Sun Java System Portal Server 7.1 Technical Reference

Chapter 37 JSP-Based Desktop

This chapter contains the following sections:

JSPTabContainer

The JSPTabContainer provides a JSP-based tabbed Desktop.

Sample Desktop

Default Layout

By default, the sample portal Desktop based on the JSPTabContainer includes five tabs, My Front Page, Samples, Search, Collaboration, and Sample Portlet. In the figure below, the channels are shown in numbers.

My Front Page tab (default) — Login or User Information, Bookmark, Sample JSP, and XML Test channels
1 — Samples tab: Sun Information, URL Scraper, and Notes channels
2 — Search tab: Search channel
3 — Collaboration tab: Discussions Lite and Discussions channels
4 — Portlet Samples tab: Bookmark, Showtime, and Weather portlet channels

Figure 37–1 Sample Desktop Based on JSPTabContainer

Default Actions

The sample JSPTabContainer channel, by default, includes:

Banner links to return Home, tabs to allow the user to remove, rename or select the start tab, and also create a new tab (the URL for this page is action=edit&provider=JSPTabContainer), theme to allow the user to set the color scheme and font type for the Desktop (the URL for the preset theme page is action=edit&provider=JSPPresetThemeContainer), help that displays the Desktop sample online help (the URL is ../docs/locale/desktop/helppage.htm), Log Out link to log the user out of the Desktop (the URL is action=logout), and Search to allow the user to search.

When you click the Tabs link in the Desktop, the Current Tabs Settings Edit page, where you can make changes, is displayed. Start Tab lets you set the starting tab; Tab Name specifies the name of the tabs in the container; and Action lets you rename or delete a tab from the Desktop. (JavaScript handles the action.)

When you click Make a New Tab, the corresponding Edit page is shown. You decide what to name the tab and what the tab topics are. Content Page is displayed only when making a new tab from scratch. When other Tab Topics are selected, a new tab which looks similar to the TabTopic selected, is created and displayed.
Links specific to the contained containers. The channels in each tab depend on the contained container of the JSPTabContainer. In the Sample Portal, these contained containers are JSPTableContainer and the channels are dependant on this container; but this does not have to be the case, they can be any container. The Content and Layout links provide the ability to customize the current selected contained container.
Content and layout links. The top-most JSP in the table container defines the Content and Layout links. JSPContentContainer is the container that displays the Content page, and JSPLayoutContainer is the container that displays the Layout page.

Default Display Profile Settings

The provider responsible for generating the JSPTabContainer channel is JSPTabContainerProvider. The provider profile is the template which decides the properties for a container channel, but the container channel profile will ultimately decide the values for the container channel attributes.

The properties that make up JSPTabContainer work as follows by default.

contentPage: Set to tab.jsp. This draws the Content Page for the tab container.
editPage: Set to tabedit.jsp. This displays the Edit page for the tab container where new tabs can be added, and existing tabs removed or renamed.
startTab: Sets the tab that opens first on the Desktop as MyFrontPageTabPanelContainer.
maxTabs: Allows six tabs to be created. As there are currently five tabs, one more can be added.
makeTabProvider: Used when creating a new tab from scratch.
channelNumber: Specifies that a number is appended to a newly created tab as the channel name. This number is increased each time a new tab is created, so that the new tab will have unique name. For example, to create a new tab based on MyFrontPageTabPanelContainer in JSPTabContainer, the new tab channel name would be JSPTabContainer/MyFrontPageTabPanelContainer1. (The new tab name is actually the channelName property in the display profile plus the value of the channelNumber property. The channelNumber is incremented by one each time a new tab is created.)
contentChannel: Specifies JSPContentContainer as the content channel that provides the Content page displaying channels to add to a user-created tab.
presetThemeChannel: Specifies JSPPresetThemeContainer as the channel that is displayed in the Theme - Preset Theme page.
customThemeChannel: Specifies JSPCustomThemeContainer as the channel that is displayed in the Theme - Custom Theme page.
TabProperties: This collection has <Collection name=> entries for each of the available tab defined in JSPTabContainer.
Available: This list describes all available channels for this container. The available channels are displayed in the Content Preference page for users to select from.
Selected: This list describes selected channels for this container. Only selected channels are displayed on the Desktop.

JSPTabContainer Architecture

Figure 38–2 shows the JSPTabContainer architecture. In this figure, tab.jsp is the top-level JSP file. The tab.jsp file makes include calls to the header.jsp, availableTabs.jsp, menubar.jsp, and footer.html files. The availableTabs.jsp file makes an include call to the selectedTab.jsp and tabs.jsp files.

Figure 37–2 JSPTabContainer Architecture

JSP Files Used by JSPTabContainer

The Portal Server 7.1 software uses JSP files for a channel’s presentation layer. JSPTabContainer references two main JSPs, tab.jsp and tabedit.jsp, through the contentPage and editPage properties.

Content template is responsible for the front page of the container channel and the file name for the tab container channel is tab.jsp. The tab.jsp file extensively uses the Desktop taglibs.

The Edit page is where you can add, remove, and rename tabs. The tabedit.jsp is used to display this page.

JSPTableContainer

The JSPTableContainer provides a JSP-based table Desktop.

Sample Desktop

Default Layout

By default, the sample portal Desktop based on the JSPTableContainer (see Figure 38–3) contains the following channels:

Thin channels: User Information, Sun Information, My Bookmarks, Mailcheck Provider, and My Applications
Wide channels: Sample JSP, XML Test, Notes, Personal Notes, and Preconfigured Web Service

Figure 37–3 Sample Desktop Based on JSPTableContainer

Default Actions

The sample JSPTableContainer channel, by default, includes:

Banner links to return to the Desktop Home page, Desktop theme to allow the user to set the color scheme and font type for the Desktop (the URL for this page is action=edit&provider=JSPPresetThemeContainer), Log Out to allow the user to log out of the Desktop (the URL for this page is action=logout), Help to display the Desktop sample online help (the URL for this page is ../docs/locale/desktop/helppage.htm), and Search to allow the user to search.
Leaf channel. JSPTableContainer does not contain any contained containers, it only has leaf channels. This container uses JSPContentContainer and JSPLayoutContainer to edit the content and layout, respectively.
Content and layout links. The toptable.jsp file defines the Content and Layout links. JSPContentContainer is the container that displays the Content page, and JSPLayoutContainer is the container that displays the Layout page.

The Content link (action=edit&provider=JSPContentContainer&container=JSPTableContainer) allows the user to edit the content on the Content page and the Layout link (action=edit&provider=JSPLayoutContainer&container=JSPTableContainer) allows the user to edit the layout of the channels on the Layout page.

Default Display Profile Settings

The provider responsible for generating the JSPTableContainer channel is JSPTableContainerProvider. The provider profile is the template which decides the properties for a container channel, but the container channel profile will ultimately decide the values for the container channel attributes. The default properties that make up JSPTableContainer work as follows:

contentPage: Set to toptable.jsp. This draws the Content Page for the table container.
categories: This collection defines the categories under which the available channels in the JSPTabContainer will be grouped in the Content page. Here there are three categories: Personal Channels, Sample Channels, and News Channels.
channelsRow: This collection and values that appear in this collection, contain the row number value for channels in this container. For example, the mail check channel is defined as row 4.
channelsIsRemovable: This collection defines a collection to contain the isRemovable value for channels in this container. Only one channel, user information, is defined, with a value of false, so that it cannot be removed.
Available: This list describes all available channels for this container. The available channels are displayed in the content preference page for users to select from.
Selected: This list describes selected channels for this container. Only selected channels shows up in the Desktop.

JSPTableContainer Architecture

Figure 38–4 shows the JSPTableContainer architecture. In this figure, toptable.jsp is the top-level JSP file. The toptable.jsp file makes include calls to the header.jsp, launchPopup.jsp, leafWrapper.jsp, and menubar.jsp files.

Figure 37–4 JSPTableContainer Architecture

JSP Files Used by JSPTableContainer

The Portal Server 7.1 uses JSP files for a channel’s presentation layer. JSPTableContainer references one main JSP, toptable.jsp, through the contentPage property.

Content template is responsible for the front page of the container channel and the file name for the tab container channel is toptable.jsp. The toptable.jsp file extensively uses the Desktop taglibs.