WebLogic Commerce Servers Quick Start

 

This topic includes the following sections:

• About the example applications

  • Portal-in-a-Box (Acme)

  • My BuyBeans.com

• Using the Start Menu (NT)

  • Running the My BuyBeans Example Demo

  • Launching My BuyBeans Administration

  • Launching WebLogic Portal Administration Tool

  • Launching the Portal-in-a-Box (Acme)

  • Using the WebLogic AC Documentation

• Running the My BuyBeans.com Demo on Oracle 8.0.5

About the example applications

This release includes two example applications that use BEA WebLogic Portal: a "Portal-in-a-Box" example for a fictional "Acme Corporation," and My BuyBeans.com, an e-commerce example in the Portal framework.

Internet portals are a key part of many eCommerce applications. They provide an entry point to the Internet as well as value-added services such as searching and application integration. Portals can be divided into two major categories:

• MegaPortals

• Enterprise Portals

Examples of MegaPortals include Netcenter and Yahoo! These provide windows onto information on the Internet and typify Business-to-Consumer (B2C) Web applications that can be personalized.

Enterprise portals use general-purpose applications in addition to applications specific to the enterprise or industry. These are Business-to-Business (B2B) web applications, and in many cases share B2C functionality.

BEA WebLogic Portal allows you to quickly assemble both Business-to-Consumer and Business-to-Business portals that require personalized application content on the Internet.

The second example application, My BuyBeans.com, takes the B2C portal model a step further and implements portlets as chunks of e-business functionality.

Portal-in-a-Box (Acme)

Figure 3-1 Portal-in-a-Box (Acme)

The Portal-in-a-Box, Acme Corporation, is designed to be a full reference implementation. It is the developer's best starting point for understanding the complete functionality provided with the product.

In Acme, the portlets are not necessarily aware of each other's data or state. Each is a window on a discrete interaction or data store.

Use Acme to learn how to create and modify portlets, configure personalization for users, groups, and the entire portal, and configure the portal itself. Also use it to understand the complete set of user and portal administration tools.

My BuyBeans.com

Figure 3-2 My BuyBeans.com example portal

In My BuyBeans.com, the portal header and footer are different, and the portlet defaults have been customized to create a different a look and feel. In addition, the portlet contents operate as an integrated e-commerce application, aware of each other and updating each other.

However, unlike the reference implementation Acme, My BuyBeans.com does not implement every module and option the product offers.

Use My BuyBeans to learn how to implement WebLogic Components in the Portal framework.

Using the Start Menu (NT)

Notes: For all of the following activities, ensure the WebLogic server under WebLogic Commerce Servers > Examples is running.

All of the following examples assume that you installed under the default Programs Menu name WebLogic Application Solutions.

Running the My BuyBeans Example Demo

To begin using WebLogic Commerce Servers, you may read the documentation, or start the WebLogic Server and the My BuyBeans example portal. To run the example:

1. select WebLogic Application Solutions > Examples > My BuyBeans.com Server from the Programs Start menu

2. Wait for the server to fully start

3. select WebLogic Application Solutions > Examples > My BuyBeans.com from the Programs Start menu.

   Figure 3-3 Start Menu Program Entries

   

Launching My BuyBeans Administration

Select WebLogic Commerce Servers > Examples > My BuyBeans Application Admin Tool from the Programs Start menu.

Launching WebLogic Portal Administration Tool

Select WebLogic Commerce Servers > Examples > Portal Administration Tool from the Programs Start menu.

The default administration log-on is as follows:

User Name	system
Password	weblogic

Note: This Portal Admin log-in is not to be confused with the administration log-in for WebLogic Server.

Launching the Portal-in-a-Box (Acme)

Select WebLogic Commerce Servers > Examples > Portal Example (Acme) from the Programs Start menu (NT).

In Solaris, after running StartPortal.sh , open http://[ServerName]:7601/exampleportal in your Web browser.

Using the WebLogic AC Documentation

The HTML documentation will launch automatically into your default browser after successful installation. To launch it when you need it, select WebLogic Commerce Servers > Documentation from the Programs Start menu.

Note: The same documentation is available on-line at e-docs.beasys.com, and customers may always access the latest Release Notes from the on-line documentation repository.

Running the My BuyBeans.com Demo on Oracle 8.0.5

This section outlines the steps necessary to run the My BuyBeans.com demo on an Oracle platform. The default deployment set is Cloudscape.

This section supplements the general instructions for Oracle deployments found in the documentation for WebLogic Application Components under the heading "Deployment Sets Overview" in the topic Deploying WebLogic Components Using Bean-Managed Persistence.

Note: In the following section, WEBLOGICAC_HOME is the place where you installed the WebLogic Commerce Servers server. (i.e. C:\WeblogicAC )

1. Open up SQL Plus and log in to your Oracle account.

2. Run the following scripts (in order) at your SQL Plus prompt. (The directory is WEBLOGICAC_HOME/deploy/weblogic/oracle805/misc .) This will create the schema required to run My BuyBeans and its example portal:

   1. p13n.ddl

   2. BuyBeansOracle805.sql

   3. create_portlet_definition.sql

   4. create_portlet_definition_index.sql

   5. create_appl.sql

   6. acme.ddl

3. Open WEBLOGICAC_HOME/bin/win32/sethome.bat . You will comment out the lines which set the environment variables for Cloudscape and uncomment the Oracle variables:

   1. Comment out the lines which set DEPLOYMENT_SET and DB_CLASSPATH under CLOUDSCAPE as follows:

      REM -------------- CLOUDSCAPE -------------------------
      REM SET DEPLOYMENT_SET=%WEBLOGICAC_HOME%\deploy\weblogic\cloudscape
      REM SET DB_CLASSPATH=%WEBLOGIC_HOME%\eval\cloudscape\lib\cloudscape.jar;%WEBLOGIC_HOME%\eval\cloudscape\lib\tools.jar;%WEBLOGIC_HOME%\eval\cloudscape\lib\client.jar

   2. Uncomment the variables under ORACLE_805 as follows:

      REM -------------- ORACLE 805 -------------------------
      SET DEPLOYMENT_SET=%WEBLOGICAC_HOME%\deploy\weblogic\oracle805
      SET DB_CLASSPATH=%ORACLE_DRIVER_PATH%\classes111.zip

      Note: For the variable %ORACLE_DRIVER_PATH% to work, check that you have specified the path to your Oracle installation in your System Environment variables control panel.

4. Copy the weblogic.properties in the WEBLOGICAC_HOME/deploy/weblogic/oracle805/misc directory to the WEBLOGICAC_HOME directory.

   Note: Make sure you specify the username/password correctly when you create the connection pool in the properties file.

5. If you have changed the default port (7601 ) to something else in weblogic.properties within your WEBLOGICAC_HOME directory, you will need to open up the file theory.properties in the directory WEBLOGICAC_HOME/deploy/weblogic/oracle805/misc and change the port number in the following line:

   java.naming.provider.url=t3://localhost:7601/

6. Start the server with C:\weblogicac\StartPortal.bat

7. Open up a DOS prompt and go to the WEBLOGICAC_HOME/bin/win32 directory. Type in the following at the command prompt:

   itemloader -url http://localhost:7601 -tabdelimitedfile WEBLOGICAC_HOME/deploy/weblogic/oracle805/misc/BuyBeans.txt

   This will insert the buybeans data into the Oracle database.

8. Now from within the same directory issue the command:

   shippingmethodloader -url http://localhost:7601 -commadelimitedfile WEBLOGICAC_HOME/deploy/weblogic/oracle805/misc/shippingmethods.txt

   This will insert the shippingmethod prices into the Oracle database.

9. At this point, your buybeans data is ready within the Oracle database.

Populating the Database with the Demo Defaults

1. Now open up the Portal Administration Tool from within your browser and create the following portlets which are associated with the buybeans application:

   Portlet	Bean Catalog
   Content URL	portlets/search.jsp
   Minimizable	true
   Icon URL	portlets/images/buybeansportleticon.gif

   Portlet	My Account
   Content URL	portlets/customerService.jsp
   Minimizable	true
   Icon URL	portlets/images/buybeansportleticon.gif
   Editable	true
   Edit URL	updateAccountInformation.jsp
   Login Required	true

   Portlet	My Shopping Cart
   Content URL	portlets/shoppingCartSummary.jsp
   Minimizable	true
   Icon URL	portlets/images/buybeansportleticon.gif

   Portlet	My BuyBeans
   Content URL	portlets/buybeansContent.jsp
   Minimizable	true
   Icon URL	portlets/images/buybeansportleticon.gif

2. Finally, from within the Portal Administration Tool create a default portal called "buybeans", with the following attributes:

   Definition
   	Header URL	buybeansheader.jsp
   	Content URL	portalcontent.jsp
   	Footer URL	buybeansfooter.jsp
   	Columns	2
   Associated Portlets (visible portlets)
   	Bean Catalog	My BuyBeans
   	My Account	My Shopping Cart
   Layout	Column 1	Column 2
   	My Shopping Cart	My BuyBeans
   	My Account
   	Bean Catalog
   Colors	Custom Color Scheme
   	Title Bar	#336699
   	Banner	#336699
   	Body (Portlet)	#CCCCCC
   	Portlet Title Color	#FFFF99
   	Portal Background Color	White

3. Save your changes. The next time you open My BuyBeans by typing in the url http://localhost:7601/buybeans , you should see the demo portal application up and running using Oracle.