HPI and OpenContent 2.1 Released as Open Source

Just a quick announcement – HPI 2.1 has been released as Open Source on the TSG downloads page.  Check it out and let us know what you think!  As an added update, a number of our Alfresco clients merged in significant updates for Alfresco after we tagged the 2.1 code branch.  So, for anyone using Alfresco, a 2.2 beta release is on our downloads page.

If you would like to learn more about HPI, check out our website and Learning Zone using the links below.

• Learn more about HPI on tsgrp.com
• Demos:
  • Search
  • View Document and Properties
  • Edit Document
  • HPI, OpenContent, and OpenAnnotate Installation for Alfresco
  • HPI, OpenContent, and OpenAnnotate Installation for Documentum

There are many more demos on the TSG Learning Zone, so be sure to check them out!

We’re really excited about the HPI 2.1 release.  HPI 2.1 represents a complete overhaul of the HPI 1.x architecture and user interface, bringing HPI in line with modern web applications.

HPI 2.1 – End User Benefits

• Updated User Interface – Cleaner, more streamlined interface that allows for modals as well as data loading asynchronously.  There are no more browser refreshes, which means that data can load on the page when it’s available.  During view transitions, the user does not need to wait for all the server processing to complete before being presented with the new page.  We can display the page and let the content load in asynchronously.
• Search Result View Options – for our clients focusing on Document Management, the table view for search results is the standard.  However, some of our clients are searching for images in the repository.  These clients can leverage HPI 2.1’s grid and list view for search results which show thumbnail previews.
• Admin Interface – HPI 1.x used an XML file for configuration.  Starting with the 2.1 release, an Administration interface gives admin users full control over the application.  Changes are instantaneous whereas in HPI 1.x a redeploy was required.
• Better Browser Support – HPI now supports IE8+ and recent versions of Firefox and Chrome.
• Active Wizard Integration – Beginning with the 2.1 release, Active Wizard is now part of HPI.  This means that users do not need to bounce between two interfaces, and all of Active Wizard’s functionality is integrated into the updated HPI interface.  We have not released this integration as Open Source as of yet, but plan to soon.

HPI 2.1 – Technical Benefits

• REST Web Services – HPI communicates to OpenContent exclusively via REST
• JavaScript Application – HPI is now a modern “one page” JavaScript application leveraging widely used JavaScript libraries such as jQuery and Backbone.  As such, it can be deployed on a web server such as Apache.  We can, however, wrap the application in a WAR file for clients that like to deploy everything to an Application Server such as Tomcat.