FDC3 for Web Browsers Discussion group 19th September 2024

[kriswest]

Group overview

Group convened to discuss how to enable FDC3 use in a web browser, without the use of a browser extension (such as fdc3-desktop-agent or a container).

Issue: https://github.com/finos/FDC3/issues/896 Mailing list discussion: https://groups.google.com/a/finos.org/g/fdc3/c/jCvlLjokBLs Pull request: https://github.com/finos/FDC3/pull/1191

In a recent email on the FDC3 mailing list, @kriswest wrote:

... I also want to add that there is clearly significant interest in the community in enabling FDC3 use on the web. There is a strong use case in that it would enable better onboarding journeys with less drop-off (where you use an app on the web with others before adopting a desktop container or similar).

and:

But there are also additional challenges such as how to make the API available reliably without importing a proprietary module from a particular vendor into every app, how to deal with more than one implementation of API/Desktop Agent in the browser at once, how to do this reliably and securely within the browser sandbox etc.. Work needs to be done in the Standard to solve these issues and to make web browser use possible in a future FDC3 Standard version - which I believe is possible (and likely to involve using a vendor-agnostic FDC3 NPM module to detect and connect to API implementation(s)). However, we're going to need to do that work to enable the aforementioned API implementations to be compliant and if we fail to hold the line now on compliance with the current version of the FDC3 Standard, that may never happen.

~Shared doc with current draft: https://tick42-my.sharepoint.com/:w:/g/personal/finsemble_datastore_interop_io/EZ0dfTCdRlJCnIF3C_1Oit0BF3fsXyvlMbisXp722DC9Kg?e=H2y7fn~ Pull request currently under review: https://github.com/finos/FDC3/pull/1191

Relevant issue tags

Current open issues that relate to the above concepts with the label:

Meeting Date

Thursday 19th September 2024 - 11am (US eastern timezone EDT) / 4pm (London, BST)

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Agenda

• [x] Convene & roll call, review meeting notices (5mins)
• [x] Review action items from previous meeting (5mins)

  • 1321

• [x] Review of Standard documentation draft (40mins)

  • 1191

• [ ] Next steps for adoption and software implementation (10mins)
• [x] AOB & Adjourn

Minutes

• @kriswest provided an overview of the documentation changes in the FDC3 for the web PR:

  • 1191

  • Deep links to docs for review:
  • API overview now links out to Support Platforms for details of API access: https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/spec#implementation-language
  • Supported platforms now recommends the use of getAgent() for gaining access to an API implementation for web apps: https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/supported-platforms
  • getAgent() reference docs for app implementors: https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/ref/GetAgent
  • AgentError enumeration added for connection issues: https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/ref/Errors#agenterror
  • New Desktop Agent specifications section:
    • Preload Desktop Agents (existing implementations using window.fdc3): https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/specs/preloadDesktopAgents
    • Browser-Resident Desktop Agents: https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/specs/browserDesktopAgents
    • Web Connection Protocol (WCP): https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/specs/webConnectionProtocol
    • DesktopAgent Communication Protocol (DACP): https://deploy-preview-1191--fdc3.netlify.app/docs/next/api/specs/desktopAgentCommunicationProtocol
  • A number of minor formatting issues, typos and errors in flow diagrams were identified during the review, @kriswest to correct.
• All participants were encouraged to:
  • Continue review offline and report any issues found
  • Attend the Standards Working Group on Thursday 26th September and provide their view on whether the current proposal should be adopted as part of the FDC3 2.2 scope.

Action Items

• [x] @kriswest correct formatting issues, types and diagram issues identified during review
  • Fixed in d4e45c4355cd16ded7af15f51bb637128ab06f3d

Rolled over and/or still in progress:

• [ ] @robmoffat @kriswest to to review @Roaders work on generating type predicates automatically using TSMorph
• [ ] @Davidhanson90 to look into tear-down patterns for subagents - moved to FDC3 2.3 scope.
• [ ] @kriswest to ensure that a README and screencast video is provided on maintaining schemas and code generation.

Untracked attendees

Full name	Affiliation	GitHub username

[paulgoldsmith]

Paul Goldsmith / Morgan Stanley

[robmoffat]

Rob Moffat / FINOS 🌵

[kriswest]

Kris West / interop.io 🚀

[watson-ew]

Chris Watson / Elgin White 👋

[novavi]

Derek Novavi / S&P Global

[Roaders]

Giles Roadnight / Morgan Stanley 🐱

[openfin-johans]

Johan Sandersson / Here 🎁

[pvoznyuk]

Pavlo Vozniuk / RBC CM

[hughtroeger]

Hugh Troeger / FactSet

[kriswest]

Hi all, formatting, typos and diagram issues we noted during todays meeting were all fixed in d4e45c4355cd16ded7af15f51bb637128ab06f3d and should be visible in the preview shortly. Many thanks for your input!