Development

Following the planning, design, and initial resource creation performed in the architecture phase, you can begin application development, as shown in Figure 4-1.

In the development phase, developers use the set of resources created in the architecture phase to create programmatic portal application functionality and portal user interfaces, maintaining their work in a source control system. Resources you create in the development phase may include JSPs, page flows, web services, portals, books, pages, portlets, campaigns, content selectors, placeholders, property sets, XML files, graphics, JavaScript, HTML, and Java code (if you create EJBs, you are likely to do so in the architecture phase). These resources you create in the development phase are file based, and when you reach the production phase the resources are most likely deployed in an enterprise archive (.ear) file.

The primary tools used in this phase are source control, Workshop for WebLogic, other editors of choice, the WebLogic Portal Administration Console (for configuring database resources), and the WebLogic Portal Production Operations Tools to move database and LDAP data between staging and development, if necessary.

Figure 4-1 also shows the development phase overlapping with the staging phase. Because development code and resources are often dependent on database and security data, such as content, users, and security roles, development occurs in parallel with staging where database and security data are populated. While it is possible for developers to create database resources on their own development machines, setting up database resources in the staging environment provides a single location for all developers to share the same resources.

Examples

Figure 4-2 shows a sample portal desktop that includes a header region, multiple pages, and multiple portlets on the active page. The portlets contain various types of content and process flows, such as a news feed and a calendar.

The following are possible development tasks that were involved in creating this portal desktop:

Creating a portal file that uses a single-level menu of page tabs.
Building a header JSP that uses a campaign to show a different graphic for different types of users. The header also includes a link that launches the WebLogic Portal Administration Console.
Creating a look and feel, which includes JSPs that determine the physical structure of the layout, graphics, colors, font styles, and JavaScript functions that affect interface behavior, such as mouse overs on links.
Developing the page flow applications that appear in each portlet. A page flow is made up of a Java file and JSPs. The Java file controls the flow of the JSPs that provide the user interface throughout the flow.
Creating a page flow that uses RSS to retrieve external news feeds from RSS providers.
Creating portlet files to display the page flows, then adding the portlets to the page. Developers can also retrieve remote books, pages, and portlets for inclusion in a portal.
Adding help and edit functionality to the portlets. When clicked, the help and edit icons in the portlet title bars display help and show properties that can be used to modify the behavior or interface of the application. The icons link to JSPs that developers created to provide the functionality.

Development Tools and Resources

Developers use Workshop for WebLogic and other development tools for working with the majority of resources. Developers also use the WebLogic Portal Administration Console on their development domains to configure database, content management, and LDAP data for unit testing; although a best practice is to configure a central set of data in a staging environment that all developers can access.

The following are links to the development section for each of the WebLogic Portal feature guides:

Overview

Development

Examples

Development Tools and Resources