implementing communication layer with another software

[iluber]

Hello, I'm currently evaluating conference management systems for a project in which we will have to integrate the conference registration mechanism with an external accounting system. I have started to read the forum starting from the development guidelines, and I have seen that plugin development is possible. Before going on I would like to know from more knowledgeable forum users if it is realistic and would be cost effective trying to implement an OCS plugin able to communicate with a remote web service to send copy of new registrations to an accounting application.

What I was not able to comprehend reading the forum is if it would be easy to find and read documentation that allows to understand where to insert my code (which would be basically a web service client).

Thanks in advance to anyone has spent time reading this

[mj]

Hi iluber,

OCS has a very robust plugin mechanism which is the recommended way of extending functionality to communicate with another application. Depending on what your requirements and goals are, your best bet with OCS would be to familiarize yourself with the technical documentation, and implement the integration as a "generic"-class OCS plugin, acting as a bridge to your other accounting application. How realistic and cost-effective this is depends heavily on your development resources, the complexity of your required functionality, and what the API to your other application is like.

We are still working dilligently on improving the quality of and access to documentation, but to my knowledge we don't have a fully customized OCS technical reference yet. However, I'd refer you to the OJS technical reference (http://pkp.sfu.ca/ojs_documentation), which, although not identical, is similar enough to show you what's involved.

Hope this helps,
MJ