Developing exteNd Director Applications

CHAPTER 3

Reconfiguring exteNd Director Projects

You can change your exteNd Director EAR or WAR by:

 
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Changing the configuration

This section describes ways you can change configuration settings. It includes three topics:

 
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Changing configuration settings using a wizard

Procedure To change configuration settings using a wizard:

  1. Open your exteNd Director project.

  2. Select Project>Director>Configuration.

  3. In the Project Configuration dialog, click the tab for the subsystem whose settings you want to change:

    Subsystem

    What you can change

    For more information, see

    Content Management

    Cache options and Autonomy search options

    Content Management caching configuration and Content Management caching configuration

    Directory

    Security realm

    Directory configuration

    Framework

    exteNd Director data source, locksmith, and clustering options

    Framework configuration

    Pageflow

    Resource set binding


    Binding subsystems to a resource set

    Rule

    Security

    User

    User service options

    LDAP user options

    Workflow

    Resource set binding

    Binding subsystems to a resource set

    WebDAV

    WebDAV URL and locking requirement

    WebDav configuration

  4. Click OK to save your changes.

 
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Changing configuration settings by editing the config.xml file directly

Procedure To change configuration settings by editing the config.xml file directly:

  1. Open your exteNd Director project.

  2. Locate the config.xml file for the subsystem you want to change.

    The config.xml files are located in WEB-INF\lib\ConfigService\ConfigService.spf\service-name-conf. For example, the Directory subsystem has a config.xml file in the WEB-INF\lib\ConfigService\DirectoryService-conf subdirectory.

    exteNd Director provides a standard key/value editor for config.xml files:

    cdSettingsView3

    TIP:   You can edit the XML source view if you prefer.

    In some versions of exteNd Director, the XML source view does not include multiple-line comments. You can open the XML file in a text editor to be sure that you see the complete source.

 
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Changing configuration settings using a predefined view

Procedure To change configuration settings using a predefined view:

  1. Open your exteNd Director project.

  2. Go to the View tab within the Resources tab and select settings.ear.xml.

    The settings.ear.xml view lets you find configuration settings in an EAR project (in a WAR project, you need to use the settings.war.xml view).

    The settings view includes a folder containing the configuration files for all subsystems.

 
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Adding subsystems

You can use the Setup Wizard to add subsystems to an existing EAR project.

You can add subsystems from any template—you don't have to use the same template you used to create the project. The Setup Wizard copies subsystem files to the project directory, adds subprojects to the project file, and makes configuration changes where necessary.

Procedure To add subsystems to your exteNd Director project:

  1. Open your exteNd Director EAR project.

  2. Select Project>Director>Setup.

  3. On the Setup Option panel of the Setup Wizard, select Add.

  4. On the Template Location panel, specify the directory for the template that contains the subsystems you want to add, then click Next.

    For more information    For information about selecting templates, see Creating an exteNd Director project.

  5. Click Yes to confirm your template choice.

  6. On the Subsystem Selection panel, select the subsystems you want to add.

    The wizard displays panels for configuration options.

  7. Make configuration settings as appropriate.

    Creating an exteNd Director project has information about these panels (for example: see Content Management caching configuration, Content Management caching configuration, and WebDav configuration.)

  8. On the last panel, check the summary information and optionally clear the Build project after wizard is finished check box.

  9. Click Finish.

Just as with the wizard for creating the exteNd Director project, this wizard takes some time to copy subsystem files from the template to the project directory. Then it builds the project, if you selected that option. When it finishes, you're ready to continue work on your application.

 
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Removing or disabling subsystems

NOTE:   For EAR projects only.

The Setup Wizard lets you remove or disable any installed subsystem.

Removing means the subsystem is removed from the project and references are removed from the project definition. Its files are deleted from disk.

Disabling means the subsystem files remain part of the project, but the subsystem is omitted from the archive when the project is built. The subsystem files are still in the project and you can reenable it when you want to.

In both cases, references to the subsystem are removed from configuration files and classpaths in manifest files.

Procedure To remove subsystems from your exteNd Director project:

  1. Open your exteNd Director EAR project.

  2. Select Project>Director>Setup.

  3. On the Setup Option panel of the Setup Wizard, select Modify.

  4. On the Subsystem Setup panel, clear the Selected check box for a subsystem you want to remove. Click Yes when the wizard asks if you are sure, warning that its files will be deleted.

    TIP:   If you select a subsystem that another subsystem depends on, the wizard won't allow it to be deleted. A message tells you what subsystems depend on it.

    The wizard deletes the subsystem from the project and the subsystem files from disk.

  5. Delete additional subsystems if you want, and click Finish when you are done.

Procedure To enable or disable subsystems:

  1. Open your exteNd Director project.

  2. Select Project>Director>Setup.

  3. On the Setup Option panel of the Setup Wizard, select Modify.

    The wizard displays the Subsystem Setup panel.

  4. Disable a subsystem by clearing its Enabled check box. Then click Yes when the wizard asks if you are sure you want to disable the subsystem.

    The wizard deletes the subsystem from the project but leaves the files on disk so that you can reenable the project later.

  5. Enable a subsystem by selecting its Enabled check box.

    The wizard restores the subsystem to the project.

  6. Disable or enable additional subsystems if you want, and click Finish when you are done.

Procedure To find out what subsystems are enabled:

  1. Open your exteNd Director project.

  2. Select Project>Director>Information.

    The Subsystem Information dialog displays the version and enabled status of the subsystems in your project.

  3. Click OK when you are done.

 
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Changing a project's shared library configuration

exteNd Director relies on JARs to provide subsystem resources. For example, each subsystem has one or more archives associated with it. In addition to the subsystem JARs, exteNd Director applications require other third-party JARs for successful execution. Examples of these other JARs include: Xalan.jar and xercesImpl.jar.

You can decide how exteNd Director should package the JARs used by your projects. The JAR configuration options are described in the following table:

If you want to

Choose this configuration

Include all of the needed JARs within your project

This is called a nonshared library configuration. By default, the Project Wizard creates all exteNd Director projects in this configuration.

For more information    For more information, see About nonshared library configurations.

Include only the exteNd Director subsystem JARs within the project . Copy the third-party JARs to a well-known location on the deployment application server

This is called a 3rd party JARs (partial shared library) configuration

For more information    For more information, see About 3rd party JAR configurations.

Don't include any framework or subsystem JARs within the project. Copy all of the framework, subsystem and 3rd party JARs to a well-known location on your deployment application server

This is called a shared library configuration.

You must use this configuration:

  • When you want to run standalone portlet applications.

  • When you deploy to an IBM WebSphere application server using the WebSphere custom realm.

For more information    For more information, see About shared library configurations

 
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About nonshared library configurations

By default, exteNd Director applications (except for portlet applications) are created using the nonshared library configuration.

In the nonshared library configuration:

You might not choose the nonshared library environment because:

For more information    For more information on changing to a different configuration, see Procedures for changing the project configuration.

 
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About shared library configurations

In a shared library configuration, the JAR files and classes that provide exteNd Director's services are installed on your application server in a well-known location. This means that the JARs can be shared across all exteNd Director Web applications deployed on that application server. The classes in the shared libraries are loaded by a single class loader, and the Web application class loaders extend from that class loader.

The shared library's benefits and restrictions are outlined below:

Benefits

Restrictions

Smaller project size

The application server is limited to a single deployed portal

Faster deployment

Configuration changes and redeployments require an application server restart

Applications can be independently redeployed

You cannot use the rapid deployment feature.

Decouples exteNd Director server configuration information from client application

You can deploy portlet application WARs independently

For more information    For more information on changing to a different configuration, see Procedures for changing the project configuration.

 
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About 3rd party JAR configurations

In the 3rd party JAR configuration:

The benefits to the 3rd party JAR configuration include:

Benefits

Restrictions

Smaller project size

Faster deployment

Configuration changes and redeployments require an application server restart

Applications can be independently redeployed

You cannot deploy portlet application WARs independently

You can deploy multiple portals to the application server, but they must use different exteNd Director databases.

For more information    For more information on changing to a different configuration, see Procedures for changing the project configuration.

 
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Procedures for changing the project configuration

By default, exteNd Director projects use a nonshared library configuration.

Procedure To determine the current project configuration:

  1. Open the project.

  2. Choose Project>Director>Shared Lib.

    The Shared Lib dialog displays.

    If the Shared Lib check box is not selected, the project is a nonshared library project.

Procedure To determine a project's configuration:

  1. Open the project.

  2. Choose Project>Director>Shared Lib.

    The Shared Lib dialog displays.

  3. Click Shared Lib check box.

    1. To change from nonshared library to 3rd-party JARs only, click both Shared Lib and Only 3rd party JARs).

      You'll see the list of JARs that will be removed from the project and added to the application server. The list varies depending on your selection.

  4. Choose Project>Rebuild all and archive.

  5. Save the project.

Procedure To determine the application server's configuration:

  1. To determine your application server's configuration, you'll need to check the appropriate server directory and see which JARs are there (or not).

    Server name

    Check this location

    Novell exteNd Application Server

    File: AgJars.conf

    Directory: extend5\sharedlib

    Apache tomcat

    Directory: shared\lib

    BEA WebLogic

    The server's classpath

    IBM WebSphere

    Directory: server\lib

If the location contains:

Procedure To change a nonshared library server to a full or 3rd party shared library configuration:

  1. Undeploy any exteNd Director projects that require a nonshared library environment.

  2. Stop your server.

  3. Open a project.

    NOTE:   This procedure also changes the structure of the project.

  4. Choose Project>Director>Shared Lib.

    The Shared Lib dialog displays.

  5. Click Shared Lib check box.

  6. Click Copy JARs.

    You are prompted for a directory location to copy the JARs to.

    1. Browse to the server's directory listed in the following table:

      Server name

      Check this location

      Novell exteNd Application Server

      File: AgJars.conf

      Directory: extend5\sharedlib

      Apache tomcat

      Directory: shared\lib

      BEA WebLogic

      The server's classpath

      IBM WebSphere

      Directory: server\lib

    2. Click OK.

  7. Update the application server's classpath so that the server can locate the JARs you just copied.

  8. Restart your server.

Procedure To change from a shared library server configuration to a nonshared library configuration:

  1. Undeploy any exteNd Director projects that require a shared library environment.

  2. Stop your server.

  3. Open a project.

    NOTE:   This procedure also changes the structure of the project.

  4. Choose Project>Director>Shared Lib.

    The Shared Lib dialog displays.

  5. Unselect the Shared Lib checkbox and (if checked) the Only 3rd party JARs.

  6. Click OK.

  7. Remove the exteNd Director subsystem JARs and the 3rd party JARs from the server's directory.

    Server name

    Check this location

    Novell exteNd Application Server

    File: AgJars.conf

    Directory: extend5\sharedlib

    Apache tomcat

    Directory: shared\lib

    BEA WebLogic

    The server's classpath

    IBM WebSphere

    Directory: server\lib

  8. Remove the exteNd Director subsystem JARs and the 3rd party JARs from the server's classpath.

  9. Restart your server.



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