Desktop Agent Bridging Discussion group 23rd Nov 2022

kriswest commented 1 year ago

Group overview

Discussion group for developing proposals for producing bridges between FDC3 implementations (aka Desktop Agents), allowing applications running on one Desktop Agent, to integrate with FDC3 applications running on a second Desktop Agent for the same user.

The interop between applications running on different Desktop Agents aka Platforms would ideally cover

Channels
Raising and resolving Intents
Launching Applications

Relevant issue tags

Current open issues that relate to the above concepts with the label:
The original issue is now a github discussion where content can be added and this issue discussed:
544

Meeting Date

Wednesday 23 Nov 2022 - 9am EST / 2pm GMT

WebEx info

Meeting link: https://finos.webex.com/finos/j.php?MTID=m55d4aa79e148c948bf53163690e74fee
Meeting number: 2558 920 8729

More ways to join

Join by video system:
- Dial 25589208729@finos.webex.com
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Access code: 2558 920 8729

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A Discussion Group has no direct decision-making power regarding the FDC3 standard - rather it is intended that anything they propose or work on will result in proposals (via Github issues and PRs) for the Standards Working Group participants to consider and vote on for inclusion in the standard.

Agenda

[x] Convene & roll call, review meeting notices (5mins)
[x] Review action items from previous meeting (5mins)
- 839
[x] Update on the status of the Backplane contribution and discussion of next steps (5mins)
- https://github.com/finos/backplane
[x] Desktop Agent Bridging at OSFF NY (@tpina & @Aaron-Haines) (2mins)
- https://sched.co/1CdXk
[x] Review updates to the proposal (30mins)
- Current proposal #861 (recreated on new PR!)
- Preview: https://github.com/finos/FDC3/blob/544-Desktop-Agent_bridging-Proposal-mk2/docs/api-bridging/spec.md
- Changes from last time:
  - Clarified that collated response messages should have their own meta.responseGuid generated by the DAB
  - Corrected some related issues in the message handling pseudocode
  - Added message exchange for getAppMetadata
  - Added a meta.errorDetails array to response messages that are collated
  - Added a BridgingError enumeration to the error enumerations to provide messages for workflows broken by disconnect or where response from a particular DA times out.
  - Added notes on how to handle raiseIntentForContext via the findIntentByContext and raiseIntent flows.
[x] AOB & Adjourn (5mins)

Minutes

A participant asked if for details timeline under which bridging will make it into the Standard.
- @kriswest We aim to get bridging into FDC3 2.1 and it should be usable immediately (pending implementations)
- No set date yet for FDC3 2.1 - should be discussed in the next SWG meeting
- The current proposal is very close to a final draft - it'll need breaking up into multiple files in the final PR, but this is just an editing job.
- Some participants often request that new features are demonstrated in use before they are added - this isn't a requirement but may be worthwhile in this case.
An update on the status of the Backplane contribution was provided by @Vivek-NatWest
- Contribution was accepted and Backplane is now part of FINOS
- Implementation details and docs: https://backplane.finos.org
- Currently implements the connection protocol (with channel state synchronization) and the broadcast message exchange - others to be added, but will also require implementation by Destkop Agents (channel integration can be emulated through an app running in the DA, but other functions require lower-level implementation work).
- Call to participants to go to the repo (at https://github.com/finos/backplane) and have a look
- Call for contributions to take the implementation forward (Documentation, Code and Spec contributions all welcome)
- Multi-machine use cases supported through default implementation that reads config (from appsettings.json) - alternative implementations with full discovery services can also be used with Backplane (as will need to be the case for most institutions)
- An introduction to the code samples, configurations and examples in the Backplane project was provided
  - .Net and JS clients included (which will ease implementation by DA vendors)
  - JS Client can be used without a desktop agent (in a browser) for testing purposes!
- @kriswest Highlighted that problems encountered during implementation will likely be the best indicators of gaps in the spec.
- @kriswest Current contribution works as a technological base for Desktop Agent Bridging and should be expanded and it is important for other participants to get involved to validate the spec and mitigate edge-cases in real-world functioning.
Desktop Agent Bridging Proposal
- new PR link due to git mishap:
- 861 (recreated on new PR!)
- Preview: https://github.com/finos/FDC3/blob/544-Desktop-Agent_bridging-Proposal-mk2/docs/api-bridging/spec.md
- @kriswest reviewed the proposal changes (see proposal Recent Changes section)
- no objections or queries were raised on presented changes
- Noted that ResultError.DesktopAgentDisconnected should be replaced by BridgingError.AgentDisconnected
@kriswest The group needs to propose a compliance categorization for this new part of FDC3, i.e. whether bridging will be required or recommended for 2.1
- A required addition may be difficult until it has been implemented by a number of Desktop Agents - however this is still an option is some implement it prior to 2.1 being finalized and adopted
- It will be up to the firms wishing to adopt and use this addition to advocate for a requirement if they want one.
@Vivek-NatWest Asked about port range and how the port number increment should be done when attempting connection.
- @kriswest This is covered in the connection protocol already (See 'Step 1. Connect to WebSocket': proceed linearly through ports attempt handshake, fail fast and cycle through, pause at end of range before retrying)
- We will review the port range since 100 ports seems excessive and may have been an editing mistake, 10 ports seems adequate for the default range (which could be overridden by configuration. Connection attempts should as per spec -
@kriswest highlights again for the importance of community involvement in the review of message exchanges and mentioned the conformance goal aim for bridging

Action Items

[x] @kriswest @tpina Replace ResultError.DesktopAgentDisconnected with BridgingError.AgentDisconnected
[x] @kriswest @tpina Complete PrivateChannel message exchanges
[ ] ALL review completed message exchanges
[ ] ALL Review/test Backplane repository!