[TYPO3-ect] Groupware bridge or API Layer

[Elmar Hinz]

Karsten Dambekalns schrieb:
> 
> The best way would be to have a common underlying data storage. I am
> involved with more.groupware, and it's major drawback is that it uses MySQL
> to store things. It would be better if it stored iCal/vCal/Mail in IMAP,
> Users in LDAP, ... you get the point.
> 

I get it. I struggled for that the new TYPO3 calender became iCal based.

iCal: Calendar
IMAP: Email
LDAP: Addresses
Files: ???

This standard protocols to access the data we should take for granted
to make TYPO3 modern and future proof. That is in fact the reason why
more.groupware based on MySQL doesn't look so interesting for me on
the first glance. But read on.

But the protocols still don't give implementatiotions or data models
itself. Comming to the data models I think we can learn from others
and look out if we find widly accepted standards.

My original question was asking indeed for implementations. Plugins
that could be shared between a groupware project and TYPO3. Or maybe a
groupware project that likes to use TYPO3 as a framework for itself.

One word to LDAP. From my limited experience with it it is difficult
to add one user to different groups, because of the hierarchical
structure of the LDAP tree. Relational databases give me by their
nature the feature to set up multiple relations, LDAP servers don't. I
can for example extend the permissions of a user in a group by adding
a new relation from a roles table to the MM-user-group table. In LDAP
there wouldn't exist an equivalent structure.

I support the usage of the LDAP protocol to access the address data.
This way I could access my TYPO3 users from any email client directly.
But I prefer a solution where the LDAP protocol is used to access
relational stored addresses. That is possible. The directory tree is
build dynamically from the relational database.

Here we find out that we are not so far away from more.groupware. I
guess you already thought about to integrate the TYPO3-dblayer into
more.groupware?

I wounder why the comparingly inflexible LDAP servers are used at all.
I guess it is due to their performance to answer requests.

Best regards

Elmar