Notification Redesign in 4.5

Last modified 22 Feb 2024 13:11 +01:00

Current status

State of implemented for 4.5 version is:

  • Added message templates objects, these can be referenced from notifiers.

    • GUI administration was added, future improvements towards simplification are expected.

  • Partial separation of transport from notification, but still in the same Maven module.

  • New transport configuration separate from the notification (but mostly the same).

    • Transport name is now required and it is an element, not an attribute.

  • Deprecation of chained/forked features.

  • Recipient expression can return focus objects, which is important for localization of the messages.

    • Added expresion to the transport config to translate focus to the address string.

  • No persistence for notifications and messages for now.

  • No GUI notifications.

Plan

Most recently identified gaps are convenience related, how to manage the notifications easily without messing with XML configuration directly. To help with this, the plan is:

  • Implement persistent message template objects. The template serves as a replacement for content-related configuration in the notifier where it can be referenced by OID.

  • Transport configuration will be pulled out of notification support to a separate <messageTransportConfiguration> (after <notificationConfiguration> element).

  • Transport instance can be referenced by a unique name (unique among transports).

  • Notification configuration changes are minimal:

    • Elements forked and chained are planned for deprecation and later removal. Forked is implicit behavior and chained setups can be often written more dierectly.

    • Elements for transports are deprecated and replaced by separate configuration mentioned above. Mostly they can be moved to that section, but <name> element must be added for each.

    • New messageTemplateRef is added to notifier configuration.

    • Currently, the transports for a notifier are enabled by mentioning them with transport element. The meaning will be slightly changed, as the content will now reference the name, but this may require no change at all.

    • To override notifier specific setup for a particular transport, new transportConfig element will be added. This must use explicit name subelement and other elements are allowed, at least messageTemplateRef should. Do we want all content and addressing elements available there?

Known current limitations

  • No in-app notifications.

  • No notification persistence. This makes in-app notifications and retrying notifications impossible.

  • Few supported transports (email and sms?)

  • Missing easy to use templating with multi-language support.

DESIGN MEETING

  • Event - predefined types - do we need custom event types?

    • What is relation to notification hooks?

  • Persistent notifications? Yes, eventually.

    • This also allows aggregation/digests.

    • When aggregated, should the new notification be created? (Probably yes, it still has lifecycle.) Also, can it replace previous notifications, or just somehow reference them.

  • Notification per recipient or for multiple recipients? NO. It’s simpler to have notification per recipient (state/delivery management).

  • If so, as what structure? (data model)

  • Templates - now defined as bodyExpression (and other expressions) - how to structure it for various channels?

    • Probably also separate from notification mechanism - perhaps MessageTemplate.

    • Alternative - function library? It would be awkward to create GUI for it.

    • IMPL IDEA: Let’s start with messageExpression that returns Message (optionally with addressing info).

      • This replaces existing content expresions (body, subject) and optionally recipient expressions too.

      • Currently, expressions are evaluated per transport and transport can be used inside (conditions). This is not necessarily the nicest solution, but flexible. Alternatively, we need to add expression inside referencing transport element.

  • Configuration redesign, e.g. for additional transports types or two transports of the same type.

    • Should transport configuration be primarily in Notification configuration? It may be useful/better to have it out of notifications and share it with reporting, etc. (Note, that currently reporting uses notifications to send messages anyway.)

  • Configuration convenience, how much we can do on UI?

  • Attachments, currently file is referenced, requires OS/system administrator.

  • Push vs pull notifications (query) - this is relevant for UI notifications too.

  • Links from notifications (nonce?).

    • If nonce is used, each recipient must have unique nonce - that is unique notification?

LATER: What is Notification in Prism world? Object or Container or what?

Configuration example

Example below shows:

  • Transport configuration separated from notifications.

  • How transports are declared and referenced in notifications (by name).

  • Address can be resolved from recipient with recipientAddressExpression, or directly specified as value.

  • New messageExpression that is used before other expressions to create the Message object, function library is used to obtain the message here.

  • Recipient can be a User object or a list of addresses.

  • UI notification works only when User object is known. Recipient can be implicit depending on the notifier type.

  • Comments on forked and chained elements that are deprecated in 4.5.

SystemConfiguration object
<systemConfiguration>
    ...
    <!-- Proposed notification configuration, not conforming to 4.4 schema -->
    <notificationConfiguration> <!-- this is Container, but order of handlers inside does not matter -->
        <!-- Implementation notes for chained/forked -->
        <handler> <!-- changed to containerable in 4.5 -->
            <name>just for inf</name>
            <description>
                Describing the messy configuration below, what filters how, motivation, etc.
                Especially the motivation and goals.
            </description>
            <!--
            Top level filters in handler directly - they work, but the handler is consulted for all
            events, e.g. operations on non-interesting objects (like SysConfig for notifiers below).
            -->
            <category>modelEvent</category>
            <status>alsoSuccess</status>

            <!--
            Unclear whether this is forked or chained, it is executed by AggregatedEventHandler#processEvent,
            so it seems like chained, but AbstractGeneralNotifier#processEvent returns true (for common notifiers like those below), so it is effectively "forked" (although not parallel). -->
            <passwordResetNotifier> <!-- PasswordResetNotifierType extending from EventHandlerType -->
                <!--
                Even for simple notifiers the filters are processed by aggregatedEventHandler.processEvent
                called from AbstractGeneralNotifier#processEvent.
                -->
                <filterExpression>...</filterExpression>
                <!--
                What if the filters are only on <handler> element? This seems to be cleaner, but also means
                that these filters are consulted for all events - while concrete notifier uses "quick check" first.
                Also, many filters (e.g. operation) has more semantic meaning inside the notifier.
                -->
            </passwordResetNotifier>
            <!-- more concrete handlers -->
            <userPasswordNotifier>
                ...
            </userPasswordNotifier>
        </handler>

        <handler>
            <!-- Handler using messageExpression to call function library, returns Message -->
            <simpleUserNotifier>
                <!-- Creates the whole message object, also used for UI notification. -->
                <messageExpression>
                    <function>
                        <!--notifications-->
                        <libraryRef oid="a1fd1ad6-6dc6-40c9-87c8-2b8b2705f14f" type="FunctionLibraryType"/>
                        <name>simpleUserMessage</name>
                        <!-- Are params necessary? Shouldn't they be implicit here? -->
                        <parameter>
                            <name>event</name>
                            <expression>
                                <path>$event</path>
                            </expression>
                        </parameter>
                    </function>
                </messageExpression>
                <!-- This implies <transport>bar</transport> NOT implemented in 4.5 yet-->
                <transportConfig>
                    <name>bar</name>
                    <!-- Using different message function for bar transport. -->
                    <messageExpression>
                        <function>
                            <libraryRef oid="a1fd1ad6-6dc6-40c9-87c8-2b8b2705f14f" type="FunctionLibraryType"/>
                            <name>simpleUserMessageBar</name>
                            <!-- params, etc. -->
                        </function>
                    </messageExpression>
                    <!-- Things like logToFile overrides are probably overkill here. -->
                </transportConfig>
            </simpleUserNotifier>
        </handler>
        <handler>
            <customNotifier>
                <!-- Class implementing EventHandler. -->
                <type>com.example.midpoint.custom.CustomNotifierHandler</type>
            </customNotifier>
        </handler>
        <handler>
            <!--
            Currently one handler returns one recipient with potentially multiple addresses.
            Do we want to keep one recipient per handler (addresses are resolved in transport)?
            One recipient means one notification per event is generated by the handler.
            Multiple recipients means multiple notifications - but would they have the same text?
            -->
            <simpleWorkflowNotifier>
                <!--
                Currenlty "expressionFilter", but everything else is *Expression as well.
                NOT changing this right now, unless supporting both (but only one of them used at the same time).
                -->
                <filterExpression>
                    <script>
                        <code>event.requesteeIsUser()</code>
                    </script>
                </filterExpression>
                <!-- In 4.5 it is possible to return focus as well (or address as before). -->
                <recipientExpression>
                    <script>
                        <code>requestee</code>
                    </script>
                </recipientExpression>

                <!-- Template by reference -->
                <messageTemplateRef .../>

                <transport>mail</transport>
            </simpleWorkflowNotifier>
        </handler>

        <!--
        This section allows notification specific configuration for transports.
        Transports must still be declared in messageTransportConfiguration!
        -->
        <transportConfig>
            <name>mail</name>
            <logToFile>mail-notification.log</logToFile>
        </transportConfig>
        <transportConfig>
            <name>sms</name>
            <!-- not used by default -->
            <enabled>false</enabled>
            <!-- but furher configured if enabled per handler -->
            <redirectToFile>sms-notification.log</redirectToFile>
        </transportConfig>
    </notificationConfiguration>
    <messageTransportConfiguration>
        <mail>
            <!-- Unique name among all transports -->
            <name>mail</name>
            <server>
                <host>10.0.0.1</host>
                <port>25</port>
                <username>mail</username>
                <password>password</password>
            </server>
            <recipientAddressExpression>
                <!-- Here always called recipient; not what it was in notifier. -->
                <script><code>recipient.emailAddress</code></script>
            </recipientAddressExpression>
        </mail>
        <customTransport>
            <name>bar</name>
            <type>com.example.midpoint.custom.CustomBarTransport</type>
            <property>
                <key>url</key>
                <value>bar://10.0.0.47:1025/midpoint</value>
            </property>
            <!-- more properties... or, if we can support more fluid alternative: -->
            <properties>
                <url>bar://10.0.0.47:1025/midpoint</url>
                <!-- more properties with key in element name -->
            </properties>
            <recipientAddressExtractor>
                <script><code>recipient.telephoneNumber</code></script>
            </recipientAddressExtractor>
            <!-- All messages are redirected to file (e.g. transport not working yet). -->
            <redirectToFile>bar-messages.log</redirectToFile>
        </customTransport>
        <sms>
            <name>sms</name>
            <!-- more config -->
        </sms>
    </messageTransportConfiguration>
</systemConfiguration>

Example of typically used chained from midpoint tests (there is no forked/chained in our samples):

<handler>
    <chained>
        <operation>delete</operation>
    </chained>
    <chained>
        <simpleUserNotifier>
            <recipientExpression>
                <value>recipient@evolveum.com</value>
            </recipientExpression>
            <transport>dummy:simpleUserNotifier-DELETE</transport>
        </simpleUserNotifier>
    </chained>
</handler>

But this can be expressed by inlining the filter into the notifier itself:

<handler>
    <simpleUserNotifier>
        <operation>delete</operation>
        <recipientExpression>
            <value>recipient@evolveum.com</value>
        </recipientExpression>
        <transport>dummy:simpleUserNotifier-DELETE</transport>
    </simpleUserNotifier>
</handler>

Open questions

  • How to customize various templates? (First GUI added in 4.5.)

  • How to represent changes, e.g. deltas, in them?

  • What notification states are necessary to support both GUI and various outbound transports?

  • What types of notifications are needed for various use cases, e.g. confirmation notification, governance-related notifications, error related notifications…​? What are their specifics?

  • Do we want some notification priorities? Should it be explicit or implicit, e.g. by notification type?

  • Do we want notification log? If notifications are persisted, should that be the log as well?

  • If persisted, should notification (current Event) be a container, an object or something else altogether? If containers, do they belong to someone (part of other object aggregate) or are they standalone (e.g. like audit records)? Do they belong to the recipient of the notification? What to do when there are multiple recipients?

  • May notification be confirmed somehow? E.g. marking them as read would be possible for GUI, perhaps even for some chat-delivered notifications. Fire and forget is obviously easier, but even there we want to be sure that it was at least sent/written somehow.

  • How to support other types of transport? Can they be implemented with overlays?

  • Do we want to support multiple transports of the same type, e.g. two different mail servers?

    • Currently, multiple servers are supported, but only as a high-availability solution, trying one after another. These are not really different channels with the same transport type.

  • Should the template management be part of notification handler? How should the template be structured? Currenlty, it’s a midPoint expression, but separate for subject and body - should it be somehow different? If defined separately, are they objects?

  • Where to manage binary resources, like pictures and attachments? Are these objects or parts of the template or referenced files?

    • Files have their own problems, how to distribute them, etc.

    • Also, we want to stay true to Prism structures, so even if standalone, they must be at least containers and identified.

    • But if identified, OID is better, so perhaps light-weight objects. But how to access the content efficiently, isn’t current getObject still too heavy-weight? Do we want some light-weight get without full object, only reading OID + BLOB from a column?

Known gaps

  • Simple UI based notification administration, e.g. simple copy/paste of HTML template without the need to escape it.

    • Currently, this needs to be copied to the system configuration object XML.

    • Velocity templating is already available, which is often simpler and cleaner compared to Groovy, altough Groovy multi-line strings are also possible.

  • Template override for different transport (channel) without the need to create new notification handler.

  • Template management with multi-language support.

  • Scoping template for org units, also different org units (or other criteria) can have different notification targets and channels.

    • This is currently possible with different handlers, what is the problem with that? Especially when different template and/or channel and/or recipient is to be used, it is already the bulk of the handler configuration.

  • Attachments like pictures are necessary too.

  • Quick global notification redirection, e.g. for test or debug purposes, preferably in UI.

    • E.g. using file debug only instead of the real transport.

  • Actionable links in the notifications, like approve/deny, ideally without any need to log in. (Currently, password reset uses nonce for this, so there is a precedens.)

Implementation notes

  • Why are transports registering themselves? What is the difference between transportRegistry.registerTransport(NAME, this) and NotificationManagerImpl.registerTransport (which eventually uses the first call) usages?

  • Element handler (under notificationConfiguration) is of type EventHandlerType, and so are many of the nested elements, e.g. simpleUserNotifier.

    • Reportedly, there is a kind of "pipes and filters" pattern - but is it this nesting? There is also a handler chain, but that one is a sequence of handlers, not nested handlers. I guess, it doesn’t make sense to nest stuff like accountPasswordNotifier inside each other? In any case, auto-complete in Studio is rather a mess inside the handlers.

  • What is alsoSuccess and how is it used?

  • Remove empty NotificationFunctions?

NotificationManager method usage

  • registerTransport is used only in DummyTransport (model-test), everything else is registered in notifications-impl using TransportRegistry#registerTransport.

  • processEvent without event handler type is the only method used out of tests and notifications-impl itself:

    • Its only usage outside notifications-impl is in NotifyExecutor implementing ActionExecutor.execute, called only from ScriptingExpressionEvaluator.

    • Usages in notifications-impl module are in:

      • AccountOperationListener implelementing ResourceOperationListener from provisioning-api

      • EventHelper component further used by CertificationListener (implementing AccessCertificationEventListener from certification-api) and WorkflowListenerImpl (iplementing WorkflowListener from workflow-api)

      • NotificationHook implementing ChangeHook from `model-api

      • NotificationTaskListener implementing TaskListener from task-api

  • processEvent version with EventHandlerType is only used in the notifications-impl module and only by internal classes, also called from implementation of the first processEvent method. This is a questionable usage.

  • Both disabled methods are currently used for testing only:

    • setDisabled used only in tests in modules model-intest, model-test, story and workflow-impl

    • isDisabled used in model-intest and in notifications-impl

Summary: Only first processEvent seems to be a core method, the rest is for testing only (disabled, but that’s OK), underused (registerTransport) or perhaps should be hidden (second processEvent).

Dependencies

notification-api:

  • com.evolveum.commons:util

  • com.evolveum.prism:prism-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.infra:schema

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:model-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.provisioning:provisioning-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.repo:task-api

notification-impl (witout test):

  • com.evolveum.commons:util

  • com.evolveum.prism:prism-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.infra:common

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.infra:schema

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:certification-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:model-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:model-common

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:model-impl - do we want this?

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:notifications-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:report-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.model:workflow-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.provisioning:provisioning-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.repo:repo-api

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.repo:repo-common

  • com.evolveum.midpoint.repo:task-api

Existing notification documentation

Change notifications mentioned in the provisioning context are mostly irrelevant to these Notifications.

High-level design notes for the future

Currently, the event works only for notification mechanism - is this good? Event results in multiple messages (which is the actual notification). What if events are separate from notifications and notification mechanism is only one of possible consumers of the events?

There are other events, some perhaps too internal, but they could all be handled with the same top-level interface with possible specific event handler subclasses. Also, should be all event handlers synchronous? How would asynchronous play with our operation results? Perhaps the handlers should be fast and postpone longer actions later (e.g. sending an email).

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