Here is a list of all entries in the glossary, plus the first few lines of content. Click a link to see the full text for each entry.
Application Programming Interface or API (Glossary Entry) -- An application programming interface or API is an interface defined and implemented by the Atlassian Gadgets framework that is used by host applications to invoke operations provided by Atlassian Gadgets. For example, there are APIs for rendering gadgets and dashboards, loading and saving dashboards, and fetching and parsing gadget XML specifications.
Atlassian Gadgets (Glossary Entry) -- The term 'Atlassian gadgets' has two meanings. Firstly, Atlassian gadgets are similar to Google gadgets and provide additional options allowing interaction with Atlassian applications such as JIRA http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira and Confluence http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence. Secondly, the term 'Atlassian Gadgets' (usually with initial capital letters) means the development framework that allows you to develop your own Atlassian gadget.
Atlassian Gadgets Support Level or AGSL (Glossary Entry) -- An Atlassian Gadgets Support Level (AGSL) is a number (0, 1, 2, etc) indicating the level of support an application provides for Atlassian gadgets. An AGSL is one of several stages of integration between Atlassian gadgets and a host application. See the application support levels.
Container (Glossary Entry) -- A container is an application or web page that embeds and displays gadgets, either on a dashboard or individually on a page. The application may offer a configurable dashboard where the user can add gadgets. Or the application may offer another means of displaying a gadget, such as a macro which embeds the gadget into a wiki page.
Dashboard (Glossary Entry) -- A dashboard is typically the landing page of an application such as JIRA http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira or Confluence http://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence, providing an entry point into the different levels of functionality within the application. For applications that support Atlassian gadgets, the dashboard is a container where users can add gadgets and personalise their dashboard display.
Directive (Glossary Entry) -- The Atlassian Gadgets framework allows you to specify #-directives in your gadget specification XML file that will be replaced by generated content at run time. These #-directives are provided by the Atlassian Gadget Publisher plugin. They work for any gadget that is provided as a plugin in an Atlassian application. The #-directives do not work for gadgets that are served from an external web server.#-directives are sometimes also called 'macros' or 'pseudo-macros'.
Directory (Glossary Entry) -- The gadgets directory displays a list of available gadgets, allowing users to select a gadget for installation onto their dashboard. In the future we will extend the functionality offered by the directory, so that it also allows users to comment on and rate gadgets. Administrators can add external gadgets to the directory, making the gadgets available for users to add to their dashboards.
Gadget Publisher Plugin (Glossary Entry) -- The Gadget Publisher is a plugin to be installed into an Atlassian application, giving the application the ability to produce gadgets for display in other applications.
Host Application (Glossary Entry) -- The host application (or host) is an application that integrates with Atlassian gadgets by using the application programming interface (API) and provides implementations of the service provider interface (SPI).
OAuth (Glossary Entry) -- OAuth http://oauth.net/ is an open protocol allowing web applications to authorize other applications to access their data and services on the behalf of their users. OAuth is the recommended mechanism for an Atlassian gadget that needs to authenticate a user before displaying information on a web page.
OpenSocial (Glossary Entry) -- The main aim of OpenSocial http://www.opensocial.org is to define a common API for social applications across multiple websites. Using standard JavaScript and HTML, developers can create applications that access a social network's friends and feeds. Applications that use the OpenSocial APIs http://wiki.opensocial.org/index.php?title=JavaScript\_API\_Overview\_(v0.8) can be embedded within a social network itself or access a site's social data from anywhere on the web. OpenSocial applications are ba
OpenSocial Plugin (Glossary Entry) -- The OpenSocial plugin is installed into Atlassian applications, giving the application the ability to render (display) the contents of gadgets. Host applications rarely interact with this plugin directly. It is mostly a wrapper around Shindig that integrates Shindig into an Atlassian plugin framework container. This plugin also includes the part of Shindig that handles the OpenSocial data APIs. Note that these APIs are not yet used by Atlassian applications. This plugin was previously called the
Plugin Framework 2 (Glossary Entry) -- The Atlassian Plugin Framework 2 is the latest development framework allowing developers to build plugins for Atlassian applications. A plugin is a bundle of code, resources and configuration files that can be dropped into an Atlassian product to add new functionality or change the behaviour of existing features. Refer to the Atlassian Plugin Framework documentation.
Reference Implementation (Glossary Entry) -- The reference implementation (or refimpl) is an application with no features and no functionality. Instead, it represents the lowest common denominator of all the Atlassian applications. In this way the reference implementation provides a way of codifying the shared framework in all the applications. The reference implementation of Atlassian Gadgets allows gadget authors to test gadgets in a lightweight dashboard container without having to install and launch a full product such as JIRA.
Service Provider Interface or SPI (Glossary Entry) -- A service provider interface or SPI is an interface defined by the Atlassian Gadgets framework that is implemented by host applications. An application or container will implement a number of SPIs in order to support Atlassian Gadgets at the various support levels.
Shared Access Layer or SAL (Glossary Entry) -- The Atlassian Shared Access Layer (SAL) provides a consistent, cohesive API to common plugin tasks, regardless of the Atlassian application into which your plugin is deployed. Refer to the SAL documentation.
Trusted Application Authentication (Glossary Entry) -- Trusted application authentication (or 'trusted apps') is an Atlassian-developed mechanism allowing two applications to exchange information on behalf of a logged-in user. Atlassian Gadgets can use trusted application authentication to allow transparent authorization of gadgets running in an Atlassian gadget container application to access data and services from other Atlassian applications that have been configured to trust it. For example, an administrator can configure JIRA http://www.atlassi
Universal Plugin Manager (Glossary Entry) -- The Universal Plugin Manager (UPM) provides an interface for plugin management within an application. The UPM is itself a plugin to be installed in Atlassian applications. The UPM also interfaces with the Atlassian Plugin Exchange http://plugins.atlassian.com.