Architecture
The components of the Hippo Suite
Introduction
The Hippo product suite or Hippo ECM consists of a number of separate components that integrate through a standard Java Content Repository interface. This modular architecture is based on the notion of separation of concerns, thereby allowing for maximum extensibility, interoperability and scalability. Notably, it allows for multichannel publishing. The components of the Hippo suite can not only interoperate with each other, but also with many other applications. Many setups are possible, for example: a setup with the portal, a setup for serving a site only or a setup with only the Hippo repository combined with other applications, in which these applications use the elaborate business logic for content management from the Hippo repository, but provide their own interfaces for using it.
Each component is described in more detail in its own section below.
Hippo Repository
Hippo Repository is the central component in Hippo ECM. All content is stored in the repository, and all content management functionality is implemented here. The content and the CMS functionalities are exposed through a standard Java Content Repository (JSR-170) interface. Hippo Repository is based on the JCR reference implementation, Apache Jackrabbit.
Hippo CMS
Hippo CMS is a web application, essentially providing the user interface through which the content management and administrative functionalities exposed by Hippo Repository can be used in an intuitive and user friendly way. Hippo CMS is fully customizable through a GUI plugin architecture based on the Apache Wicket web application framework.
Hippo Site Toolkit
Hippo Site Toolkit provides the tools for rapid development of websites in a Hippo ECM environment. Features include a templating engine which is easily configurable through the Hippo CMS user interface, and a tag library and expression language to accommodate the development of a JSP based view layer.
Hippo Portal
Hippo Portal allows partners, employees and customers to choose their user experience, with personalized applications based on role, context, actions, location, preferences and team collaboration needs. Hippo Portal provides a composite application or business mashup framework and the advanced tooling needed to build flexible, SOA-based solutions, as well as the unmatched scalability required by any size organization. Hippo Portal is based on the open source enterprise portal Apache Jetspeed
Applications
Through its modular architecture, and its use of the JCR open standard, Hippo ECM can integrate with any application, new or existing, as long as it uses the JCR API. Examples of applications that can integrate with Hippo ECM are email and calendar software, data import and export, wikis, blogs. Details and examples are given in the JCR Interface section.