PORTLETS

Sri Vatsav Konreddy CIS 764 FALL 2007

Contents

What is a Portlet Comparison of Servlet and Portlet Portlet Architecture Portlet Lifecycle Portlet Features Portlet Modes Portlet Window States Portlet Container How to develop and deploy a Portlet

What is a Portlet

Web component based on Java Technology. A small window on a portal page. Pluggable user interface Components.

Example

Elements of a portal page

Comparison: Servlet and Portlet

Similarities: Both are Java technology based web components Life-cycle is managed by a specialized container Both generate dynamic content Both interact with web client via a request/response paradigm Request and Response are similar

Comparison (ctd..)
Differences: Servlets can provide complete web pages, whereas Portlets only provide fragments. Portlets only generate markup fragments, not complete documents. Portlets are not directly bound to a URL Web clients interact with portlets through a portal system Multiple instances of a single portlet can be placed onto the same page

Comparison

Architecture

Portlet Life Cycle

Portlet Features

Persistence User Profile Attributes Portal context Security Portlet URL

Portlet Modes

View Help Edit

Portlet window states

Normal Maximized Minimized

Portlet Container
Portlets are deployed in a Portlet container. The container can: Provides runtime environment for Portlets Manage life cycle of Portlets Provide persistent storage for storing Portlet preferences Cache the Portlets Receive requests from the Portal to execute requests on the Portlet Not responsible for contents aggregation

Developing & Deploying Portlet

Write a Portlet Implement Portlet Interface Implement important methods init(), processAction(), doView(), doEdit(), doHelp(),render(), destroy() Compile

Developing & Deploying Portlet (ctd..)

Configure Portlet Application and add the Portlet(s) to it Deployment descriptor portlet.xml Package the classes and deployment descriptor within a .war Portal servers: Pluto, Liferay, Jboss Portal, Exo (JSR 168)

References

http://www.javaworld.com/javaworld/jw-08-2003/jw0801-portlet.html?page=1 Sun JSR 168 Portlet: http://developers.sun.com/portalserver/reference/tech art/jsr168/pb_whitepaper.pdf Sang Shin article: http://www.javapassion.com/j2eeadvanced/WSRP4.p df