By leveraging Vaadin's expertise and tools, NPR successfully migrated ContentDepot from Vaadin 8 to Vaadin 14, modernizing their application and benefiting from the latest features and improvements the Vaadin 14 framework offers.
National Public Radio (NPR), a renowned nonprofit media organization, embarked on a mission to modernize its ContentDepot platform by migrating from Vaadin 8 to Vaadin 14 with the help of Vaadin's expertise and tools. ContentDepot, NPR's distribution platform, developed and maintained by PRSS (Public Radia Satellite System, a subsidiary of NPR), is a critical system for delivering high-quality audio programming to a vast network of public radio stations across the United States.
The project: Maintaining operations while migrating from Vaadin 8 to Vaadin 14
With Vaadin 8, which is the underlying technology used in ContentDepot, reaching its End-of-Life, NPR recognized the need to update the web application to ensure ongoing security patches maintainability and benefit from the latest features of Vaadin 14. NPR began the migration process, incrementally rewriting the user interface of ContentDepot while minimizing disruption for users by using the compatibility mode offered by Vaadin.
To facilitate the migration process, NPR hired a full-time Vaadin consultant to assist with the following tasks:
- Converting layouts from Designer templates or pure Java to Polymer templates
- Binding Polymer template components to Java objects
- Updating non-field component values via TemplateModel
- Migrating data source usage and permissions
- Additional enhancements and optimizations
Why Vaadin
In 2012, NPR embarked on a search for a new framework to replace its existing tech stack comprised of JSP and Weblogic, which had encountered numerous issues. With limited frontend experience, NPR sought a Java-based solution and discovered Vaadin. Vaadin stood out as the most comprehensive framework, offering developer-friendly tools and thorough documentation, ultimately empowering NPR's Java developers to build robust front-end applications.
We have been using Vaadin for 10 years, so there must be something good about it! Vaadin possesses full-stack capabilities, scalability, and benefits from great community support. Therefore, I highly recommend Vaadin for companies that wish to minimize the time spent on frontend development.
Lyly Yonkwa Rijmen, Software Engineering Manager, NPR
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The result: Faster development and improved, modern UX
By successfully completing the migration from Vaadin 8 to Vaadin 14, NPR achieved significant benefits for their ContentDepot platform. The revamped user interface garnered positive feedback from NPR's customers, providing a more modern and enjoyable experience.
The faster development with Vaadin 14 has enabled NPR's development team to deliver updates and improvements more efficiently. The migration also has alleviated the styling challenges faced by NPR's UX designer, thanks to Vaadin 14's improved support for CSS and web components. All in all, with Vaadin 14, NPR could accomplish more with a lot fewer lines of code than in Vaadin 8.
NPR's migration to Vaadin 14, with the support of Vaadin's expertise, not only ensured the continued operation of its critical ContentDepot platform but also empowered NPR to deliver a superior user experience to its vast network of radio stations and listeners across the United States.
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