When it comes to OpenSocial containers, Shindig is the go-to reference, and its PHP version already supports OpenSocial v0.7. Partuza! is an open-source, Shindig-compatible SNS developed by Chris Chabot, the developer of the PHP version of Shindig.

You might wonder: if Shindig is the container, then what exactly does Partuza! do? In this post, I'll explain how to install it and how it relates to Shindig.

Installing Partuza! #

Since I’ve previously covered how to install Shindig, I'll skip that part here. Let's assume that Shindig is installed under ~/shindig and can be accessed at http://localhost:8080/gadgets/….

First, the environment requires Apache, PHP5 (mcrypt required), and MySQL5.

Check Out from the Repository #

Check out the code from the Google Code repository using SVN.

> svn checkout http://partuza.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ ~/partuza

Prepare the Database #

Create an empty database with an appropriate database name, username, and password. For now, let's assume they are partuza, root, and no password, respectively. In this state, dump ~/partuza/partuza.sql.

> mysql -u root partuza > partuza.sql

Configure DocumentRoot #

Set DocumentRoot to ~/partuza/html in your Apache configuration (httpd.conf) so that it can be accessed at http://localhost/. Of course, you'll need a separate domain from Shindig, so consider using virtual hosts or a similar setup.

Edit the Configuration File #

Edit ~/partuza/html/config.php. Here, configure the database information you created earlier and the gadget server's root URL (gadget_server). In this case, the gadget server URL will be the Shindig URL, so set it to http://localhost:8080/.

Copy the Database Handlers #

Copy ~/partuza/Shindig/PartuzaDbFetcher.php and ~/partuza/Shindig/PartuzaHandler.php to ~/shindig/php/src/social.

> cp ~/partuza/Shindig/Partuza* ~/shindig/php/src/social

Update Shindig's Database Settings #

~/shindig/php/src/social/PartuzaDbFetcher.php also contains database-related settings, so update those as well. In addition, edit ~/shindig/php/config.php so that Shindig uses the database handlers. Set it to "handlers => PartuzaHandler".

That completes the general setup. If you access http://localhost/ and see the welcome screen, you're good to go. You can register right away and use it as a standard, Orkut-like SNS.

The Relationship Between Partuza! and Shindig #

As I explained previously, OpenSocial gadgets are displayed via iframes; simply put, the front side of the iframe is Partuza, and the back side is Shindig. Shindig has long allowed you to display an OpenSocial-like view from a simple HTML page by accessing the following URL, but by using Partuza, it becomes a complete SNS.

http://localhost:8080/gadgets/files/samplecontainer/samplecontainer.html

That said, as you might guess from specifying PartuzaHandler, the database is shared. You can see a live instance running on Chris Chabot's site.

Using Partuza! not only lets you analyze how to integrate Shindig into an SNS, but it also allows you to build a small social network right out of the box. Give it a try!