The Submitter Extension Ian Utting University of Kent

The Submitter Extension Ian Utting University of Kent First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 1

Overview • The original extension – still part of the standard Blue. J download • Provides a mechanism for submitting (files from) Blue. J projects for assessment/feedback • Supports email, ftp, file transfer and http transfers • Written in less security-conscious times (late 2002) First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 2

Controlling submission • A driver file (submission. defs) contains a number of user-selectable submission definitions, it can be installed per Blue. J installation, per user or per project • This file can include further definitions retrieved from a URL – you can use this to “gate” submissions by changing a centrally controlled file. First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 3

Submission transports • The target of a submission is specified by a URL-like transport definition, which can include entries collected from the user (e. g. user names, PINs, message text) • The mailto: transport requires an SMTP server name to be provided (via Blue. J’s Tools/Preferences panel). • The http: transport displays any resulting HTML in a Java panel, clicking an included link will open it in an external browser. • There’s no security implementation in the transport mechanisms, except for ftp: . First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 4

Submit which files? • A definition can specify the files: – Which should be included – Which should be excluded – Which must be present before the submission can proceed • Submitted files can be bundled into a Jar (or zip) file. First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 5

Where next? • Security concerns limit the utility of the Submitter, which doesn’t support: – Secure SMTP – HTTP authorization – SSH • Network filestores and the file: transport can be very effective • FTP has been rendered (generally) useless • On the other hand, there’s a lot more support from standard libraries now than when the Submitter was written First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 6

More information • The submitter is included with the standard Blue. J download • Documentation on the submission. defs file format, with examples and a sample PHP submission handler, is at: www. bluej. org/extensions/submitter. html First Blue. J Day, Houston, Texas, 1 st March 2006 7