Chapter 3 Portal Server Desktop

This topic describes the Desktop and how it delivers content to end users. This topic provides the following sections:

• About the Portal Server Desktop

• Delivering Portal Content

• Designing Portal Desktops

• Enabling End-User Personalization

About the Portal Server Desktop

Portal Server aggregates and presents content to the end user. The primary end-user interface for Portal Server is the Desktop, which end users access by using an HTML browser.

End users can access and use the Desktop by using a mobile device, if they are configured to do so. For information about the mobile Desktop, see Chapter 12, Managing Portal Server Mobile Access, in Sun Java System Portal Server 7.2 Administration Guide.

Portal Server supports programmable modules that transform data into HTML (hypertext markup language) that the Desktop displays. For example, Portal Server converts XML (extensible markup language) data and RSS (really simple syndication) into HTML, and JavaServer Pages^TM (JSP^TM) files are executed to HTML. Content that is delivered can be static information or an application.

Administrators use the Portal Server management console and the command-line interface to manage the Desktop.

Delivering Portal Content

The Desktop displays a web page that arranges portal content in rows and columns. Portal Server uses two methods to deliver content to the Desktop:

• Channels are a specialized content areas that occupy small windows within the page. A channel consists of the following elements:

  • A provider object

  • Configuration files

  • Data files, such as XML files and HTML templates, that support the channel

  Examples of channels are the following:

  • News channels display links to online news and information

  • Bookmarks channels display locations of web sites and enables easy access to them

• Container channels assemble content from two or more channels. Often container channels are simply called containers. Portal Server supports AJAXTableContainerProvider, which provides rich user interaction with features such as loading and updating channels asynchronously and drag-and-drop positioning of channels.

  Examples of containers are the following:

  • Table containers arrange channels into rows and columns.

  • Tab containers arrange channels (typically table container channels) with a tab navigation bar across the top, so that the end user views each channel one at a time.

Portal Server supports the following kinds of channels:

• Standard Java portlets use the following specifications to allow portlets to run in multiple portal environments:

  • Portlet Specification 1.0 defined by JSR 168

  • Portlet Specification 2.0 defined by JSR 268

• Providers use proprietary interfaces. For example:

  • JSP providers for compiling and executing JSP files

  • XML providers for translating XML files

• Remote portlets use the Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) 1.0 specification, a web services protocol for integrating JSR 168 portlets from remote sources.

Designing Portal Desktops

Administrators use the Portal Server Desktop Design Tool, which is available on the management console, to construct and manage Desktops for portals. The tool uses a wireframe modeling technique to allow administrators to view the Desktop tab and channel layout structure and what channels are available in each tab.

The tool enables administrators to work with the following:

• Layouts, which control how channels are arranged on a Desktop page

• Themes, which control the general appearance and user interface features of channels and containers on a portal's Desktop

Administrators can use the tool to create and edit any Desktop that uses a parent container based on any of the following:

• JSPTabContainerProvider

• JSPTableContainerProvider

• AJAXTableContainer

The Desktop Design Tool does not support customized containers that are not based on one of these providers or containers.

Administrators use the Desktop Design Tool to work on new or existing Desktops:

• New Desktops – The Desktop Design Tool performs the following functions:

  • Identifies that the selected DN has a new organization

  • Assigns desktop service attributes to the Desktop

  • Sets up a new parent container and the first tab for the Desktop

  • Sets up and displays an initial Desktop tab

• Existing Desktops – The Desktop Design Tool displays the Desktop's tabs

Administrators can perform the following tasks to control to control and arrange elements on a Desktop:

• Edit channel and container properties

• Create, modify or remove tabs and pages from the Desktop

• Change the order of tab positions

• Add channels to or remove channels from the Desktop

• Move channels left and right or up and down

The Desktop Design Tool uses themes, which are based on cascading style sheets (CSS) properties, to define the general appearance and operation of the elements on a Desktop. Administrators can perform the following tasks to control the appearance of a Desktop:

• Select a theme from a list of deployed themes and assign the theme to a specific portal Desktop

• Delete a theme assigned to a specific portal Desktop

• Change theme name and menu control type for a specific portal Desktop

• Download theme archive (.skin) files to use the View Designer for Java^TM System Portal Server to modify the theme's CSS properties

• Upload theme archive (.skin) files and deploy them to specific portal Desktops

Enabling End-User Personalization

Portal administrators can enable end users to personalize a portal Desktop. Portal Server personalization occurs when individual end users change their own Desktops.

Other ways to change the Desktop affect more than one end user and thus are not personalization. These methods include the following:

• Custom content delivery is a portal design activity that affects all end users authorized to use a specific Desktop. The Desktop Design Tool, for example, enables administrators to establish Desktop properties and functions.

• Role-based content delivery using Access Manager allows Desktop access based on identities of specific organizations, suborganizations, roles, and individuals.

• Automatic content delivery provides content based on what the system detects about end users. IP addresses, for example, can indicate end-user locations and preferred languages. In some contexts, automatic content delivery is defined as personalization.

  To support automatic content delivery in Portal Server, developing a custom ContainerProvider is required.

Examples of Desktop personalization that administrators can enable end users to control from the Desktop include the following:

• Editing preferences for pages, tabs, and channels

• Adding or removing channels

• Changing channel positions

• Changing column layout

• Selecting a Desktop theme

• Changing end-user information