E Configuring the Portal Tools Providers

Portal Tools includes two Web providers, Web Clipping and OmniPortlet, that enable page designers and portlet developers to build portlets declaratively. With the Web Clipping portlet, you can publish content from remote Web sites as portlets on a portal page. With OmniPortlet, you can publish data from various data sources, such as Web Services, XML, or a database, and display the data in various layouts, such as a table, a chart, or HTML that they define.

This appendix covers the following topics:

E.1 Configuring Web Clipping

Web Clipping is a browser-based declarative tool that enables you to integrate any Web application with Oracle Portal. It is designed to give you quick integration by leveraging the Web application's existing user interface. Web Clipping has been implemented as a Web provider using the Java Portal Developers Kit, which is a component of Oracle Portal.

With Web Clipping, you can collect Web content into portlets in a single centralized Web page. You can use Web Clipping to consolidate content from Web sites scattered throughout a large organization.

Before you use Web Clipping, you must perform some administrative tasks, including:

E.1.1 Configuring the Web Clipping Repository

Web clippings have definitions that must be stored persistently in the Web Clipping Repository hosted by an Oracle Database.

As the portal administrator, you can configure the Web Clipping Repository by editing the repositoryInfo entry in the provider.xml file located in the following directory:

On UNIX:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_PORTAL/tmp/_WL_user/portalTools_11.1.1.1.0/tr7qwp/war/WEB-INF/providers/webClipping

On Windows:

DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\tr7qwp\war\WEB-INF\providers\webClipping

Start with one of the following examples for your repository configuration. The repository can be based on MDS or on a database.

Example (Using MDS):

    <repositoryInfo class="oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.MdsInformation">
      <mdsConfigLocation>mds-config.xml</mdsConfigLocation>
    </repositoryInfo>

Example (Using Oracle Database defined in datasource):

    <repositoryInfo class="oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.JdbcDbInformation">
      <jdbcConnetionName>pref/portletPrefs</jdbcConnectionName>
      <useASO>false</useASO>
    </repositoryInfo>

Example (Using Oracle 10g Database or later):

    <repositoryInfo class="oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.DatabaseInformation">
      <useRAA>false</useRAA>
      <databaseHost>mycompany.dbhost.com</databaseHost>
      <databasePort>1521</databasePort>
      <databaseSid>iasdb</databaseSid>
      <databaseUsername>webclip_user</databaseUsername>
      <databasePassword>AX3tR</databasePassword>
      <useASO>false</useASO>
    </repositoryInfo>

Example (Using the PORTAL schema in an Infrastructure Database):

    <repositoryInfo class="oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.DatabaseInformation">
      <useRAA>true</useRAA>
      <useASO>false</useASO>
    </repositoryInfo>

The element meanings and values are shown in Table E-3:

Table E-1 The Web Clipping Repository Settings

Field Value

repositoryInfo

The class attribute in the repositoryInfo tag specifies which type of repository we are using to store Web Clipping definitions. For now the only two valid values of the class attribute are:

"oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.MdsInformation"

which signifies that MDS is used to store the Web Clipping definitions and further MDS configuration is pushed to the mds-config.xml file; and

"oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.DatabaseInformation"

which signifies that an Oracle 9i or later database is used to store the Web Clipping definitions, and the database connection details will be included as children in the repositoryInfo tag.

mdsConfigLocation

This child tag of repositoryInfo is only useful when the repositoryInfo class is oracle.portal.wcs.provider.info.MdsInformation. It points to the location of the MDS configuration file (mds-config.xml) regardless of whether the pathname is absolute or relative.

The definition of absolute pathname is system dependent. On UNIX systems, a pathname is absolute if it begins with a single forward slash "/". On Microsoft Windows systems, a pathname is absolute if it begins with a drive specifier followed by single backslash "\", or if it begins with a double backslash "\\".

When a relative path is specified, it is assumed to be relative to the base directory of depending on where the portalTools EAR file is deployed.

The default value is mds-config.xml, a copy of which is provided in WEB-INF.

useASO

Valid values: true | false

Specify true if you wish to use the Advanced Security Option to encrypt the communication channel between the Web Clipping and the database. This is provided to provide added security in case sensitive data is contained in the clipped content.

useRAA

Acceptable values: true | false

Specify true if the Repository Access APIs are to be used to access the database connection parameters. Choosing true for this is equivalent to making Web Clipping Provider use the default OracleAS Infrastructure Database as the Web Clipping Repository.

Note: When you select this option you do not need to specify any other repositoryInfo tags.

databaseHost

Specify the host name of the Oracle database that is version 9i or later.

databasePort

Specify the port number of the Oracle database listener (usually 1521).

databaseSid

Specify the Oracle SID of the database that you are using to host the Web Clipping Repository.

databaseUsername

Enter the user name used to log into the database.

databasePassword

Enter the password for the specified database user name. Enter a plain text password prefixed with the ! character as shown in the example to allow the Web Clipping Provider to encrypt the password in provider for protection once the producer starts.

E.1.2 Registering the Web Clipping Provider (PDK Only)

Perform this task only if you have downloaded and installed the Web Clipping provider as part of OracleAS PDK.

Note:

If you installed Oracle Portal as part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware installation, the Web Clipping provider is registered by default under the Portlet Builder folder in the Portlet Repository.

After you configure the Web Clipping provider, you must register it as a portlet provider in the Oracle Portal instance. You can then add portlets to a portal page.

To register the Web Clipping provider, perform the following steps:

  1. Log on to Oracle Portal.

  2. Navigate to the Administer tab on the Oracle Portal Home Page. By default, the Providers portlet is available on this page. If it is not available here, then use the Portal Search feature to locate the Providers portlet.

  3. In the Providers portlet, click Register a Portlet Provider.

  4. Follow the instructions in the registration wizard, and specify the Web Clipping provider registration settings as shown in Table E-2.

    Note:

    To distinguish this Web Clipping provider from the seeded Web Clipping provider under the Portlet Builder folder in the Portlet Repository, you must give it a distinguishable name, for example, Web Clipping provider on host ABC.

    Table E-5 lists the settings that you must specify.

    Table E-2 The Web Clipping Provider Registration Settings

    Field Value

    Name

    WebClipping_ABC

    Display Name

    Web Clipping provider on host ABC

    Timeout

    200 seconds

    Timeout Message

    Web Clipping provider on host ABC timed out

    Implementation Style

    Web

    URL

    http://<host>:<port>/portalTools/webClipping/providers/webClipping

    If you want the portlet content to be cached, then specify the Web Cache URL host name and port number to point to the Oracle Web Cache instance. For example:

    http://<cache_instance_name>:<cache_port>/portalTools/webClipping/providers/webClipping

    The user has the same identity in the Web providers application as in the single sign-on identity

    Select this option.

    Select User to send user-specific information to the provider

    Select this option.

    Login Frequency

    Once Per User Session

    Require Proxy

    No (if no proxy is required to contact the Provider Adapter)

  5. Click Finish.

You can now use the Web Clipping provider to add portlets to a portal page. The Web Clipping provider is registered, by default, under the Portlet Staging Area folder in the Portlet Repository.

E.1.3 Configuring HTTP or HTTPS Proxy Settings

Your HTTP or HTTPS proxy settings must be set to allow the Web Clipping Studio to connect to Web sites outside of your firewall. As the portal administrator, you can set proxy settings manually according to your HTTP or HTTPS configuration. Edit the appropriate entries in the provider.xml file located in the following directory:

On UNIX:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_PORTAL/tmp/_WL_user/portalTools_11.1.1.1.0/tr7qwp/war/WEB-INF/providers/webClipping

On Windows:

DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\tr7qwp\war\WEB-INF\providers\webClipping

The following example shows the relevant portion of provider.xml:

<proxyInfo class="oracle.portal.provider.v2.ProxyInformation">
<httpProxyHost>proxy_hostname</httpProxyHost>
<httpProxyPort>proxy_portnum</httpProxyPort>
<dontProxyFor>list_of_proxies</dontProxyFor>
<proxyUser>proxy_username</proxyUser>
<proxyPassword>proxy_password</proxyPassword>
<proxyType>basic_or_digest</proxyType>
<proxyUseAuth>true_or_false</proxyUseAuth>
<proxyUseGlobal>true_or_false</proxyUseGlobal>
<proxyRealm>realm_name</proxyRealm>
</proxyInfo>

The element meanings and values are shown in Table E-3:

Table E-3 The Web Clipping Provider Proxy Settings

Field Value

httpProxyHost

Enter the host name of a proxy server if one is required to make a URL connection from the web clipping provider to its data sources.

httpProxyPort

Enter the host name of a proxy server (if one is required) to make a URL connection from the web clipping provider to its data sources. If you specify an httpProxyHost, but not a port, httpProxyPort is set to default port number 80.

dontProxyFor

Enter the name of any domain or hosts to which you can directly connect, bypassing a proxy server. Domain names are the part of a URL that contain the names of a business, or organization, or government agency, for example:

*.oracle.com, *.oraclecorp.com, *.us.oracle.com

Hosts can be fully qualified host names or can be IP addresses. You can also use this element to specify a list of host names to restrict content.

proxyUseAuth

Valid values: true | false

Enter true if your proxy server requires authentication. The authentication parameters are specified by the following tags:

proxyType, proxyRealm, proxyUseGlobal, proxyUser, and proxyPassword.

proxyType

Valid values: Basic | Digest

Choose the type of proxy server this provider. Note: For more information on basic or digest authentication, refer to http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2617.html.

proxyRealm

Enter the name of the realm of the proxy server that is accessed by the user according to the login information below. If you do not know the name of the realm, contact the proxy server's administrator.

proxyUseGlobal

Valid values: true | false

If true, the <proxyUser> and <proxyPassword> values are used for all users. Users do not see the Proxy Authentication section on the Source tab and Personalize screen.

If false, the page designer must log in from the Proxy Authentication section on the Source tab when they define the portlet. The end user must log in from the Proxy Authentication section on the Personalize screen. If proxyUsername and proxyPassword are supplied, they are only used for public users.

proxyUser

Enter the user name to log in to the proxy server.

proxyPassword

Enter the password for the specified user name. You need to prefix ! before your plain password text as shown in the example. It will then be encrypted in provider.xml for protection once the producer starts.

E.1.3.1 Restricting Users from Clipping Content from Unauthorized External Web Sites

To restrict users from clipping content from unauthorized external Web sites, Web Clipping uses the proxy exception list. This is available only for environments that use a proxy server to reach external Web sites. (Usually, you use the proxy exception list to specify any domain to which you can directly connect, bypassing a proxy server.)

To add an external Web site to the proxy exception list:

  1. Go to the Provider Test Page: Web Clipping by entering the following URL:

    http://servername:port/portalTools/webClipping/providers/webClipping

  2. Go to the Edit Provider: webClipping page.

  3. In the Proxy Settings section, for the No proxy for field, enter the Web sites which you want to restrict.

  4. Click OK to save the settings and return to the Web Clipping Test page.

Users attempting to reach a Web site in one of the listed domains, from the Web Clipping Studio, will receive an HTTP timeout error.

E.1.4 Configuring Caching

By default, validation-based caching is used through Oracle Portal for all Web Clipping portlets. With validation-based caching, the Parallel Page Engine (PPE) contacts the Oracle Portal provider to determine if the cached item is still valid.

If you have Oracle Web Cache installed, you can elect to use invalidation-based caching through Oracle Web Cache. Note that each type of caching is mutually exclusive; that is, you can use only one or the other, but not both.

With invalidation-based caching, an item remains in the cache until the cache receives notification that the item needs to be refreshed. For example, if the Web Clipping portlet contains content that is updated on a regular basis, the cache will be invalidated. Invalidation-based caching, as shown in Figure E-1, decreases the number of requests the Web Clipping provider must entertain while maintaining the same network traffic for each round trip involving PPE. Depending on your deployment scenario, you may prefer using one caching method over the other.

Figure E-1 Invalidation-Based Caching Provided by Oracle Web Cache

Description of Figure E-1 follows
Description of "Figure E-1 Invalidation-Based Caching Provided by Oracle Web Cache"

See Section 1.3, "Understanding Caching in Oracle Portal" and Section 6.7, "Managing Oracle Portal Content Cached in Oracle Web Cache" for more information about caching.

By default, the Web Clipping provider uses portal caching (validation-based caching). To use Oracle Web Cache (invalidation-based caching), refer to Section E.1.4.1, "Configuring Caching" for instructions on how to configure caching.

If you decide to use Oracle Web Cache to cache Web clipping content, as a final step, you must use the Portal Navigator and change the connect string for the provider URL to point to a URL with the Oracle Web Cache port. Usually, the Oracle Web Cache port is 7778. Check the Fusion Middleware Control Ports page to verify this value. For example:

http://host:webcacheport/portalTools/webClipping/providers/webClipping

In this configuration, Oracle Web Cache caches Web Clipping content between the Oracle Portal instance and the Web Clipping provider.

E.1.4.1 Configuring Caching

To enable caching with Oracle Web Cache, take the following steps:

  1. Check the webcache.xml file in the following directory to verify the accurate values of the invalidation host and port number:

    On UNIX:

    ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/WebCache/wc1

    On Windows:

    ORACLE_INSTANCE\config\WebCache\wc1

  2. Edit the provider.xml file located in the following directory:

    On UNIX:

    DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_PORTAL/tmp/_WL_user/portalTools_11.1.1.1.0/tr7qwp/war/WEB-INF/providers/webClipping

    On Windows:

    DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\tr7qwp\war\WEB-INF\providers\webClipping

    In the provider.xml file:

    1. Search for the useInvalidationCaching tag and set its value to true to enable Oracle Web Cache invalidation-based caching.

    2. Search for the cacheExpires tag and set a default value if you wish to modify that value. This value is in minutes.

E.2 Configuring OmniPortlet

OmniPortlet is a subcomponent of Oracle Portal that enables page designers and developers to easily publish data from various data sources using a variety of layouts. You can base OmniPortlet on almost any kind of data source, such as Web Services, spreadsheet (character-separated values), XML, and even application data from an existing Web page. OmniPortlet enables page designers and content contributors to do the following:

  • Access secured data

  • Format data using a variety of layouts including charts, forms, and reports

  • Accept page parameters

  • Pass parameters

  • Raise events

  • Expose personalizable settings to page viewers

Before you use OmniPortlet, you must perform a few administrative tasks, including:

E.2.1 Configuring the OmniPortlet Provider

Before you use OmniPortlet, you may need to perform certain administrative tasks depending on how you installed Oracle Portal. If you installed Oracle Portal as part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware release, then most of the configurations are already done.

The administrative tasks that you must perform are as follows:

E.2.1.1 Configuring HTTP or HTTPS Proxy Settings

If a proxy server is required for the provider to make a URL connection to a data source outside the firewall, then you must set up the HTTP or HTTPS Proxy.

Note:

Setting up the HTTP or HTTPS Proxy is applicable only to URL-based data sources such as XML, CSV, Web Services, and Web Page data sources.

You'll need to perform the same steps to configure the proxy settings for the OmniPortlet provider as for the Web Clipping provider by editing the OmniPortlet provider.xml file located in the following directory:

On UNIX:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_PORTAL/tmp/_WL_user/portalTools_11.1.1.1.0/1pwj8k/war/WEB-INF/providers/omniPortlet

On Windows:

DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\1pwj8k\war\WEB-INF\providers\omniPortlet

After editing the file you do not need to restart Oracle WebLogic Server for the new settings to take effect. However, you do need to set up the proxyInfo tag in Web Clipping's provider.xml file for Web Page Data Source to work properly. Refer to the Web Clipping provider section, Section E.1.3, "Configuring HTTP or HTTPS Proxy Settings" for more information on configuring Web Clipping proxy settings in provider.xml.

The following example shows the relevant portion of provider.xml:

<proxyInfo class="oracle.portal.provider.v2.ProxyInformation">
<httpProxyHost>proxy.mycompany.com</httpProxyHost>
<httpProxyPort>80</httpProxyPort>
<dontProxyFor>*.mycompany.com</dontProxyFor>
<proxyUseAuth>true</proxyUseAuth>
<proxyType>Basic</proxyType>
<proxyRealm>realm1</proxyRealm>
<proxyUseGlobal>false</proxyUseGlobal>
<proxyUser>scott</proxyUser>
<proxyPassword>!tiger</proxyPassword>
</proxyInfo>

The element meanings and values are shown in Table E-4:

Table E-4 The OmniPortlet Provider Proxy Settings

Field Value

httpProxyHost

Enter the host name of a proxy server if one is required to make a URL connection from the OmniPortlet provider to its data sources.

httpProxyPort

Enter the host name of a proxy server (if one is required) to make a URL connection from the OmniPortlet provider to its data sources. If you specify an httpProxyHost, but not a port, httpProxyPort is set to default port number 80.

dontProxyFor

Enter the name of any domain or hosts to which you can directly connect, bypassing a proxy server. Domain names are the part of a URL that contain the names of a business, or organization, or government agency, for example:

*.oracle.com, *.oraclecorp.com, *.us.oracle.com

Hosts can be fully qualified host names or can be IP addresses. You can also use this element to specify a list of host names to restrict content.

proxyUseAuth

Valid values: true | false

Enter true if your proxy server requires authentication. The authentication parameters are specified by the following tags:

proxyType, proxyRealm, proxyUseGlobal, proxyUser, and proxyPassword.

proxyType

Valid values: Basic | Digest

Choose the type of proxy server this provider. Note: For more information on basic or digest authentication, refer to http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2617.html.

proxyRealm

Enter the name of the realm of the proxy server that is accessed by the user according to the login information below. If you do not know the name of the realm, contact the proxy server's administrator.

proxyUseGlobal

Valid values: true | false

If true, the <proxyUser> and <proxyPassword> values are used for all users. Users do not see the Proxy Authentication section on the Source tab and Personalize screen.

If false, the page designer must log in from the Proxy Authentication section on the Source tab when they define the portlet. The end user must log in from the Proxy Authentication section on the Personalize screen. If proxyUsername and proxyPassword are supplied, they are only used for public users.

proxyUser

Enter the user name to log in to the proxy server.

proxyPassword

Enter the password for the specified user name. You need to prefix ! before your plain password text as shown in the example. It will then be encrypted in provider.xml for protection once the producer starts.

E.2.1.2 Configuring the Secured Data Repository (PDK only)

OmniPortlet uses the Web Clipping repository to store credentials needed to access secured data. You must configure the repository if you intend to use the Web Page data source or work with secured data (for example, a SQL database or a URL-based data source with HTTP basic authentication). If you have configured the Web Clipping Repository already, you do not need to configure the Secured Data Repository again because they are the same repository.

To configure the repository, click Edit next to Secured Data Repository on the OmniPortlet Provider Test page. The Edit Provider page is displayed, on which you can enter the repository information. Refer to the Web Clipping provider section, Section E.1.1, "Configuring the Web Clipping Repository" for more information.

E.2.1.3 Configuring Caching (PDK Only)

If you want the portlet content cached using invalidation-based caching, then an Oracle Web Cache instance must be configured as a front end to the provider.

You must use the URL host name and port number to point to the Oracle Web Cache instance when registering the provider as shown in the following example:

http://<cache_instance_name>:<cache_port>/portalTools/omniPortlet/providers/omniPortlet

This task must be performed when registering the OmniPortlet provider. Refer to Section E.2.3, "Registering the OmniPortlet Provider (PDK Only)" for details about registering the OmniPortlet provider.

When an OmniPortlet definition is altered either through the Edit Defaults or Personalize page, the provider generates a request that invalidates and removes the portlet content from the cache. The invalidation request is sent to the invalidation port of the Oracle Web Cache instance. Information about the Oracle Web Cache instance is maintained in the webcache.xml file in the ORACLE_INSTANCE/config/WebCache/wc1 directory. If the Web Cache invalidation settings change, then you must update this file. The following example shows sample entries in the webcache.xml file:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<webcache>
    <invalidation
        host="<cache_instance_name>"
        port="<cache_invalidation_port>"
        authorization="<obfuscated_username_password>"/>
</webcache>

Where:

  • <cache_instance_name> is the host name of the Web Cache instance.

  • <cache_invalidation_port> is the Web Cache invalidation port.

  • <obfuscated_username_password> is the invalidator user name and password.

    For information about obfuscating the invalidator user name and password, refer to the Oracle Fusion Middleware Developer's Guide for Oracle Portal.

E.2.1.4 Configuring OmniPortlet to Access HTTPS URLs

You can configure OmniPortlet to access data through HTTPS URLs by doing the following:

  • Adding Certificates for Trusted Sites

  • Library For HTTPS Access (PDK Only)

Adding Certificates for Trusted Sites

Perform this task only once, either for Web Clipping or for OmniPortlet.

The trusted server certificate file, ca-bundle.crt, generated from Oracle Wallet Manager is shipped with Oracle Portal. This file contains an initial list of trusted server certificates that may be used for navigating to some secure servers using HTTPS. However, because the file does not contain a complete list of all possible server certificates that exist on the Web, this file must be configured or extended to recognize any additional trusted server certificates for any new trusted sites that are visited. Refer to Section 7.1.12.1, "Adding Certificates for Trusted Sites" for details about configuring or extending the trusted certificate file.

Copying the Library for HTTPS Access (PDK Only)

To access HTTPS URLs, OmniPortlet needs access to the files, njssl10.dll (for Windows) or libnjssl10.so (for UNIX).

For providers running on Windows, the njssl10.dll file must be present in a folder defined in the PATH environment variable. If it is not available, then you can copy this library from the ORACLE_HOME/bin directory.

For providers running on UNIX, the libnjssl10.so file must be present in the folder defined in LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable. If it is not available, then you can copy this library from the ORACLE_HOME/lib directory.

After copying the library, you must restart the WLS_PORTAL instance.

E.2.2 Performing Optional OmniPortlet Configurations

The following configuration tasks are optional.

Setting the LocalePersonalizationLevel

The default setting for the LocalePersonalizationLevel of OmniPortlet and Simple Parameter Form is none. This mode indicates that, when you edit the portlet defaults by using the Edit Defaults mode, the changes apply to all users, regardless of the current portal session language or the locale of the browser. If you do not want the changes made using the Edit Defaults mode to apply to all users, then you can modify this setting for the OmniPortlet provider by changing the LocalePersonalizationLevel tag to language or locale in the provider.xml file located in the following directory:

On UNIX:

DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_PORTAL/tmp/_WL_user/portalTools_11.1.1.1.0/1pwj8k/war/WEB-INF/providers/omniPortlet

On Windows:

DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\1pwj8k\war\WEB-INF\providers\omniPortlet

For more information about these settings, refer to the PDK-Java Release Notes available at the following location:

ORACLE_HOME/portal/pdkjava/v2/pdkjava.v2.releasenotes.html

Reverting to Using Graph Class to Render Chart Layout Style

OmniPortlet uses the ThinGraph class to render the chart layout style. This provides better multilingual support and removes middle-tier font dependence. The chart style produced in Oracle Portal 11.1.1 may be different from that of earlier versions where Graph class was used. To display the old chart style, you must revert to using the old Graph class.

To do this, perform the following steps:

  1. Navigate to the provider.xml file located in the directory

    On UNIX:

    DOMAIN_HOME/servers/WLS_PORTAL/tmp/_WL_user/portalTools_11.1.1.1.0/1pwj8k/war/WEB-INF/providers/omniPortlet

    On Windows:

    DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\1pwj8k\war\WEB-INF\providers\omniPortlet

  2. Edit the useThinGraph tag as follows:

    <useThinGraph>false</useThinGraph>

  3. Save the provider.xml file.

E.2.3 Registering the OmniPortlet Provider (PDK Only)

Perform this task only if you have downloaded and installed the OmniPortlet provider as part of OracleAS PDK.

Note:

If you installed Oracle Portal as part of the Oracle Fusion Middleware installation, the OmniPortlet provider is registered by default under the Portlet Builder folder in the Portlet Repository.

After you configure the OmniPortlet provider, you must register it as a portlet provider in the Oracle Portal instance. You can then add portlets to a portal page.

To register the OmniPortlet provider, perform the following steps:

  1. Log on to Oracle Portal.

  2. Navigate to the Build tab on the Oracle Portal Home Page. By default, the Providers portlet is available on this page. If it is not available here, then use the Portal Search feature to locate the Providers portlet.

  3. In the Providers portlet, click Register a Portlet Provider.

  4. Follow the instructions in the registration wizard, and specify the OmniPortlet provider registration settings.

    Note:

    To distinguish this OmniPortlet provider from the seeded OmniPortlet provider under the Portlet Builder folder in the Portlet Repository, you must give it a distinguishable name, for example, OmniPortlet provider on host ABC.

    Table E-5 lists the settings that you must specify.

    Table E-5 The OmniPortlet Provider Registration Settings

    Field Value

    Name

    OmniPortlet_ABC

    Display Name

    OmniPortlet provider on host ABC

    Timeout

    200 seconds

    Timeout Message

    OmniPortlet provider on host ABC timed out

    Implementation Style

    Web

    URL

    http://<host>:<port>/portalTools/omniPortlet/providers/omniPortlet

    If you want the portlet content to be cached, then specify the Web Cache URL name and port number to point to the Oracle Web Cache instance. For example:

    http://<cache_instance_name>:<cache_port>/portalTools/omniPortlet/providers/omniPortlet

    The user has the same identity in the Web providers application as in the single sign-on identity

    Select this option.

    Select User to send user-specific information to the provider

    Select this option.

    Login Frequency

    Never

    Require Proxy

    No (if no proxy is required to contact the Provider Adapter)

  5. Click Finish.

You can now use the OmniPortlet provider to add portlets to a portal page. The OmniPortlet provider is registered, by default, under the Portlet Staging Area folder in the Portlet Repository.

E.2.4 Configuring the OmniPortlet Provider to Access Other Relational Databases Using DataDirect JDBC Drivers

The OmniPortlet SQL data source is preconfigured to access Oracle Databases using the Oracle JDBC driver, and ODBC data sources using the JDBC-ODBC driver from Sun Microsystems. Perform this step if you want to access other relational databases with OmniPortlet using the DataDirect JDBC drivers, which are the preferred drivers.

You can configure the OmniPortlet SQL data source to access other relational databases by using DataDirect JDBC drivers. To do this, perform the following steps:

See Also:

For a list of supported databases, Certification Matrix for Oracle Fusion Middleware and DataDirect JDBC available at

http://www.oracle.com/technology/tech/java/

E.2.4.1 Installing DataDirect JDBC Drivers

DataDirect JDBC drivers are packaged in a single ZIP file containing the different drivers used to access supported databases. Download the ZIP file from the following location:

http://www.oracle.com/technology/software/products/ias/htdocs/utilsoft.html

To install DataDirect JDBC drivers, perform the following steps:

  1. Unzip the contents of the ZIP file into a temporary directory, for example /temp/datadirect.

  2. Create the ORACLE_HOME/portal/applib directory if it does not already exist.

  3. From the /temp/datadirect/lib directory, copy the DataDirect JDBC drivers to the ORACLE_INSTANCE>/applib directory.

  4. Check the configuration of the WLS_PORTAL instance to ensure that the DataDirect libraries are loaded. To do this, perform the following steps:

    1. Open the DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portal\1qz1z6\APP-INF\classes\META-INF\application.xml file. This file is used to configure all applications in this instance.

    2. Add the XML entry, <library path="../applib"/>, to the file if it does not already exist.

E.2.4.2 Registering DataDirect Drivers in OmniPortlet

OmniPortlet is implemented as a Web provider and all the configuration properties are stored in the provider.xml file. To use DataDirect JDBC drivers with OmniPortlet, you must register these drivers in the provider.xml file.

To register the new DataDirect JDBC drivers, perform the following steps:

  1. Back up the file, DOMAIN_HOME\servers\WLS_PORTAL\tmp\_WL_user\portalTools_11.1.1.1.0\1pwj8k\war\WEB-INF\providers\omniPortlet\provider.xml, and then open the file.

  2. Add the drivers that you want to use for the SQL data source configuration entry. To do this, perform the following:

    1. Search for the XML tag, driverInfo.

    2. Add a new entry after the last driverInfo tag.

    Following is an example showing a Microsoft SQL Server entry:

    • For OmniPortlet version 9.0.4.1 or later:

      <!-- registration of DataDirect Connect for JDBC SQL Server driver -->
<driverInfo class="oracle.webdb.reformlet.data.jdbc.JDBCDriverInfo">
  <name>Microsoft SQL Server</name>
  <sourceDataBase>other</sourceDataBase>
  <subProtocol>sqlserver</subProtocol>
  <connectString>mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName</connectString>
  <driverClassName>com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver
  </driverClassName>
  <dataSourceClassName>com.oracle.ias.jdbcx.sqlserver.SQLServerDataSource
  </dataSourceClassName>
  <connHandlerClass>oracle.webdb.reformlet.data.jdbc.JDBCConnectionHandler
  </connHandlerClass>
  <connPoolSize>5</connPoolSize>
  <loginTimeOut>30</loginTimeOut>
</driverInfo>

    • For OmniPortlet versions before 9.0.4.1:

      <!-- registration of DataDirect Connect for JDBC SQL Server driver -->
<driverInfo class="oracle.webdb.reformlet.data.jdbc.JDBCDriverInfo">
  <name>Microsoft SQL Server</name>
  <sourceDataBase>other</sourceDataBase>
  <subProtocol>sqlserver</subProtocol>
  <connectString>mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName</connectString>
  <driverClassName>com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver
  </driverClassName>
  <connHandlerClass>
  oracle.webdb.reformlet.data.jdbc.JDBCODBCConnectionHandler
  </connHandlerClass>
  <connPoolSize>5</connPoolSize>
  <loginTimeOut>30</loginTimeOut>
</driverInfo>

    Table E-6 describes the parameters in the driverInfo property.

    Table E-6 Parameters in the driverInfo Property

    Parameter Description

    name

    Name of the database you want to use. This name will be used on the Source tab of the OmniPortlet wizard.

    sourceDataBase

    Internal value. Set the value to other.

    subProtocol

    JDBC subprotocol name used by OmniPortlet to create the connection string, for example sqlserver, sybase, or db2.To get the list of subprotocol names, refer to the DataDirect JDBC driver documentation using the links provided at the end of this section.

    connectString

    Description of the connect string format. For DataDirect drivers, the format is: mainProtocol:subProtocol://databaseName

    driverClassName

    Name of the driver class. To get the different values, refer to the DataDirect JDBC driver documentation using the links provided at the end of this section.

    dataSourceClassName

    Name of the data source class that implements connection pooling. This parameter is only available in OmniPortlet version 9.0.4.1 or later. Refer to Table E-7 for the right data source class name for your driver.

    connHandlerClass

    Class used by OmniPortlet to manage the driver and connection pooling. The value is either of the following:

    • For OmniPortlet version 9.0.4.1 or later:

      oracle.webdb.reformlet.data.jdbc.JDBCConnectionHandler

    • For OmniPortlet versions before 9.0.4.1:

      oracle.webdb.reformlet.data.jdbc.JDBCODBCConnectionHandler

    connPoolSize

    Minimum number of connections that are opened by the connection pool.

    loginTimeOut

    Maximum time, in seconds, that this data source will wait while attempting to connect to a database.

    Table E-7 lists the values for the driverClassName and dataSourceClassName properties for specific DataDirect JDBC drivers.

    Table E-7 Parameters and Values for driverClassName and dataSourceClassName

    DataDirect Drivers Supported Properties

    Microsoft SQL Server

    • Parameter: driverClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver

    • Parameter: dataSourceClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbcx.sqlserver.SQLServerDataSource

    Sybase

    • Parameter: driverClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbc.sybase.SybaseDriver

    • Parameter: dataSourceClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbcx.sybase.SybaseDataSource

    DB2

    • Parameter: driverClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbc.db2.DB2Driver

    • Parameter: dataSourceClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbcx.db2.DB2DataSource

    Informix

    • Parameter: driverClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbc.informix.InformixDriver

    • Parameter: dataSourceClassName

      Value: com.oracle.ias.jdbcx.informix.InformixDataSource

  3. Save the provider.xml file.

  4. Stop and start the Oracle Fusion Middleware instance.

Note:

If you are using OmniPortlet in a multiple nodes configuration, for example, in a clustering or load-balancing environment, then you must manually copy the provider.xml file on each node.

See Also:

For more information on DataDirect JDBC drivers, refer to the following documentation:

Troubleshooting Information

If you encounter errors or problems when configuring or using the OmniPortlet provider, refer to Appendix G, "Troubleshooting Oracle Portal" for troubleshooting information.