OpenHierarchy

OpenHierarchy is a Open source Java web application framework I've been working on since the summer of 2006. It's been under very intense development since the summer of 2007 and is currently approaching it's first public release, 1.0.

The main development team currently consists of around five very active developers. Simultaneously as version 1.0 is released the project will move to it's own website at www.openhierarchy.org complete with forums, documentation etc.

Background & Philosophy

My vision with OpenHierarchy is to develop a framework that focuses on creating a dynamic and flexible website structure divided into modules and sections almost like files and folders in a normal filesystem.

Now there are plenty of good open source Java web application frameworks available but many of them involve "weaving" the site structure together by writing an endless streams of XML or property files. Thus creating static site structures which can be very cumbersome to modify or restructure in runtime.

The structure of Web sites built in OpenHierarchy is based on two simple components, sections and modules. The screenshot below is from the OpenHierarchy administration module showing a part of the structure of this site.

The icons next to the modules and sections are used to modify the modules and sections in runtime. Modules and sections can be added, updated, removed, started, stopped and moved around in runtime. OpenHierarchy also manages the menuitems produces by modules in each section allowing for menuitems to be sorted and manipulated in runtime.

Early access

OpenHierarchy hasn't had any public release yet but it is already being used by over 50 different websites and web applications both in the private and public sector. The source code is copyright Robert Olofsson and is available under the LGPLv3 license from the following subversion repository: svn://unlogic.se/openhierarchy