citrix/DesktopsWebApp — pull request #1 by lafferty (2014-09-26 07:21:07+00:00)
Title: V2.0 includes support for CPBM

Updated the Desktop WebApp to includes support for CPBM. The UI was enhanced using KnockoutJS and Twitter Bootstrap. WebApp continues to use XenDesktop for persistence and Active Directory for authentication.

KnockoutJS provides the client-side data model and Twitter Bootstrap facilitates layout. Knockout provides a simple mechanism for coordinating the data displayed by several controls on the client side. User selections kick off an update of several controls without the need to fetch a new page from the server. Finally, Knockout's support for older versions of IE addressed concerns of Windows users who are the target audience.

Previously, Twitter Bootstrap had been disabled, because some of its CSS classes were hijacked by the site.css. Now that it is enabled, developer-friend layout features such as grid are used to place content on pages. This has substantially reduced the effort required to complete the layout.

The WebApp avoids the need for a separate database by drawing on Active Directory for user credentials and XenDesktop to persistent desktop catalog details. XenDesktop meta data is used to record additional information required for Desktop group management. Using Active Directory direction for user/group management and authentication avoids duplication that a separate user database would introduce.