OpenSocial Tutorial - Step by step Video Guide

4th day in Bangalore at the OpenSocial Hackathon and friends back in Pune and Mumbai are finally concerned about my disappearance.

No one really has much clue about what OpenSocial is and what's it going to be...
Other computer geeks too have been rather ignorant...Finally some guys inquired that how can one go about building an OpenSocial app!

So this post's dedicated to all these guys.

Video 1:
A brief introduction about gadgets, and stuff on how to add your first OpenSocial application in the Orkut sandbox.


Video 2:
Here's some sample code that shows you how to call the OpenSocial API and list a user's friends.


Video 3:
Example of an App. Give gifts to your friends...


Video 4:


Video 5:

The Final Countdown! (Submit your Orkut OpenSocial Applications)

(Blogging from the Google office in Bangalore)

3rd day at the Open Social Hackathon...

The final countdown has started for the launch of Orkut apps in Europe!

Just got done with a talk which was about Architectural issues and what to keep in mind. Load balancing etc.

Tomorrow guys here are going to get their applications tested by some college kids and googlers - so everyones busy trying to get their application fully ready.

OpenSocial 0.7 has seem some modification and bug fixes.

There's also been a new group set up at Google Groups - Orkut Announce.
This group is going to be used to send updates on new features, bug fixes, and sandboxstatus to Orkut developers.

There's also a new Orkut Developer blog which has been rolled out. Be sure to check that out too.

Another highlight has been OpenSocial TShirts to all of us out here :-)



Well the final launch seems to be around the corner...
Though it'll be a staged release and it might still be some time before the public gets to taste some of the apps.

In case any of you want to get your Orkut Applications tested and reviewed by us here...feel free to drop us a comment.

Just some additional notes:
- Google offices seem to be the coolest place to work at!
- Unlimited chocolates, drinks, snacks etc
- Awesome food (Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner)
- Amazingly huge monitors for developers and designers.

Oh yeah! They love their cricket here too - The entire office was watching the final stages of the nail-biting India vs Sri Lanka finish. Guys were clapping for wides!

What is Shindig? And what does it have to do with OpenSocial?

Shindig is an Apache incubator project for OpenSocial and gadgets.

It is an open source project which began in December, 2007, to provide a reference implementation for the OpenSocial standard.

The software contains both server-side and client-side code. Once the project is mature, an installation of this product will be capable of rendering OpenSocial gadgets in a web browser.

4 primary features of Shindig:

Gadget Container JavaScript - core JavaScript foundation for general gadget functionality (read more about gadget functionality). This JavaScript manages security, communication, UI layout, and feature extensions, such as the OpenSocial API.
Read more about the Gadget functionality here.

Gadget Server - an open source version of gmodules.com, which is used to render the gadget xml into JavaScript and HTML for the container to expose via the container JavaScript.

OpenSocial Container JavaScript - JavaScript environment that sits on top of the Gadget Container JS and provides OpenSocial specific functionality (profiles, friends, activities).

OpenSocial Gateway Server - an open source implementation of the server interface to container-specific information, including the OpenSocial REST APIs, with clear extension points so others can connect it to their own backends.

Some more useful links on Shindig:

Official site

From the official OpenSocial API blog - Let's get this Shindig started

More with Shindig and OpenSocial

Want to get started with the code?
Click Here

Open Social Hackathon (Bangalore)

Apologies for not having posted for a long time - but as THE day for the launch comes closer...
the number of posts shall increase.

Currently in the Google office at Bangalore and the next few days are totally dedicated to Open Social. So going to be learning quite a lot and posting stuff too.

Here are some pictures to start off with...



Hackathon in progress:

OpenSocial Hackathon - Feb 19th to Feb 22nd

Orkut Team is Conducting a Hackathon Starting on Tuesday 19th Feb which will go on till 22nd Feb.. As per the Plan Developers might be showcasing their Applications in a SHOW and TELL Event.. and for this a Technical Lead engineers (OpenSocial Platform) will be there with us...
I personally feel .. this might be a very good time/opportunity to sync up with Google-Orkut team.. coz i have loads of queries in my mind.. will be great to show something and ask a query on it..

If you are not attending the Hackathon.. but still wish to sync up on what goin on.. Watchout this space..I'll be updating it during Breaks and Post Hackathon.

Martin

Submit your application to the Orkut directory

Get your hands durty.. !!!! Tried out something with Opensocial? guess itz time to showcase it..

Orkut is accepting Application Entries for "Orkut - Application Directory" So hurry up and Submit your Application(s) asap...

Submit URL : http://code.google.com/apis/orkut/submission.html

All the best!!

-Martin

Userplane to Release API’s Supporting Google’s OpenSocial Standard

OpenSocial application developers to integrate Userplane apps, such as Webchat, Webmessenger and Webrecorder, within their applications.

These products can be completely integrated into the OpenSocial ecosystem, giving developers access to integrate any Userplane App into their OpenSocial application. Userplane also will release OpenSocial applications of its own, to showcase Userplane technology. For more information, visit www.userplane.com/plugins.

In addition, application developers can use the Userplane Money API to deliver ads within their OpenSocial applications. The revenue sharing system provides virtually instant payout for any volume of display ad units. Currently, Userplane serves tens of millions of daily ad impressions for Facebook developers, providing a very attractive and stable monetization strategy.

“OpenSocial is a great new standard for developers to grow their businesses, and we’re glad to support this effort. We released our Facebook API a few months back and now support many applications within that environment. We expect the same success with OpenSocial.”

Last week Google unveiled its new OpenSocial standard – a common set of API’s that developers can use to create applications that work on any social network or website that chooses to participate. With standard JavaScript and HTML, developers can create apps that access a social network’s friends and update feeds.

Userplane offers customizable publisher tools, such as live IM and chat, that can be added to any site for free, simply by cutting and pasting a few lines of code or implementing a more custom install via an XML API. Userplane serves unobtrusive ads in its players, and splits the proceeds with participating publishers.

- Sounds good to me.. With 0.7 Specs on OpenSocial..
As a Developer i might just want to just want to 'TRY' out most of the services which are available for Open social so that i have an idea what works and what not ...

For mode Details on UserPlane visit : http://www.userplane.com