Sun Java System Portal Server 7.2 Administration Guide

Chapter 13 Managing the Desktop Themes and Layout

The Desktop Design Tool (DDT), inside the Portal Server management console, provides an easy to use GUI to create a new desktop and/or edit an existing desktop. This chapter contains the following sections:

Understanding the Desktop Design Tool

This section contains the following subsections:

Where is the DDT Deployed?

The desktop design tool supports two deployment scenarios:

You can work from a blank slate
You can work from a node that already has containers and channels in it

When you work on a blank slate, the distinguished node (DN) must have the desktop service already assigned to it. Once a new node is created and the desktop service is assigned to it, you can then select the new node from the Portal Server management console and click on the Desktop Design Tool link. A tab named Untitled is created automatically in this node and you can start working on this tab.

What is the Sandbox Organization?

If the Sandbox sample is installed, a Sandbox organization is created by the installer.. Also, a desktop user sandbox is created under the Sandbox organization. sandbox is the password for the user sandbox. You can use this organization to start building the desktop. The Sandbox organization has one main tab, and under this main tab there are two sub tabs. You can start adding portlets into the layout. By logging in as user sandbox, you can view the actual desktop you built using the Desktop Design Tool.

The sandbox organization DN allows you to quickly create a new desktop in the Desktop Design Tool without the need to create a new organization and user separately.

What Can You do With the DDT?

The desktop design tool allows you to create or edit a desktop layout, then apply theme on top of it. The desktop design tool can be separated into two major areas: layout and theme. You can use the Desktop Design Tool to work on a selected DN which does not have any display profile document loaded, and create a brand new desktop from scratch. A default theme (Look & Feel) is used, and you can switch to a different theme using the Manage Theme link from the Desktop common task area.

In the desktop design tool, when a new desktop is created, the desktop type value is theme_support. In the blank slate scenario, when you create a new organization, the desktop type is default and the parent container is DefaultChannel. After you use the desktop design tool to design the new organization, the desktop type is default and the parent container is changed to DefaultJSPTabContainer.

Customizing the Desktop Using the Desktop Design Tool

The DDT allows you to customize the layout of the pages in your portal and the themes used on your portal pages.

Desktop Design Tool Layout

The Desktop Design Tool Layout:

Allows you to create, edit, and delete tabs and sub tabs.
Allows you to reorder tab positions.
Allows you to select or change a desktop layout.
Allows you to add and remove channels on the desktop.
Allows you to change the channel position inside the desktop layout (move left, move right, move up, or move down).
Allows you to edit properties for channels or containers.
Allows you to make the channel visible or invisible to the end user.
Allows you to edit the channel toolbar properties.

Desktop Design Tool Theme

The Desktop Design Tool Theme:

Is based on CSS style sheet.
Allows you to select a theme from a list of deployed themes for the portal desktops.
Allows you to upload theme WAR file (skin file) and deploy it to the Portal Server.
Allows you to delete a theme or edit theme properties for a specific portal desktop.
Allows you to download theme WAR file, and modify the theme CSS properties using View Designer for Sun Java^TM System Portal Server.

You can access the Designview home page at – https://designview.dev.java.net/

The Portal Server software includes two themes, default and heavy, that, after deployment, are available at WEB_CONTAINER/portal/desktop/themes/lite and WEB_CONTAINER/portal/desktop/themes/heavy directories respectively. By default, the default theme is used by the sandbox sample portal and the heavy theme is used by the enterprise sample portal.

The theme CSS files are stored either in the Portal web application or individual theme web application in the web container. The file structure in the web application is as follows:

WEB_APPLICATION_BASE_DIR/portal/desktop/themes/THEME_NAME/css/style.css

Stylesheet for the theme

WEB_APPLICATION_BASE_DIR/desktop/themes/THEME_NAME/images/IMAGE_FILES

Image files, used in the stylesheet

WEB_CONTAINER/portal/desktop/themes/THEME_NAME/Template.html

Templates that can be customized (using Dreamweaver) by web designers

WEB_CONTAINER/portal/desktop/themes//js/scripts.js

Javascript

Note –

All Javascript used in the default and heavy themes are located in the WEB_CONTAINER/portal/desktop/themes/js/scripts.js file which also loads WEB_CONTAINER/portal/desktop/themes/js/scripts.js/portalMenuHandler.js file.

Note –

WEB_CONTAINER is /opt/SUNWappserver/appserver/domains/domain1/applications/j2ee-modules/ for solaris and /opt/sun/appserver/domains/domain1/applications/j2ee-modules/ for Linux.

The themes, default and heavy, each have an associated collection in the Display Profile AvailableThemes collection:

<Collection name="AvailableThemes" propagate="false">
	<Collection name="default" propagate="false">
				<String name="contextPath" value="desktop/themes/ lite"/>
		<Boolean name="editable" value="false"/>
		<Boolean name="insidePortalWar" value="true"/>
		<Boolean name="portletControlMenu" value="true"/>
	</Collection>
	<Collection name="heavy" propagate="false">
				<String name="contextPath" value="desktop/themes/ heavy"/>
		<Boolean name="editable" value="false"/>
		<Boolean name="insidePortalWar" value="true"/>
		<Boolean name="portletControlMenu" value="false"/>
	</Collection>
</Collection>

Accessing the Desktop Design Tool

The Desktop Design Tool can be accessed from the Portal Server management console in one of the following ways:

To Access the Desktop Design Tool Through the Desktop Design Tool Link

Log in to the Portal Server management console.

The Portal Server management console login page can be accessed from your browser at the following URL: http://server:port/psconsole

Select Desktop Design Tool link under the Common Administrative Tasks tab.

Select your portal and the DN.

Click on OK.

The page to design the layout of the desktop for your portal is displayed. The top pane displays the selected DN and the tab actions toolbar to add, edit, move, or remove a tab or a sub-tab. The right pane shows the library of channels available for adding on to the selected desktop. The left pane is the work area where the tabs and channels, as displayed on the desktop, can be designed.

To Access the Desktop Design Tool From the Portals Tab

Log in to the Portal Server management console.

The Portal Server management console login page can be accessed from your browser at the following URL: http://server:port/psconsole

Select the Portals tab.

Select the portal from the Portals table.

Select the Design Desktop Layout link from the Common Tasks area.