE EXAMPLE 8-1 Workflow for Externally Hosted Copyrighted Content
<workflow id="4" name="Copyrighted External Content Workflow" activation="manual"> <desc> This workflow is used to ensure copyrighted external content is not stored </desc> <step-list> <step id="1" name="AddingDerivedEdition" adapter="AddDerivedEditionAdapter"> <desc> This step adds a downloadable edition derived from the original </desc> <argument-list> <argument name="AddDerivedEdition.EditionNameSuffix" kind="indirect" value="editionnamesuffix""/> <argument name="AddDerivedEdition.StoreOriginalBytes" kind="direct" value="true"/> </argument-list> </step> <step id="2" name="PreventingCopies" adapter="CopyrightAdapter"> <desc> This step removes any locally stored copies of the content </desc> </step> </step-list> </workflow>

CODE EXAMPLE 8-1 Workflow for Externally Hosted Copyrighted Content

<workflow id="4" name="Copyrighted External Content Workflow"

          activation="manual">

  <desc>

    This workflow is used to ensure copyrighted external content is not stored

  </desc>

  <step-list>

    <step id="1" name="AddingDerivedEdition" adapter="AddDerivedEditionAdapter">

      <desc>

        This step adds a downloadable edition derived from the original

      </desc>

      <argument-list>

        <argument name="AddDerivedEdition.EditionNameSuffix"

                  kind="indirect" value="editionnamesuffix""/>

        <argument name="AddDerivedEdition.StoreOriginalBytes"

                  kind="direct" value="true"/>

      </argument-list>

    </step>

    <step id="2" name="PreventingCopies" adapter="CopyrightAdapter">

      <desc>

        This step removes any locally stored copies of the content

      </desc>

    </step>

  </step-list>

</workflow>

Each workflow that you define requires the following items:

A unique workflow ID.

A list of steps. Within the list, each step must have a unique ID and name and specify the name of the adapter to be executed.

A step that executes AddDerivedEditionAdapter. This step stores the version of the content that a subscriber downloads. There must be at least one step in every workflow that executes this adapter. If your workflow modifies the content to create the edition that is downloaded, AddDerivedEditionAdapter must be executed after the steps that perform the modifications and the argument AddDerivedEdition.StoreOriginalBytes must be set to false. Otherwise, the modifications are lost.

If your workflow creates more than one edition, the edition delivered to the subscriber depends on the capabilities of the device. If more than one edition matches the device, the last edition created that matches is the one delivered. For example, if steps 2, 5, and 7 in your workflow create unique editions of the content and the device is capable of running the editions created in steps 2 and 7, the edition created in step 7 is delivered.

An argument list. If the adapter used in a step requires arguments, the step must include an argument list.

8.3 Defining Criteria for the Workflow

The workflow that is executed is determined by the criteria defined for the workflow. See the section "Specifying Workflow Criteria" in the Sun Java System Content Delivery Server Installation Guide for information on setting up the criteria for the workflow that you created.