The implementation of a gear will vary widely, depending on what the gear is intended to do. This section provides an overview of the steps involved in the implementation process. With the exception of the first step and final steps, many of these steps do not need to take place serially. For example, the page development and the Java class development can occur concurrently, though clearly they must be coordinated with each other.
Plan your gear by deciding what it should have in terms of:
functionality
gear modes
display modes
device outputs
alerts
JSP pages
Java classes
custom tag libraries
Select or develop the portal page, possibly by using the templates supplied with ATG Portal, such as
<ATG11dir>/Portal/paf/starter/portal/paf-dar/portal/templates/page/html/shared.jsp. If you use the page templates provided with ATG Portal, then you do not need to develop a new portal page template. (This is a portal implementation task, but it is closely related to the gear implementation process.)For an example of a container JSP page, see The Portal Page Structure chapter in this manual.
Develop the gear page fragments.
For examples of portions of gear page fragments, see the Creating Gear Page Fragments chapter in this manual.
Develop the Java classes, persistent storage, and custom tag libraries or Nucleus components needed to carry out the back-end functionality required by the gear.
Develop the gear manifest XML file needed to register your gear with the PAF.
For information on the required XML format, refer to the Gear Packaging and Deployment chapter in this manual.
Package, deploy, and register your gear.
For information on packaging, deployment, and registration refer to the Gear Packaging and Deployment chapter in this manual and to the Portal Administration chapter in the Portal Administration Guide. For an example that illustrates packaging and deployment see the Gear Installation Examples chapter of the Portal Administration Guide.
Test your gear and revise as needed.
