Creating Portals and Portlets

 

Welcome to the BEA WebLogic Personalization Server Guide to Creating Portals and Portlets! Internet portals are a key part of many eCommerce applications. Portals provide an entry point to the Internet as well as value-added services such as searching and application integration. The Portal Framework provided with the BEA WebLogic Personalization Server allows you to quickly assemble both Business-to-Consumer and Business-to-Business portals that require personalized application content on the Internet

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Introduction to Portals and Portlets

What Is a Portal?

The Portal Framework

What Is a Portlet?

Personalizing a Portal

JSP Tags

 

Creating a Portal Using the Example Portal

Introducing the Acme Portal

Starting the Acme Portal

Building the Acme Portal Components

Creating Portlets for Your Demo Portal

Associating Portlets with Your Demo Portal

Editing Your Demo Portal Layout

Editing Your Demo Portal Color Scheme

Testing Your Demo Portal

 

Using the Portal Management Administration Tool

Setting Up

Logging On to the Administration Tool

Configuring the Flow Manager to Control Portal Access

Creating a Portal Web Site Directory

Using the Portal Administration Tool

Administering Portlets

Administering Portals

Administering Portal Groups

Where to Get More Information

 

Developing Portlets

Introduction

What Is a Portlet?

Creating a Portlet Application

Defining the Portlet JSP

Working Within the Portal Framework

Extending the PortalJspBase Class

Accessing Portal Session Information

Sending Requests Through the Flow Manager

Using URL Links in Your Portlet

HTML Form Processing

Retrieving the Home Page

Retrieving the Current Page

Setting the Request Destination

Tracking User Login Status

Loading Content from an External URL

Using Example Portlets

HTML Tables Versus HTML Frames

 

Building a Custom Portal Step-by-Step

Introduction

Terminology

How to Use This Chapter

Creating the Framework for Your Custom Portal

Installing WebLogic Personalization Server

Setting Up the Portal Framework

Repository Directory

Simple Customizations

Project 1: Customizing the Acme Logos

Project 2: Customizing the Choice of Portlets

Project 3: Customizing the Layout of Portlets

Project 4: Describing Your Users

Writing Your Own Portlets

Project 5: Building a Static Portlet

Project 6: Building a Simple Dynamic Portlet

Project 7: Building a Dynamic Portlet Using JSP Tags

Advanced Portlet Functionality

Project 8: Adding a Maximized URL

Project 9: Changing the Look of a Maximized Portlet

Project 10: Inter-portlet Communication

Using the HTTP Request Method to Communicate Between Portlets

Other Customization Techniques

More Portlet Customization

Database Interaction

Java Beans Interaction

Personalization Advisor Functionality

Internationalization

Using Webflow

Commerce Functionality

Modifying the Portal Framework

Building Your Site Without the Portal Framework

Framework Files

 

Advanced Portal Topics

Deploying New Portals as Web Applications

Using Webflow Within a Portal

Cache Control in the Portal

 

Portal Management Database Schema

The Entity-Relation Diagram

List of Tables Comprising the Portal Management Package

The Portal Management Data Dictionary

The WLCS_BOOKMARKS Database Table

The WLCS_CATEGORIES Database Table

The WLCS_COLUMN_INFORMATION Database Table

The WLCS_IS_ALIVE Database Table

The WLCS_LDAP_CONFIG Database Table

The WLCS_PORTAL_DEFINITION Database Table

The WLCS_PORTAL_GROUP_HIERARCHY Database Table

The WLCS_GROUP_PERSONALIZATION Database Table

The WLCS_PORTAL_HIERARCHY Database Table

The WLCS_PORTAL_PERSONALIZATION Database Table

The WLCS_PORTLET_DEFINITION Database Table

The WLCS_SEQUENCER Database Table

The WLCS_TODO Database Table

The WLCS_UIDS Database Table

The WLCS_UNIFIED_PROFILE_TYPE Database Table

The WLCS_USER_GROUP_CACHE Database Table

The WLCS_USER_PERSONALIZATION Database Table

The WLCS_UUP_EXAMPLE Database Table

The SQL Scripts Used to Create the Database

Cloudscape

Oracle

Defined Constraints

 

Portal Management JSP Tag Library Reference

<esp:eval>

<esp:get>

<esp:getGroupsForPortal>

<esp:monitorSession>

<esp:portalManager>

<esp:portletManager>

<esp:props>