Producing Remote Portlets (Producer)

This section discusses:

  • Limitations on PeopleSoft content for WSRP consumption.

  • Specify PeopleSoft content for WSRP production.

  • Offer WSRP portlets.

  • Work with WSRP content references.

  • Set WSRP display mode.

  • How WSRP content is styled.

  • Validate WSRP-compliance.

  • Use PeopleSoft WSRP-produced content.

Please note the following limitations of producing PeopleSoft content to be consumed as a remote WSRP portlet:

  • Related content and related actions cannot be consumed as WSRP content.

  • WorkCenters cannot be consumed as WSRP content.

  • Activity guide pagelets cannot be consumed as WSRP content.

  • Gantt class, OrgChart class, and RatingBoxChart class objects cannot be consumed as WSRP content.

  • While pages or pagelets with long text fields that have the rich text editor enabled can be consumed as WSRP content, the rich text editor itself will not be active in the WSRP content.

  • Fluid components and pages are not WSRP producible and cannot be consumed as WSRP content.

  • Because WSRP portlets do not support AJAX, a full page refresh is invoked whenever there is an update within a WSRP portlet. Therefore, you should create a separate homepage definition specifically for WSRP portlets.

This section discusses how to:

  • Specify pagelets for WSRP production.

  • Specify components for WSRP production.

  • Specify content references for WSRP production.

Specifying Pagelets for WSRP Production

Access the Pagelet Wizard - Specify Publishing Options page.

Use Pagelet Wizard to create pagelets that you want to publish as WSRP portlets. On the Specify Publishing Options page, you can select WSRP Portlet for Hompage pagelets and Template pagelets. This enables the pagelet's WSRP Producible option and causes the pagelet to appear on the Producer Offered Portlets page so that an administrator can expose it for remote, WSRP portal consumption. Also consider the Enable Caching option on the Specify Publishing Options page. If you select to enable caching, also select Caching Type and Minutes to Cache.

Note: When you create a pagelet using Pagelet Wizard and select the WSRP Portal option, the system automatically enables the pagelet for consumption by Oracle portals using the JPDK specification.

Specifying Components for WSRP Production

To enable a component for WSRP production, select the WSRP Compliant option on the Internet tab of the Component Properties dialog box.

See Setting Internet Properties.

Specifying Content References for WSRP Production

While you can also specify pagelets for WSRP production using Pagelet Wizard, you specify PeopleSoft components and iScripts intended for WSRP production using content reference options.

Important! Fluid components and pages are not WSRP producible and cannot be consumed as WSRP content.

Note: Content references for pagelets (portlets) also control whether the pagelet can be WSRP-produced. For example, selecting the WSRP Producible option for a pagelet's content reference is equivalent to selecting the WSRP Portlet option on the Specify Publishing Options page in Pagelet Wizard. This applies also to component-based and iScript-based pagelets

Access the Content Ref Administration page (PeopleTools > Portal > Structure and Content..)

Image: Content Ref Administration page: WSRP Producible option

The following screenshot illustrates the WSRP Producible option on the Content Ref Administration page.

Content Ref Administration page: WSRP Producible option

The WSRP Producible option appears only for content references with the usage type set to Target or Pagelet, with the URL type set to one of these values:

  • PeopleSoft Component

  • PeopleSoft Generic URL

  • PeopleSoft Script

  • PeopleSoft Worklist URL

The WSRP Producible check box appears just to the right of the Storage Type drop-down list box and, by default, it is not selected. Selecting this option causes the current content reference to appear on the Producer Offered Portlets page so that an administrator can choose to expose it for remote, WSRP portals. In turn, deselecting the option causes the current content reference to be removed from the list on the Producer Offered Portals page.

Because WSRP-producible content must originate from the local node, if a content reference is modified to reference a remote node, the WSRP Producible check box will not appear, and the content reference will not be able to be exposed to remote, WSRP portlets.

WSRP-producible content references possess a set of optional, WSRP-specific attributes, differentiating them from other content references. The following table contains descriptions of the WSRP content reference attributes:

Attribute

Attribute Label

Description

Values

WSRP_TITLE

WSRPTitle

Allows the exposed WSRP title to be exposed to remote WSRP portals.

Entered text.

WSRP_DESCR

WSRPDescription

Allows the exposed WSRP description to be different from the default content reference description.

Entered text.

WSRP_WINDOWSTATE

WSRPWindowState

Enables you to override the default window state behavior for portlets or target pages. The default window state without the content reference attribute override for portlets is normal. The default window state without the content reference attribute override for target content is maximize.

normal

maximize

Content reference links created from content references displaying the WSRP Producible check box also display the WSRP Producible check box. By default, the option is not selected when you create a new content reference link, even if the WSRP Producible check box is selected for the associated content reference. As with the content reference, if you select the WSRP Producible option on the content reference link, it will appear on the Producer Offered Portlets page.

When working with WSRP-producible content references, also consider the following points:

  • Portal registry folders do not display the WSRP Producible check box.

  • Context Manager template pagelets, considered by the system to be a type of portlet, are WSRP-producible. If keys or parameters expected by a supporting transaction are unavailable, the content will appear the same way as keys being unavailable in the PeopleSoft portal.

  • If a WSRP-producible content reference is moved to a different location in the portal registry, it still retains its ability to be WSRP-produced.

  • The Test Content Reference link only tests how the content reference will appear in the PeopleSoft portal, not WSRP.

  • If you have a content reference that should be available only for WSRP and not through the PeopleSoft portal, hide the content reference from the PeopleSoft navigation system.

Access the Producer Offered Portlets page. (Select PeopleTools > Portal > WSRP Production.)

The Producer Offered Portlets page displays PeopleSoft provider content that has been selected for WSRP production. That is, any pagelet appearing on this page has the WSRP Portlet option selected in Pagelet Wizard, and any content reference that appears on this page has the WSRP Producible option selected on the Content Ref Administration page.

Image: Producer Offered Portlets page

The following screenshot illustrates WSRP properties on the Producer Offered Portlets page.

Producer Offered Portlets page

Field or Control

Definition
Portal Name

Choose the portal where the content you want to offer is located, and click Search.

Note: To display portlets within all portals, select All Portals and omit the Portlet Title value.
Portlet Title

Enter the portlet title or a portion of it for increased search options. Use the % character for wild card values.
Web Service Endpoint URL

Displays the URL that the WSRP consumer portal requires to import the offered content.
Oracle Portal Web Provider URL

Displays the URL that the JPDK-compliant Oracle Portal requires to import the offered content.

Note: This value applies only for Pagelet Wizard pagelets.

Portlets

This section of the page is named Portlets, despite the fact that the content being exposed could be components, pages, or iScripts. Regardless, the content is exposed and discovered by WSRP-consuming portals as portlets.

Field or Control

Definition
Selected

Select the portlets that you want to offer to consumers. Click the Select All button to offer all of the portlets listed. Click the Deselect button to remove all of the selections. If a content item in the list is not selected, it cannot be exposed to consumer portals.

Note: By default, each new item appearing in the portlets list will have the Selected check box selected.
Details

Click to access the Portlet Details page, which displays the generated XML that is sent to a consumer.
Path

Click to go to the Content Ref Administration page to view the CREF information for this portlet.
Producer Details

Click to go to the Producer Details page to view the service description XML that is sent to the consumer for all portlets in this portal.

Note: If a WSRP-producible content reference is deleted from the portal registry, the system removes it from the Producer Offered Portlets page.

Use the Content Ref Administration page to view WSRP content reference information.

Important! Use the Content Ref Administration page only to select a new parent folder or update the security for the pagelet.

You can set the WSRP display mode using the system-wide, WSRP Display Mode option on the PeopleTools Options page (PeopleTools, Utilities, Administration, PeopleTools Options). 'This option enables you to control how PeopleSoft content is rendered when user interaction is initiated from within a WSRP-consuming portal. This may override the WSRP-compliant setting within the component. You can select these settings:

Display as Portlet: Renders content accessed from a link in a portlet inline the same way as a portlet, provided that the component has the WSRP Compliant property enabled. As with PeopleSoft applications and new windows, opening a new window, versus replacing the window, is not possible due to session and state management issues.

Replace Existing Window: All content that is navigated to from a portlet will be rendered in the same browser window but will take the user out of the consuming portal and into the PeopleSoft portal to render the content.

If a pagelet is WSRP-produced, and the end user clicks a link on the pagelet to take the user to a different page from the PeopleSoft system, the following numbered list describes the logic flow that determines whether:

  • The link is displayed inline in the portlet window of the WSRP-consuming portal.

  • The end user is taken out of the WSRP-consuming portal and into the PeopleSoft portal to render the PeopleSoft content.

  1. Determine WSRP display mode.

    • If set to Replace Existing Window, display the PeopleSoft content in the PeopleSoft portal within the same window.

    • If set to Display as Portlet, determine whether content is WSRP-compliant.

  2. Determine WSRP compliance status.

    • If WSRP compliance is not selected, display PeopleSoft content in the PeopleSoft portal within the same window.

    • If WSRP compliance is selected, display the PeopleSoft content inline as a portlet.

Compared to PeopleSoft style options, WSRP style options are limited. For WSRP content, PeopleSoft style classes are mapped to corresponding WSRP styles. If a particular PeopleSoft style is not mapped to a corresponding WSRP style, the style cannot be generated in the WSRP markup. Moreover, the appearance and character of the style in the WSRP-consuming portal is determined by the WSRP CSS style sheets on the consuming portal.

PeopleSoft-to-WSRP styles adhere to WSRP specification 1.0 (10.6). To modify the WSRP mapping, use the WSRP Style drop-down list box on the Miscellaneous tab for a style definition in Application Designer. These settings apply to classic components only; fluid components and pages are not WSRP producible.

In addition, while the look of PeopleSoft classic content on a PeopleSoft portal reflects the selected system branding theme type (Tangerine, Classic Plus, and so on), when the same content is produced and consumed through WSRP, the PeopleSoft branding theme setting is irrelevant and ignored.

To ensure that PeopleSoft pages, iScripts, and portlets comply with WSRP standards, use the WSRP validation options in PeopleSoft Application Designer. You can validate a single project or an entire database. Results of the validation appear in the Validate output tab, as with any other validate operation. The first line of the WSRP validation results is "Begin Validate WSRP Compliance," with the last line being "End Validate WSRP Compliance."

The system validates WSRP compliance against the following definitions:

  • HTML areas within pages.

  • HTML objects.

  • JavaScript objects.

  • Templates.

  • Application classes.

  • PeopleCode.

  • PeopleCode iScripts.

The validation causes errors after identifying the existence of any of the following keywords. The use of these keywords is not recommended:

  • href="http://

  • frameset

  • src="http://

  • .location

  • action="http://

  • top.

  • parent.

  • parent.frames

  • window.

  • IFRAME

  • ILAYER

Performing WSRP Validation for a Project

To perform WSRP validation for a project:

  1. In Application Designer, open the project containing the WSRP definitions.

  2. Select Tools > Options and select the Validate tab.

  3. On the Validate tab, select the Validate WSRP compliance check box, and click OK.

    Note: By default, this option is not selected.

  4. Select Tools > Validate project.

Performing WSRP Validation for a Database

To perform WSRP validation for a database:

  1. Launch Application Designer, and sign in to the appropriate database.

  2. Select Tools > Validate Database for WSRP.

This section discusses the differences between the behavior of PeopleSoft content within the PeopleSoft portal and a consuming WSRP portal:

  • The main PeopleSoft menu portlet does not provide navigation of WSRP-consumed content. The PeopleSoft WSRP content needs to be discovered through the consumer portlet's navigation.

  • Hot keys (such as Ctrl + J for the System Information page) are available as long as they do not conflict with any hot keys defined on the consuming system.

  • Pagebar functionality is not included in PeopleSoft WSRP-produced content.

    For example, the New Window link or the Multi-Language drop-down list box will not appear (so multilanguage functionality is not supported for WSRP content). The Copy URL functionality is available on the System Information page only.

  • Personalizations, such as Tab-Over, made through the My Personalizations page apply to WSRP content.

  • Only PeopleSoft portlets and iScripts support Edit capability, not components.

    Note: PeopleSoft portlets, including an Edit URL, do not support multiple instances of the of the portlet in the consuming portal.