Chapter 2 Understanding the Standard Desktop
This topic describes the standard Desktop and how it delivers content to end
users. This topic provides the following sections:
Delivering Content
The standard Desktop, which end users access by using an
HTML browser, provides the primary end-user interface for Portal Server.
Note –
End users can access and use two additional Desktops, if they are configured
to do so:
-
The mobile Desktop, using a mobile device
-
The voice Desktop, using one of the following:
For information, see the Sun JavaTM System Portal Server
Mobile Access documentation.
The standard Desktop displays a web page that arranges content in rows and columns.
Each specialized content area within the page occupies a small window.
The mechanism for delivering content to these windows is a container channel
or a channel. A container channel, often simply called a container, generates its content by aggregating the content of other channels.
A channel is a component that processes requests
and generates content. A channel consists of the following:
Portal Server accepts three types of channels:
-
Community portlets – Process requests from
and generate content for a community. Community members use community portlets to
set up and manage communities.
-
Portlets – Process requests and generate content.
Portlets are automatically detected and configured web components. The Portlet Container,
an implementation of the JSR 168: Portlet Specification defined by the Java Community,
manages portlets.
-
Providers – Adapt the interfaces of generic
resources. For example:
The Portal Server also can query providers for information to display text and
graphics in channels.
Portal Server supports portlet content obtained from local as well as remote
sources. For information about remote portlets, see Implementing the WSRP Standard.
To Manage Containers and Channels
To manage containers and channels on a portal Desktop, use the Manage Containers
and Channels page of the Portal Server management console.
-
Log on to the Portal Server management console.
-
Click the Portals tab.
The Portals page displays a list of
your existing portals.
-
Click the name of the portal whose Desktop you want to manage.
The Desktop Tasks and Attributes page appears.
-
In the Tasks section, click the Manage Containers & Channels link.
The Manage Containers and Channels page appears.
-
To update your Desktop, use the Manage Containers and Channels page selections.
For additional information, click the Help button.
Implementing the WSRP Standard
Portlets available from local sources provide most of a portal's base functions. Remote portlets allow administrators to provide content without installation
effort and without code running locally on the consuming portal server.
Portal Server implements the Web Services for Remote Portlets (WSRP) 1.0 standard,
a web services protocol for aggregating content and interactive web applications from
remote sources. The implementation includes the following:
-
The WSRP consumer, a web service client (the
portal)
-
The WSRP producer, a web server
Portal Server's implementation of the WSRP producer supports publishing JSR
168 portlets for use by remote WSRP consumers. The JSR 168 portlets are deployed locally
on a portal server. An instance of the WSRP producer can publish these portlets.
Before a portal that acts as a WSRP consumer can access a remote portlet,
the portal must find the producer's web service definition language (WSDL). The producer
can register the WSDL, as well as other information related to the producer, in the
UDDI (universal description discovery interface) service registry. Registration makes
the portlet available to the consumer.
For additional information, see the WSRP 1.0 standard set by the Organization
for the Advancement of Structured Information Standards (OASIS):
http://www.oasis-open.org/committees/tc_home.php?wg_abbrev=wsrp
Download this book in PDF (513 KB)