.. _backend_overview:

Open edX Backend: overview
==========================

.. contents:: On this page
   :local:
   :depth: 2

The Panorama Open edX Backend (``panorama-openedx-backend``) is a **Django app for Open edX**
that implements the backend functions the Panorama MFE needs to display dashboards inside the
LMS. It does **not** extract or load any data; it is purely the delivery-side glue between
the LMS, your dashboards, and the MFE.

Repository:
`github.com/aulasneo/panorama-openedx-backend <https://github.com/aulasneo/panorama-openedx-backend>`_.

What it provides
----------------

* A small REST API, mounted under ``/panorama/api/`` on the LMS, that the MFE calls to find
  out the running mode, the user's access and role, and the dashboard **embed URLs**.
* For self-hosted (``CUSTOM``) deployments, a Django admin interface to declare Amazon
  QuickSight dashboards, group them by function, and assign users to those groups.
* For the Panorama SaaS, a thin connector that talks to Aulasneo's Panorama service with
  minimal configuration.

.. note::

   This app is not intended to be installed by itself. To install Panorama in an Open edX
   instance, use the
   `Panorama Tutor plugin <https://github.com/aulasneo/tutor-contrib-panorama>`_, which adds
   this backend to the LMS image, configures it, and installs the MFE.

How it fits with the MFE
------------------------

The MFE (:ref:`frontend-app-panorama <mfe_overview>`) is a thin rendering layer. On load it
calls this backend to:

#. Get the **Panorama mode** (``get-panorama-mode``) to decide which home page to show.
#. Get the user's **role** (``get-user-role``).
#. Get the **dashboard embed URLs** (``get-embed-url``).

The backend resolves those requests differently depending on the configured mode. See
:ref:`backend_modes` for the four modes, :ref:`backend_administration` for the admin models
that drive the ``CUSTOM`` mode, and :ref:`backend_api` for the full endpoint reference.

Dashboards and QuickSight
-------------------------

In the standard Panorama setup, dashboards are Amazon QuickSight dashboards. For the
self-hosted mode, the backend uses the configured AWS credentials to call QuickSight's
``generate_embed_url_for_registered_user`` API and returns short-lived embed URLs to the MFE,
which renders them with the QuickSight embedding SDK. For the SaaS and free modes, the
backend instead asks Aulasneo's Panorama API for the dashboards, using signed requests.

`Back to Home <index.html>`_