Samples

CHAPTER 2    Installed Components

This chapter describes how to deploy, run, and access the source files for sample components provided with theNovell exteNd Director installation. It has these sections:

• About the installed components

• Using the installed components

• Alphabetical list of components

NOTE:   This chapter assumes you are familiar with running components in the Portal subsystem. For more information, see the chapter on developing components in the Portal Guide.

About the installed components

The exteNd Director installation provides collections of core and sample portal components packaged in JAR files. While most of these components are standalone implementations, others can be run as part of larger installed applications. There are two general categories of installed components:

• Core components

• Sample components

Core components   Core components are either implemented directly by Director or presented as best-practice implementations of framework and subsystem technologies. These components are fully supported features in Director. Core components are specified as such in the description header.

NOTE:   The core component JARs are automatically added when you create a project using the Director EAR Wizard in Workbench.

The deployment classes and artifacts for the core components are contained in these deployment JARs:

• calendar_components.jar

• contentMgmt_components.jar

• cqa_components.jar

• general_components.jar

• portal_core_resource.jar

• rss_components.jat

• rule_components.jar

• workflow_admin.jar

• workflow_components.jar

• workflow_sample_components.jar

Sample components   Sample components are various examples and utilities for learning about Director and getting started with application development. These components may not be supported in future versions of Director.

The deployment classes and artifacts for the samples are contained in these deployment JARs:

• misc_sample_components.jar

• rule_sample_components.jar

• utility_sample_components.jar

Component descriptions

The component descriptions in this chapter include this information:

Using the installed components

To add sample components to your Director project:

1. With your project open in Workbench, click the Resource tab in the Navigation Pane and select any view.

2. Click the Import icon:

   

3. Navigate to the JAR directory. For the sample components:

     Director install-directory/samples/components
   

4. Select the JAR you want.

5. Click OK.

   Workbench adds the JAR to your current project's resource set and updates the appropriate configuration parameters.

6. Deploy your project.

To run a component:

• Use one of the following:

  • Component content with decorator

    This URL displays the component content with the associated decorator (header and frame) if a decorator has been defined:

      http://server_name/DirectorDB/Project_name/Portal/main/component/component_descriptor_name
    

  • Component content only

    This modified version of the URL displays the content only:

      http://server_name/DirectorDB/Project_name/Portal/main/comp/component_descriptor_name
    

Portal Personalizer    You can also run components using the Portal Personalizer core application. For more information, see the chapter on personalizing your portal in the Portal Guide.

Alphabetical list of components

• Advertisement

• Calendar components (core)

• ChangePassword (core)

• Clock

• CMPIDReader (core)

• ContentList (core)

• Delegator

• DWCompList (core)

• FireRule (core)

• HeadlineNews

• HelloWorld

• HTMLContentReader

• HumanResources

• LayoutPicker (core)

• LayoutSelector (core)

• Meter

• MultiStyle

• MyDocuments

• MyPages (core)

• NewDocuments

• NewUser (core)

• PhoneList (core)

• PIDComponent (core)

• PipelineWrapper

• PortalComponentSelector (core)

• PortalLogin (core)

• PortalPersonalizer (core)

• PortalUrlHelper (core)

• PortalUserPage (core)

• RSS components (core)

• RuleWrapper

• StockQuote (core)

• ThemePreviewer (core)

• ThemeSelector (core)

• ThemeTester (core)

• Weather (core)

• Welcome

• WhatChanged

• WirelessLayoutManager (core)

• Workflow components (core)

• Wrapper

Advertisement

Displays a running advertisement banner.

Calendar components (core)

Runs a calender organizer that lets users schedule events for selected periods and search for items. Calendar is supported by multiple components and utility classes responsible for specific functions. Calendar illustrates the use of an XML DOM object. All search criteria and events are contained within the DOM.

Oracle database users   To run this component in the current version of Director, you need to do the following:

1. With your project open in Workbench, open this file:

     Portal/WEB_INF/lib/calendar-components/data/portal-general/props/calendar.properties
   

2. Change the setting for DBisOracle to True.

3. Save the file and deploy your project.

   Descriptors	CalendarAdd Calendar CalenderErrorDisplay CalendarList CalendarSearch
   Class and source	com.sssw.portal.component.calendar.CalendarAdd com.sssw.portal.component.calendar.CalendarComponent com.sssw.portal.component.calendar.CalendarErrorDisplay com.sssw.portal.component.calendar.CalendarList com.sssw.portal.component.calendar.CalendarSearch
   Subsystem(s)	Portal
   Deployment JAR	calendar_components.jar
   Usage	Click on a date in the calendar. To add an event using the Quick Add feature: Enter a name for the event. Select a date and time from the dropdown lists. Click Quick Add. To add details or edit an event: Click Add in the header or click the event name on the calendar. Complete the form and save. To select a date range: Click Week, Month, or Year in the header. Add an event. To search for a string in the event name: Click the Search button to display the Search form. Enter a string contained in an event name. Click Search on the Search form and select the event you want.

ChangePassword (core)

Changes the password for the currently logged-in user.

NOTE:   This component is not supported in the WebLogic server realm for the current release.

Clock

Displays a running clock.

CMPIDReader (core)

Reads documents out of the Content Management (CM) subsystem and processes all s3comp tags in the page before displaying the page. It also alters all image tags in the page so that the images will be properly displayed.

ContentList (core)

Uses the installed Query action to query documents in the CM system. The results of the query are captured in XML and processed as a query in the CM subsystem.

Delegator

A superclass you can implement to delegate processing from one component to other components.

DWCompList (core)

Displays a selectable list of Portal components. This component is used as part of a plug-in Dreamweaver extension that allows you to insert Portal components on a page.

FireRule (core)

Fires a sample rule that returns True.

HeadlineNews

Displays a list of headlines from selected Web news sites.

HelloWorld

Displays a text string.

HTMLContentReader

Gets the runtime component data of a document (in HTML or XML format) from the CM subsystem.

  <s3-component id="HTMLContentReader" 
  html_path="repository1/folder1/docname.html"/>

HumanResources

Displays a bonus calculation for sample employees. Uses a rule to get the results.

LayoutPicker (core)

Allows a portal user to select a page column layout for a personal page. This component is part of the Portal Personalizer core application.

LayoutSelector (core)

Allows a portal user to select the order and location of components on a personal page. This component is part of the Portal Personalizer core application.

Meter

This component subclasses the Delegator component. It uses an attribute on a PID page to call another component and logs information about that component to the server console.

  <s3-component id="Meter" 
     METER="mycomponent"/>

MultiStyle

Generates XML that is converted to HTML using a specified XSL style sheet.

MyDocuments

Uses the installed Query action to query documents in the CM system. Returns a list of documents associated with the current user. The results of the query are captured in XML and processed as a query in the CM subsystem.

MyPages (core)

Displays a header for the portal user page that allows the user to select pages to view. This component is used in the Portal Personalizer core application.

NewDocuments

Uses the installed Query action to query documents in the CM system. Returns a list of documents created or modified on the current date. The results of the query are captured in XML and processed as a query in the CM subsystem.

NewUser (core)

Generic component that allows users to add themselves to the server realm through the Directory subsystem. This component is used by the Portal Personalizer core application.

PhoneList (core)

Displays a search box and looks up names based on the input data.

PIDComponent (core)

Imports the contents of a target PID page into the calling PID page.

  <s3-component id="PIDComponent" 
     PID="mypage.html"/>

PipelineWrapper

Displays the results of validating a rules pipeline.

PortalComponentSelector (core)

Allows a portal user to select components for a personal page. This component is part of the Portal Personalizer core application.

PortalLogin (core)

Generic component that allows users to be authenticated by the server realm through the Security subsystem. This component is used by the PAC and the Portal Personalizer core application.

PortalPersonalizer (core)

Allows portal users to create user and group pages and access other application features. This is the main page for the Portal Personalizer core application.

PortalUrlHelper (core)

Provides a mechanism for retrieving and parsing portal URLs. It instantiates a portal context object and translates the provided string, substituting any portal replacement strings with current valid URL information:

  <s3-component id="PortalUrlHelper" instance="MyPortalUrlHelper" SUBST_STRING="$THEME_ID$"/>

PortalUserPage (core)

Displays the contents of a portal user page in the Portal Personalizer core application.

RSS components (core)

Provides an RSS (Rich Site Summary) application that includes a Content Syndication reader and a Content Syndication provider that use the RSS standard. Uses the Content Query application to generate queries for RSS providers.

RuleWrapper

Displays the results of firing a rule selected from your project resource set.

StockQuote (core)

Displays a stock quote. This component uses a document style Web Service to get and return the data.

ThemePreviewer (core)

Provides a selectable list of all available themes with runtime examples in a portal page. This component uses the PIDComponent (core) to import the contents of ThemeTester.html, which references the ThemeTester (core) component.

ThemeSelector (core)

Allows a portal user to view and select a theme for the application. This component is used in the Portal Personalizer core application.

ThemeTester (core)

Displays all available themes with sample data.

Weather (core)

Displays an editable weather report for selected U.S. cities. This component uses a document style Web Service to get and return the data.

Welcome

Displays a welcome message to the user and provides a link to the Portal Personalizer core application.

WhatChanged

Monitors changes to the ResourceSet of the current Director project. Logs the directory name, path and file name of resources that have been added or modified in the current session.

WirelessLayoutManager (core)

Allows a user to select components for a wireless device. This component is used by the Portal Personalizer core application.

Workflow components (core)

Provides a workflow application for a document assign, create, and publish workflow process. The application uses the CM subsystem to create and publish a document This application requires the Portal, CM, and Workflow subsystems. Here is a summary of the application contents:

Changing the default component parameter

NOTE:   This applies only if you want to run the sample in a Director WAR project. If you are running in a Director EAR project, skip to the next section.

The WorkflowCreate and WorkflowAuthorize core components have a default parameter called container with the value PMC. This configures the component to use the Portal Management Console WAR for accessing documents. If you are running the workflow sample in a project WAR, you need to change this value to the name of your WAR project.

Perform the following procedure for WorkflowCreate.xml and WorkflowAuthorize.xml.

To change the default component parameter:

1. Open the component.xml descriptor in the workflow_sample_components jar.

       For more information about where files are located in a resource set, see the section on subdirectories for resources and Java classes in the Core Development Guide.

2. Change the default container parameter from PMC to the name of your WAR project (for example: myWarProject).

3. Save and close the file.

   NOTE:   You need to redeploy your project for the change to take effect.

Running the workflow sample application

Before running the sample application, you need to set up some workflow users. Users must be defined in the security role descriptors defined in the workflow_components.jar and workflow_sample_components.jar.

To set up workflow users:

1. In Workbench, open WorkflowUsers.xml in your project EAR's workflow_components.jar and in the workflow_samples_component.jar.

       For more information about where files are located in a resource set, see the section on subdirectories for resources and Java classes in the Core Development Guide

2. In each descriptor add at least one user in the user-map section. For example:

     <principal>sample1</principal>
     <principal>sample2</principal>
     <principal>sample3</principal>
   

   A user called sample is defined by default.

   NOTE:   The same users must be defined in your server security realm before you run the application.

3. Redeploy your project.

To run the workflow sample application:

1. Log in to MyPortal using the sample user:

   User ID: sample

   Password: sample

2. From the Workflow category in the Portal Personalizer, add these components to a portal page:

   • WorkflowStartProcess

   • WorkflowQueue

3. In separate browsers, log in as the other users you defined and add the WorkflowQueue component (WorkflowStartProcess is optional).

4. In the sample user browser, go to the Workflow Start Process component, select the process from the dropdown list, and click Start.

   This creates a workitem in the WorkflowQueue component.

5. Select the workitem and click View Item. This displays a workitem property sheet.

6. Complete the form and specify one of your workflow users as an addressee.

7. To follow the process through content creation and approval, log in as the user you specified for each addressee and complete the workitems.

Dynamic addressing of workitems

The workflow sample allows users to specify the addressee for the next activity. The sample process defines that the addressee be resolved at runtime based on a workitem property. Whatever that workitem property value is at the time the activity gets forwarded determines the addressee. When the component sets a new addressee, it just sets a workitem property on the workitem delegate:

  delegate.setProperty( new EboProperty(WORKITEM_ADDRESSEE, m_addressee, EboConstants.ATT_STRING, false), context );

NOTE:   Rule links provide the ability to set addressee information dynamically as well. For more information, see the section on rule links in the Workflow Designer chapter of the Workflow Guide.

Wrapper

A superclass used to implement the rule and pipeline wrappers. You can use it to create wrappers for other objects.

	Samples

Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 SilverStream Software, LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Novell, Inc. All rights reserved.