[meta] Recline => Portal.JS

[rufuspollock]

Recline.js will rename Portal.js, get upgraded and broaden to be a data portal framework (from being a "data explorer" framework).

Overview

What

• Recline[.js] will rename to Portal.js
• Be upgraded from ~2012 JS approach to datasets and visualization to a modern one (e.g. React, new graph libraries, frictionless for datasets).
  • A lot of this work has been done at Datopian over last 5y. So this will mainly involve integrating that existing work see e.g. https://tech.datopian.com/data-explorer/ https://tech.datopian.com/views/ etc
• evolve from pure dataset visualization to being a frontend framework for data portals (i.e. "presenting" datasets either individually or a full catalog)

Why

• Recline is (definitely) showing its age and is need of an upgrade. A lot of this work has been done (e.g. at Datopian) and we can now merge this in.
  • Recline was created in 2012-2014 as a library "for building data applications in pure Javascript and HTML". Its main use (and purpose of development) was use in CKAN. It has been great there but it's showing its age.
  • A lot of development has taken place in ecosystem since then that we can take advantage of e.g. React, Vue, lots of new charting libraries etc.
  • A lot of development done at Datopian to update Recline e.g.
    • Frictionless Views
    • "New" Recline-like stuff built around this see e.g. https://tech.datopian.com/views/ and e.g. https://tech.datopian.com/data-explorer/ (this latter is a direct Recline replacement)
      • https://github.com/datopian/datapackage-views-js
      • https://github.com/datopian/data-explorer
  • It's time to merge this work in. (This work proceeded in parallel at the time because we weren't managing Recline).
• Broadening the focus: Recline as data explorer can now be done mainly with external libraries so core is small. This core data visualization is an essential part of a frontend data portal framework. ... And there is a need for data portal frontend framework (see e.g. https://tech.datopian.com/frontend). And finally

  • Recline was a data exploration and visualization toolkit. However, external developments mean a lot of the core of Recline is now existing elsewhere e.g.

    • Frictionless for the dataset library and model
    • Frictionless Views and Vega for declarative graph language
    • React for the render library.

    This means what was old Recline is actually quite small.

  • Nevertheless this core is an essential part of any data portal system.

  • So why not expand it to be a full data portal frontend framework (instead of having e.g. a separate portal framework that uses Recline as a library.)

  • Meanwhile at Datopian we have been built at least three iterations of a frontend framework since 2016 and we can merge this work with Recline.

    • https://github.com/datopian/frontend (built for the datahub.io v2 launched in 2016/2017)
    • https://github.com/datopian/frontend-v2 (the evolution of this to converge with CKAN developed in 2019-2020)
    • https://github.com/datopian/portal.js (2020-2021). This is the third iteration (and likely what we directly merge with Recline)

  • In summary: let's broaden Recline to be a complete portal (frontend) framework

• Rename? Portal.js is a clearer more descriptive name.

How

• Merge https://github.com/datopian/portal.js with recline and rename recline to portal.js
• (Medium term) merge other related repos e.g.
  • Merge https://github.com/datopian/datapackage-views-js
    • Merge https://github.com/frictionlessdata/datapackage-render-js
  • Merge (?) https://github.com/datopian/data-explorer

Acceptance

• Clear description of what we are doing and why. DONE. See this issue
• This repo is renamed to portal.js DONE. It is now named portal.js
• Existing recline codebase is preserved in a branch of similar so others can keep using DONE. see https://github.com/datopian/portal.js/tree/recline
• existing portal.js is merged in DONE. Merged in

Tasks

• Add an issue about what we are doing
• Rename current main/master to recline @risenW Done https://github.com/datopian/recline/tree/recline
• merge current portal.js (with history) into recline as main branch Done Merge Portal.js with recline #521
  • configure github to serve main as default branch Done https://github.com/datopian/recline/branches
• move portal.js to portal.js.bak or similar @risenW Done https://github.com/datopian/portal.js.bak
• rename recline to portal.js @risenW
• Fix cypress test issue in merged repo @risenW Done See [Cypress][s]: Remove cypress test for example catalogs #524
• Tidy up issues @rufuspollock
  • Enable discussions
  • Close all old issues (and/or move to disucssions) DONE
• Merge in portal.js issues @rufuspollock DONE. Don't think there are any important ones right now.

[rufuspollock]

@risenW can you fix the cypress tests or should we just leave those?

[risenW]

@risenW can you fix the cypress tests or should we just leave those?

Sure, on it

[rufuspollock]

FIXED. All done.