Ensemble Pagelet Development

Ensemble Pagelet Configuration

To deploy a pagelet in Ensemble, you must create the following objects:  

Pagelet security is configured through associated Ensemble components, including policies and experience definitions. For details, see Securing Pagelets and Proxied Applications.

Resource Configuration

Producer and consumer resources are both configured through the same editor.

To create a new resource, go to the Applications section of the Ensemble Console, click the Resources sub-tab, and click Create New. To edit an existing resource, navigate to the Resources sub-tab and click the resource name.

Resource configuration includes the following tabs:

General

The following settings are configured on the General tab:

Connections

The Connections tab allows you to define the Internal URL prefix that the Ensemble proxy uses to access the application, and an External URL prefix to be exposed to users. The external URL prefix may be absolute or relative to the Ensemble proxy. If the URL is absolute, it must either point directly to the Ensemble proxy or, be resolvable to the Ensemble proxy through DNS. You may configure multiple external URL prefixes to map to the internal URL prefix.

The Enable URL Rewriting option allows you to choose whether or not links within a proxied application will be transformed. If the internal and external URL prefixes are identical or all application links are relative, disabling URL rewriting will improve performance.

Credential Mapping

The Credential Mapping tab allows you to configure a resource to log in a user to the back-end application automatically by supplying the required authentication credentials. To disable Resource Authentication, select Disabled.

This page can be used to configure HTML Form-based authentication or Basic authentication using static login credentials, user profile information, or the credential vault. For detailed instructions, see the online help and the AquaLogic Ensemble Administrator Guide "Chapter 6, "Credential Mapping."  

Headers

This tab allows you to choose which request headers and response headers are passed on to the back-end application. For example, if you are using delegated authentication, the SSO system might insert headers that should not be passed to the back-end application.

CSP

CSP is the protocol used by ALI portal to communicate with remote servers. The CSP tab allows you to specify whether or not a login token will be sent to the back-end application. The login token is necessary to use the IDK Remote APIs. This page also allows you to specify session preferences that can be set or obtained from the application and which user information will be sent to the application.

Roles

This tab allows you to specify the Roles used by the application. The policy set associated with the resource maps users and groups to these roles via policies and policy rules. For details on using roles, see Securing Pagelets and Proxied Applications.

SSO Log Out Settings

This tab allows you to enter an URL pattern to trigger Ensemble SSO log out functionality. A user can be logged in to multiple applications through Ensemble via a single sign on (SSO) system. When a user logs out of an application, Ensemble can prompt the user to log out of that application or all applications. To enable SSO log out for a resource, enter the pattern of the logout URL in the Internal log out URL patterns list. You may enter multiple patterns.  

For more information on resource configuration, see the Ensemble online help and the AquaLogic Ensemble Administrator Guide "Chapter 4: Proxy Resources".

Pagelet Configuration

The pagelet defines the location of the pagelet file and any associated parameters.  

To create a new pagelet, go to the Applications section of the Ensemble Console, click the Pagelets sub-tab, and click Create New. To edit an existing resource, navigate to the Pagelets sub-tab and click the pagelet name. Pagelets can be created and edited by administrators, managers, and resource owners. Resource owners can only create or edit pagelets if they own the associated resource.

Pagelet configuration includes the following tabs:

General

The following settings are configured on the General tab:

Location

The pagelet location is composed of the Internal URL prefix of the associated resource and an URL suffix that points to the pagelet application hosted by that resource. The internal URL prefix is defined by the associated resource; to modify it, edit the resource.

Parameters

The Parameters tab provide access to configuration settings for data transport.

The Payload schema URL allows you to apply an XML schema to the pagelet's payload. Ensemble only supplies the URL to the pagelet; it is up to the pagelet to use the schema to validate the XML payload. For information on using payloads, see the AquaLogic Ensemble Administrator Guide "Chapter 9, "Pagelets" and IDK Quickstart: Hello World Pagelet (Java | .NET).

Parameters are name/value pairs (attributes) that provide information to the pagelet. This page allows to set a name and type for each parameter and select whether the parameter is mandatory.

The Pagelet Parameter Transport Type allows you to port ALI portlets that use Administrator, CommunityPortlet, or Community level preference settings to work as pagelets within Ensemble. To send attributes to a portlet as a ALI setting type, choose the transport type associated with the setting type and enter the preference names in the parameters list. By default, attributes are send in the HTTP request header.

Pagelet parameter values are defined in the pagelet injection code that is added to a consumer page. For information on using parameters in a pagelet, see the AquaLogic Ensemble Administrator Guide "Chapter 9, "Pagelets" and IDK Quickstart: Hello World Pagelet (Java | .NET).

Metadata

Metadata can be used to store additional information about a pagelet. Metadata fields are viewable in the pagelet documentation.

Consumers

By default, all resources are allowed to consume a pagelet. This tab allows you to restrict which resources are allowed to consume the pagelet. To limit access to the pagelet, clear the All consumers allowed check box and add any resources that should have access to the pagelet to the Consumers list.

For more information on pagelet configuration, see the Ensemble online help and the AquaLogic Ensemble Administrator Guide "Chapter 9, "Pagelets". For details on configuring pagelets and portlets in the ALI portal, see ALI Portlet Configuration.