This chapter contains the following sections:
Display profile properties control all aspects of a channel, including:
Content (available and selected channels)
Position in the Desktop
Controls
Display profile properties specify the per-channel configuration in the portal Desktop. Such properties define the visual representation of a channel in so much as the visual representation of the channel is affected by a display profile property.
The sample portal makes use of the following display profile definitions in the PortalServer-base/SUNWportal/samples/desktop directory:
Contains the display profile definitions for channels and containers.
Contains the display profile definitions for providers.
Contains the display profile definitions for channels and containers for the authlessanonymous and anonymous users in the default organization.
The display profile properties are contained in a properties “bag.” A bag is simply a grouping mechanism for display profile entities such as channels, providers, and properties. The property itself does not have a properties bag associated with it.
You can associate properties with the following display profile objects:
<Properties> definition
<Provider> definition
<Channel> definition
<Container> definition
There are four basic categories of properties; they are:
Global properties are accessible to all channels. You set global properties, which are shared by all channels, in the <Properties> </Properties> definition. Themes are an example of a global property. You define the theme data globally to share it among all channels. See “Display Profile Global Properties” on page 46 for more information.
Do not use global properties as defaults for all channels. Instead, use the <Provider> definition, as it sets the property interface used by the provider object that will use the <Provider> definition.
Provider properties serve two purposes:
They define a property template or schema, defining the properties that will be used by all channels based on the provider.
The specific values in the provider serve as default values for channels.
If the property is not defined in channels based on this provider, the default value is used. If the default value is overridden by setting the value within the channel definition, then that value is used. By customizing a provider’s property values, you can customize all channels that the provider generates.
Channel properties are available to the channel in which that properties are associated with. By customizing an individual channel’s properties, you customize that particular channel.
Properties set in the <Provider> definitions are defaults for channels based on that provider. Properties set in <Channel> definitions override the defaults in the provider definition to customize the channel. For example, URLScaperProvider defines a url property. A default does not make sense here, thus a channel would naturally override this value.
Containers are simply channels that generate the majority of their content by executing other channels (or containers). Many of the properties defined for containers pertain to how to gather and arrange content from other channels. For example, properties set in the <Container> definition can describe how to display the contained channels in the container, including: the layout of the container (thin-wide, wide-thin, or thin-wide-thin), a list of the contained channels, the position of the channel (the row and column number), and the window state of the contained channels (maximized, minimized, or detached).
Lower priority display profile documents can overwrite properties of higher priority display profile documents using merge locking. That is, the lock stops the merge on a particular property or value. See Chapter 17, Merge Semantics for a complete discussion of the semantics of the display profile merging.
This section lists the property types for provider definitions. These can be used with leaf and container providers. This three column table lists the property types in the first column, a brief description in the second column, and an example in the third.
Table 18–1 Display Profile General Property Types