To create a new ALI portlet, use the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 templates provided with the .NET Portlet Toolkit. The templates are pre-configured to include references to required BEA assemblies, including the IDK, Portlet API libraries, the ALI PTSpy logging infrastructure and the IDK user profile provider.

A new portlet project includes a simple portlet page in the Default.aspx/Default.aspx.cs files. This page extends the ALIPortletPage base class, which provides access to preferences, user information and IDK resources such as the PortletRequest and PortletResponse.

Follow the steps below to create a new portlet using the ALIPortletPage template.

1. Create a new ALI portlet project in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005:
   1. To create a new project, click File > New > Web Site .
   2. Select the language option: C#.
   3. In the My Templates list, select ALI Portlet Project.
   4. Enter a name for the project (for example, "simpleALIWeb").
2. Create a new portlet page:
   1. In the Solution Explorer, right-click on the root of the project and select Add New Item….
   2. In the My Templates list, select ALI Portlet Page.
3. Add the necessary functionality to the portlet page:
   1. Manipulating ALI Preferences Using the .NET Portlet Toolkit
      
   2. Accessing User Profile Information Using the .NET Portlet Toolkit
      
   3. Accessing Additional Portlet Information Using the .NET Portlet Toolkit