Chapter 69 Overview of Desktop Templates

This chapter contains the following sections:

• Introduction

• Installation Location

• The Desktop and Template Files

• File Lookup Scenario

Introduction

To generate the rendered Desktop user interface (what the industry refers to as the “presentation”), the Sun Java System Portal Server 7.1 software makes use of either JSPs or template files.

Installation Location

The default set of template files are installed in /var/opt/SUNWportal/portals/<portal_id>/desktop/default directory. The developer sample template files are installed in /var/opt/SUNWportal/portals/<portal_id>/desktop/developer_sample and /var/opt/SUNWportal/portals/<portal_id>/desktop/developer_anonymous_sample directories. Files in the /var/opt/SUNWportal/portals/<portal_id>/desktop/developer_anonymous_sample directory are specific to the developer sample Anonymous Desktop.

The Desktop and Template Files

Providers that use template files hardcode their names and the template file names are not configurable in the Display Profile. For Providers that are based on JSP provider, the names of the JSP used by provider can be administratively changed as it is a property of the channel.

Both JSP and Desktop templates serve the purpose of separating business and presentation logic in the Portal Server 7.1. JSP is an accepted standard and is widely employed in many web-based applications. Desktop templates pre-date the emergence of JSP. JSP has many advantages over Desktop templates.

It is highly recommended that new Portal Server 7.1 providers be based on JSP and the Portal Server 7.1 JSPProvider. However, there may be cases where the simplicity of Desktop templates provides an advantage. Desktop templates are fully supported in Portal Server 7.1. Many pieces of the product, such as the communications channels, continue to use them.

File Lookup Scenario

The Portal Server software uses the lookup scenario outlined in this section to find the JSPs it needs. Use this order to decide the final location of your own JSPs.

Example 69–1 Template File Lookup Scenario

            
desktoptype_
            locale/
            channelname/
            clientPath

            desktoptype_
            locale/
            provider/
            clientPath

            desktoptype_
            locale/
            channelname

            desktoptype_
            locale/
            provider

            desktoptype_
            locale/
            clientPath

            desktoptype_
            locale

            desktoptype/
            channelname/
            clientPath

            desktoptype/
            provider/
            clientPath

            desktoptype/
            channelname

            desktoptype/
            provider

            desktoptype/
            clientPath

            desktoptype
default_
            locale/
            channelname/
            clientPath
default_
            locale/
            provider/
            clientPath
default_
            locale/channelname
default_
            locale/
            provider
default_
            locale/
            clientPath
default_
            locale
default/
            channelname/
            clientPath
default/
            provider/
            clientPath
default/
            channelname
default/
            provider
default/
            clientPath
default

            templateroot

If there is no clientPath specified, then the directory search order is as follows:

Example 69–2 Template File Lookup Scenario (no clientPath)

            
desktoptype_
            locale/
            channelname

            desktoptype_
            locale/
            provider

            desktoptype_
            locale

            desktoptype/
            channelname

            desktoptype/
            provider

            desktoptype
default_
            locale/
            channelname
default_
            locale/
            provider
default_
            locale
default/
            channelname
default/
            provider
default

            templateroot

The lookup scenario relies on the following parameters:

desktoptype

For example default (set in the administration console). Note that desktop type is now a comma separated string list and so the look up will be based on the desktop type(s) that are defined in the desktoptype attribute.

locale

Preferred locale is the user’s locale. For example, en_US (set by users through the administration console in the “User” setting)

clientPath

This is an optional file-path containing client-specific templates; for example, html (set through the administration console Client Detection service)

channelname

This is the name of the channel; for example, newSingleContainer (set in the display profile)

provider

This is the provider name; for example, JSPSingleContainerProvider (set in the display profile)

templateroot

This is defined in the desktopconfig.properties file. The root of the search directory (default value of /var/opt/SUNWportal/portals/<portal_id>/desktop/) can be changed by modifying the templateBaseDir property in the desktopconfig.properties file.