Mashups take one or more sources of information, combine them, add to them or changes them to quickly produce a result that you or other users find useful. For example:

In Wires, you define what information you need in the mashup and how it should be changed with a simple set of blocks. Each block has a result that shows the effect of that block. The result from the entire mashup is shown in the Output block. See also What is a block? and What are results?.

With EMML, you define the information and processing for the mashup with EMML statements. EMML is an XML languages that provides a rich programming capability to create mashups and extension points to handle a wide variety of requirements. You use the Mashup Editor to write mashups in EMML.

You can use other mashups or mashable information sources available in MashZone NextGen. If this is enabled, you can also connect to information that is publically available on the Internet or from customer or partner sites.

See What is a mashable? for more information on all the possible types of information.

MashZone NextGen mashables connect to information sources within your organization or sources that are publically available on the Internet and retrieve information. In some cases, mashables connect to an information source and register subscriptions so that information is then published automatically to MashZone NextGen.

Information sources may be:

Typically, MashZone NextGen administrators and MashZone NextGen developers register mashables to make these information sources easily available. MashZone NextGen administrators also define permissions for mashables to determine who may see and use them.

Artifacts are the mashables, mashups or apps that you or other users create and register in MashZone NextGen.

Mashable, mashup and app names in MashZone NextGen can contain characters from the character sets supported by the MashZone NextGen Repository, numbers, spaces, tabs, line ends and these common symbols: _ ~ - * ' . MashZone NextGen uses the name that is first assigned to an artifact to generate a unique ID. IDs contain only characters from the character sets supported by the MashZone NextGen Repository, numbers and underscores (_).

Artifacts can have duplicate names, but artifact IDs are always unique. Owners and MashZone NextGen administrators can change artifact names, but IDs are permanent.

Mashables represent an underlying information source which may be designed by other groups with a more technical perspective. In many cases, you don't have to supply values for these input parameters. In some cases, MashZone NextGen developers define default values. Or MashZone NextGen administrators may set up MashZone NextGen attributes to provide this information (see What are MashZone NextGen attributes?).

Try leaving anything confusing blank. If you still have problems, talk with your MashZone NextGen administrator or developers for more information on confusing input parameters.

Results are simply the raw information from a mashup, or in Wires from an individual block. So results from a mashable or mashup are the information from that source when you run the mashable or mashup.

In Wires, the result for actions and other blocks shows the affect of that action on the information that is linked to that action. The mashup result comes from applying actions to information sources in the mashup in the way that you define.

Wires displays results in a few very simple views. But you can also add many other views to a mashable or mashup. See also What is a block? and What is a view?.

Mashups work with the data from information sources as XML. In most cases, this data is complex, containing more than a single field. In XML, the structure and relationships in complex data are represented as a document. Documents must be well formed in order for mashups to work with the data.

Well-formed documents, in XML, follow a set of simple rules. Each document is completely wrapped in a root element or node indicating the beginning and end of the document. The data within the document is represented as elements or nodes that are children of the root node. Children may themselves contain grandchildren and further descendants as needed to represent the full structure and contain all the data.

A view defines a particular format to apply to results so that it easier to understand the information or to allow you to see the results in different contexts. For example, views can display results in paragraphs, a table or in a map.

Views can also provide additional behavior. For example, views can create a link that you can click to see more information based on a web address in results.

MashZone NextGen has a set of built-in views that you may use with mashups or mashables to view or share information or create apps. MashZone NextGen developers can also define additional, pluggable views for your use.

Apps combine MashZone NextGen mashups or mashables with one or more views into a plug-in that you can use in MashZone NextGen workspaces or in any web page. Apps are one way for you or other users to work with and share MashZone NextGen mashups and mashables. You can add apps to MashZone NextGen workspaces or to pages in your intranet, portal, or wiki.

In previous releases, apps were also called mashlets.

Workspaces allow you to easily add and arrange apps into categories and tabs that are useful to you for your daily work. Apps in workspaces can also be synchronized to work together to show detailed or related information.

One common use for workspaces is as a dashboard.

You create workspaces in MashZone NextGen Mashboard. MashZone NextGen developers or other MashZone NextGen users can create workspaces for your use.

To use a workspace, it must be published. You use workspaces in the MashZone NextGen AppDepot or any web page.

A snapshot is the results from a mashable information source or a mashup when it was run at one specific time. You can take snapshots of any mashable or mashup that you have permission to run. You can also create a schedule to take snapshots automatically.

You can register a snapshot as a mashable to use that snapshot as the basic for a basic app. MashZone NextGen developers can also use snapshots directly in custom apps.

MashZone NextGen attributes are typically values for mashups or mashables parameters that your MashZone NextGen administrator defines. This makes the values available to all users, if they are defined as global attributes or as flex attributes. Or different users may have their own unique value, if they are defined as user attributes.

Common examples might be a user name or password that everyone should use to work with a specific mashable. In some cases, MashZone NextGen attributes are technical information that a mashable needs to work properly.

The most common reasons you may not be able to find mashables, mashups or apps or see menu options, buttons or other features mentioned in MashZone NextGen help or documentation include:

Duplicate artifact names are allowed in MashZone NextGen. Also both owners and MashZone NextGen administrators can artifact names.

Because of this, references to mashables or mashups in EMML or references to any artifact in code of any kind use the artifact ID.