How To Create Portlets With Netbeans 6

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Using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins to Create Portlets on NetBeans 6.5 IDE As a set of plugins for NetBeans (IDE), the Portal Pack plugins support full life-cycle of portlet application development

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inside NetBeans. Using this tool portlet developers can develop, package, deploy, and test portlets inside their NetBeans IDE. By automatic code and Deployment Descriptor generation, this tool helps developers to develop portlets quickly. Portal Pack plugins provide a tight integration with portal servers (such as the WebSynergy Server, Liferay Portal Server, Sun Java System Portal Server 7.x, The OpenPortal Portlet C ontainer on java.net) to support deployment and

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undeployment of portlets on both the local and remote servers. The following are the topics covered in this article:

Support

C onfiguring the WebSynergy Server To configure the WebSynergy Server

Sun Developer Services Buying Guide

To View Portlets Deployed on WebSynergy Server

Get Sun Software Service Plan Now

C reating Portlets using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins Creating a Project

Documentation Basic Java Programming

To C reate a Project Creating JSR168/286 Portlets and Portlet Pages

Java and JavaFX GUIs Java Web Applications EJB & Web Service Applications

To C reate a JSR168/286 Portlet

Mobile Applications

To Deploy Portlets to WebSynergy Server

SOA Applications

To C reate a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

UML Modelling PHP Applications

Creating VisualWeb JSF Portlets and Pages

Ruby Applications C /C++ Applications

To C reate a VisualWeb JSF Portlet To C reate a Edit or Help mode JSF Page Creating Ruby/PHP/Groovy Portlets

NetBeans Modules and RichC lient Applications Sample Applications Demos and Screencasts

To C reate a Ruby Portlet To C reate a Edit Mode or Help Mode Ruby Portlet Page

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To C reate a PHP Portlet

FAQs

To C reate a Edit Mode or Help Mode PHP Portlet Page

C ontribute Documentation!

To C reate a Groovy Portlet

Docs for Earlier Releases

To C reate a Edit Mode or Help Mode Groovy Portlet Page Related Links This article discusses creating portlets on the NetBeans by using Portal Pack 3.0 plugins, and deploying them on Project WebSynergy. As a prerequisite, you need to download and install the Project WebSynergy bundle. Also, Portal Pack 3.0 plugins need to be installed on the NetBeans 6.5 IDE software. As a prerequisite for installing Project WebSynergy, you need to install JDK1.5 or JDK1.6 on your machine. You can download the platform specific jar for Project WebSynergy from OpenPortal C ommunity. Install the Project WebSynergy bundle and start the server. Download Portal Pack 3.0 plugins from http://portalpack.netbeans.org. To install the Portal Pack 3.0 plugins on the NetBeans 6.5 IDE:

1. Start the NetBeans IDE and choose Tools —> Plugins. The Plugins window pops up. 2. To add plugins from the download location, navigate to the Downloaded tab, and click the Add Plugins... button. 3. C lick Install to start the installation.

Configuring the WebSynergy Server The portlets created using Portal Pack plugins can be deployed on Project WebSynergy. The following topics are discussed in this section: To configure the WebSynergy Server To View Portlets Deployed on WebSynergy Server To configure the WebSynergy Server

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1. C hoose Servers from the Tools menu. The Servers window appears.

Figure 1 Configuring the WebSynergy Server

C lick to Expand 2. Select the Project WebSynergy Server from the Servers list, and click the Add Server button. The Add Server Instance window appears.

Figure 2 Configuring the WebSynergy Server

C lick to Expand 3. Select Project WebSynergy Server and click Next. 4. C lick the button next to the GlassFish Home, to choose the GlassFish Home directory. The Choose Directory window appears. 5. Navigate to the 'glassfish' folder on your desktop, and click 'OK'. The GlassFish Home, Domain Dir, Domain, Port, and Admin Port fields are populated. 6. Type the password in the Password field. Note: The default password is adminadmin.

Figure 3 Configuring the WebSynergy Server

C lick to Expand 7. C lick Next. 8. C lick Finish. You have successfully configured your NetBeans IDE to deploy the portlets created on it to your WebSynergy build. To View the Portlets Deployed on WebSynergy Server

1. Display the Services tab in the NetBeans IDE by clicking the tab name, choosing 'Services' from the window menu,

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or pressing C trl-5. 2. Expand WebSynergy Server under Servers. 3. Expand 'Portlets'. To view a particular portlet, right-click the portlet name and choose Show Portlet from the pop-up menu.

Figure 4 Viewing the po rtlets deployed to WebSynergy Server

Creating Portlets by using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins You can create JSR 168/286 portlets, VisualWeb JSF portlets, and Ruby/PHP/Groovy portlets by using Portal Pack 3.0 plugins on NetBeans IDE 6.5 software. To create portlets, you need to create a Web Project with the Portlet Support framework. You can have multiple portlets within a single Web Project. The following topics are discussed in this section: C reating a Project C reating JSR168/286 Portlets and Portlet Pages C reating VisualWeb JSF Portlets and Pages C reating Ruby/PHP/Groovy Portlets

Creating a Project You can create and delete projects within the NetBeans IDE. A project acts as a container for portlets and portlet pages, and all other files related to them. To Create a Project

1. Choose New Project from the File menu. The New Project page appears. 2. Choose Java Web and Web Applications respectively for C ategories and Projects, and click Next. Figure 5 Creating a Pro ject

Click to Expand 3. Specify a name for your project, and click Next. Figure 6 Creating a Pro ject

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Click to Expand 4. Select the Project WebSynergy Server as the server instance from the Server drop-down menu. Figure 7 Creating a Pro ject

Click to Expand 5. Select Portlet Support as the framework. Choose Portlet Version 2.0, select the Create Portlet option, and click Finish.

Figure 8 Creating a Pro ject

Click to Expand Your new project is created. Also, a JSR168/286 portlet called Hello World is also created by default.

Figure 9 Creating a Pro ject

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Using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins to Crea… Whenever you create a new portlet page, or when you open an existing portlet page, it opens in a new tab in the NetBeans IDE. You can view and edit the page in full-screen mode or in regular window by double-clicking the tab, or by clicking the Maximize Window button.

Creating JSR168/286 Portlets and Portlet Pages The NetBeans IDE 6.5 software creates a JSR168/286 portlet by default when you create a new project in the NetBeans IDE. The following topics are discussed in this section: To C reate a JSR168/286 Portlet To Deploy Portlets to WebSynergy Server To C reate a new JSR 168/286 Portlet To Create a JSR168/286 Portlet

1. The system by default, creates the Hello World portlet. You can use the Palette on the right corner of the project window to make changes to the portlet. Make changes to the index.jsp page, by adding objects from the Palette. The Palette contains HTML, HTML Forms, JSP, JSF, and Database objects. On adding a palette object, the markup for the object is added to the page. You can make changes to the markup, as needed.

Figure 10 Creating JSR168/286 Portlets and Portlet Pages

Click to Expand 2. Click Save from the File menu. To Deploy Portlets to WebSynergy Server

1. Right-click the project name and choose Run from the pop-up menu. Figure 11 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

2. Again, right-click on the project and choose Undeploy and Deploy from the pop-up menu. Figure 12 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

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3. Click on the Services tab. The services tab displays all the projects and the associated portlets deployed on WebSynergy Server. In this example, WebApplication1 is the name of the project and HelloWorld is the name of the portlet. You can find WebApplication1.HelloWorld under portlets .

4. Right-click the portlet name and select Show Portlet from the pop-up manu. In our example, right-click on WebApplication1.HelloWorld.

Figure 13 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

It opens the Project WebSynergy welcome page.

Figure 14 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

Click to Expand 5. Login to Project WebSynergy and choose Add Application from the main menu. Figure 15 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

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The Add Application window appears.

Figure 16 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

6. Click on User_Portlets to expand the list of user created portlets. 7. Click the Add button next to the HelloWorldPortlet entry. The HelloWorldPortlet is added to the application.

Figure 17 Deploying Portlets to WebSynergy Server

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To Create a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

1. Right click the project name, and choose New —> Other, or press C trl+N. Figure 18 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

The New File window appears.

Figure 19 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

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Click to Expand 2. Select 'Portlets' in the 'C ategories' list and 'Portlet' in the 'File Types' list, and click Next. The New Portlet window appears.

Figure 20 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

Click to Expand 3. Specify a name for the portlet and click Next. To create Edit and Help mode portlet pages, leave the EDIT and HELP options selected. 4. Click Finish. The New File window appears. 5. Select the 'C reate Jsps' option and click Finish. Figure 21 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

Click to Expand The .java file is created.

Figure 22 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

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Click to Expand The files are listed under WEB-INF/jsp.

Figure 23 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

6. To edit a file, right-click the file name and choose Open from the pop-up menu. Figure 24 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

An edit window containing the file content is displayed.

Figure 25 Creating a new JSR 168/286 Portlet

Click to Expand 7. When you have finished making changes, choose Save from the File menu. 8. Run and deploy the portlet. To find out how to run and deploy portlets, see To Deploy portlets to WebSynergy Server.

Creating VisualWeb JSF Portlets and Pages When you are creating a JSF portlet, a JSF page is created along with it. It is possible to create more portlet pages for the same portlet. To C reate a VisualWeb JSF Portlet

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Using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins to Crea… To C reate a Edit or Help mode JSF Page

To Create a VisualWeb JSF Portlet

1. Right-click the project name and choose New —> VisualWeb JSF Portlet Page. 2. Specify the file and folder name. 3. Select the Create a New Portlet option, and specify the name of the portlet, as shown in the figure. In the example, the name of the portlet is NewJSFportlet, and the name of the portlet is PortletPage1. By default, the portlet display name, the description, and the title are the same as the portlet name, but you can set different values for these attributes.

Figure 26 Creating a VisualWeb JSF Portlet

Click to Expand 4. Click Finish. You can see that the JSF portlet (in the example, NewJSFportlet) and the JSP file for the portlet page (in the example, PortletPage1) are listed under portlet.xml. By default, the portlet page is set to View Mode.

Figure 27 Creating a VisualWeb JSF Portlet

5. Design your portlet page by using the options available on the palette. Figure 28 Creating a VisualWeb JSF Portlet

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Click to Expand 6. Choose Save from the File menu. 7. Run and Deploy the portlet to WebSynergy. To find out how to run and deploy portlets, see To Deploy portlets to WebSynergy Server. To Create an Edit or Help Mode JSF Page

1. Right-click the project name, and choose New —> VisualWeb JSF Portlet Page. Note: When you select the Create a New Portlet option, it prompts the system to create a new portlet, along with creating a portlet page. You need to leave the checkbox unchecked to create only a page. The fields, such as the portlet name, portlet display name, and the portlet title are disabled when the checkbox is unchecked. 2. Specify the file name and the folder name. Figure 29 Creating an Edit or Help Mode JSF Page

Click to Expand 3. Click Finish. The new JSP file PortletPage2.jsp has been created. It is listed under the Web Pages folder.

Figure 30 Creating an Edit or Help Mode JSF Page

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4. Set the portlet page as an Edit Mode or Help Mode page. a. The following is the procedure to set a portlet page for Edit Mode: i. Right-click the JSP file name. C hoose Set as Initial Page > New JSF Portlet, and then select either Edit Mode Page or Help Mode Page.

Figure 31 Creating an Edit or Help Mo de JSF Page

The portlet page PortletPage2.jsp is now associated to the portlet NewJSFportlet and listed under portlet.xml.

Figure 32 Creating an Edit or Help Mo de JSF Page

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Note: Even when you delete a portlet page, the portlet entry remains in the portlet.xml file. For this, you need to manually delete the portlet entry from the portlet.xml file. b. The following is the procedure to set a portlet page for Help Mode: i. Right-click on the JSP file and navigate to select the Help Mode Page radio-button. Figure 33 Creating an Edit or Help Mo de JSF Page

Now, the same JSF portlet page is set to Help Mode. A single portlet page can be associated with more than one portlet. You can assign a different mode for the portlet page for different portlets. In our example, the portlet page PortletPage2.jsp is associated to the portlet NewJSFportlet. You can find it under portlet.xml.

Figure 34 Creating an Edit or Help Mo de JSF Page

5. Design your portlet page, by using the options available on the palette. 6. Choose Save from the File menu.

Creating Ruby/PHP/Groovy Portlets The NetBeans IDE 6.5 software gives you the option to create portlets using Ruby, PHP, and Groovy programming languages.

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languages. The following sections explain the procedures to create Ruby, PHP, and Groovy portlets and portlet pages: To C reate a Ruby Portlet To C reate a Edit Mode or Help Mode Ruby Portlet Page To C reate a PHP Portlet To C reate a Edit Mode or Help Mode PHP Portlet Page To C reate a Groovy Portlet To C reate a Edit Mode or Help Mode Groovy Portlet Page To Create a Ruby Portlet

1. Right-click the project name and choose New —> Other from the pop-up menu, or press C trl-N. Figure 35 Creating a Ruby Portlet

The New File window appears.

Figure 36 Creating a Ruby Portlet

Click to Expand 2. Select WebSynergy Portlets from the C ategories list and Ruby Portlet as the file type, and click Next. The New Portlet window appears. 3. Specify the file, folder, and portlet name. Figure 37 Creating a Ruby Portlet

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Click to Expand A folder named ruby is created under the WEB-INF folder in the project. The ruby folder contains two files related to the portlet, named in the pattern .rb and _action.rb. The .rb file is also listed under portlet.xml.

Figure 38 Creating a Ruby Portlet

Click to Expand 4. Click Finish A Ruby portlet is created in View Mode. 5. Edit and make changes to the .rb and _action.rb files. The _action.rb file is executed whenever an action occurs in the project that contains the ruby portlet. 6. Choose Save from the File menu. 7. Run and deploy the portlet to WebSynergy. For information about how to run and deploy portlets, see To Deploy portlets to WebSynergy Server. To Create an Edit Mode or Help Mode Ruby Portlet

1. Select Ruby Portlet as the file type, and click Next. 2. Specify a file name and folder name. Note: When you are creating only a portlet page, leave the Create a New Portlet checkbox unchecked.

Figure 39 Creating an Edit Mode o r Help Mode Ruby Po rtlet

Click to Expand 3. Click Finish. The .rb file is created and appears under the Ruby folder.

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Using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins to Crea… Note: The portlet.xml file stores the details of the portlet and the portlet page. Any accidental deletion of the portlet.xml file, leads to some issues in creating a portlet page. As shown in the below figure, when you are trying to create a portlet page, you may see an error on the screen, saying Invalid Portlet Name.

Figure 40 Creating an Edit Mode o r Help Mode Ruby Po rtlet

Click to Expand 4. Set the portlet page to Edit or Help mode. For the details of the procedure to set a portlet to Edit or Help mode, refer to the section on C reating a Edit or Help Mode JSF Page. 5. Edit and make changes to the .rb file. 6. When you have finished making changes, choose Save from the File menu. To Create a PHP Portlet

1. Right-click the project name and choose New —> Other from the pop-up menu, or press C trl-N. Figure 41 Creating a PHP Portlet

The New File window appears.

Figure 42 Creating a PHP Portlet

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Click to Expand 2. Select WebSynergy Portlets from the C ategories list and PHP Portlet as the file type, and click Next. 3. Specify the file, folder, and portlet name. Figure 43 Creating a PHP Portlet

Click to Expand 4. Click Finish. The index.php and .php files are created and appear under the resources folder. The index.php page should not be deleted for the portlet to work. The .php file has View Mode.

Figure 44 The Newly Created PHP Portlet file

5. Edit the .php page, as needed. You can use the HTML and the HTML Forms objects from the palette in modifying the page.

Figure 45 Creating a PHP Portlet

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6. When you have finished making changes, choose Save from the File menu. 7. Run and deploy the portlet to WebSynergy. For information on how to run and deploy portlets, see To Deploy portlets to WebSynergy Server. To Create an Edit Mode or Help Mode PHP Portlet Page

1. Follow steps 1 to 3 of the procedure on C reating a PHP Portlet, with the exception of leaving the Creating a New Portlet checkbox unchecked. Figure 46 Creating an Edit Mode o r Help Mode PHP Portlet Page

Click to Expand 2. Click Finish. The .php file is created under the resources folder.

Figure 47 Creating an Edit Mode o r Help Mode PHP Portlet Page

3. Set the portlet page to Edit or Help mode. For the details of the procedure to set a portlet to Edit or Help mode, refer to the section on C reating a Edit or Help Mode JSF Page. 4. Edit the .php page, as needed. You can use the HTML and HTML Forms objects from the palette in creating the php page. 5. When you have finished making changes, choose Save from the File menu. To Create a Groovy Portlet

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1. Right-click the project name, and choose New —> Other from the file menu, or press Ctrl-N. Figure 48 Creating a Groovy Portlet

The New File window appears.

Figure 49 Creating a Groovy Portlet

Click to Expand 2. Select WebSynergy Portlets from the C ategories list and Groovy Portlet as the file type, and click Next. 3. Specify the file, folder, and portlet name. Figure 50 Creating a Groovy Portlet

Click to Expand 4. Click Finish. The Groovy folder is created and appears under the WEB-INF folder in the project. The Groovy folder contains the .groovy and .action.groovy files. The .action.groovy file is

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Using Portal Pack 3.0 Plugins to Crea… .groovy and .action.groovy files. The .action.groovy file is

executed whenever some action occurs in the project.

Figure 51 Creating a Groovy Portlet

5. Edit the .groovy and the _action.groovy files, as needed. 6. Click Save from the File menu. 7. Run and deploy the portlet to WebSynergy. For information about how to run and deploy portlets, see To Deploy portlets to WebSynergy Server. To Create an Edit Mode or Help mode Groovy Portlet Page

1. Follow steps 1 to 3 of the procedure on C reating a Groovy Portlet, with the exception of leaving the Creating a New Portlet checkbox unchecked. Figure 52 Creating an Edit Mode o r Help mode Groovy Portlet Page

Click to Expand 2. Click Finish. The .groovy file is created under the Groovy folder.

Figure 53 Creating an Edit Mode o r Help mode Groovy Portlet Page

3. Set the portlet page to Edit or Help mode. For the details of the procedure to set a portlet to Edit or Help mode, refer to the section on C reating a Edit or Help Mode JSF Page. 4. Edit and make changes to the groovy-portlet>.groovy file. 5. Click Save from the File menu.

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Related Links NetBeans Portal Pack C ommunity OpenPortal C ommunity C ommunity Wiki for Portal Pack Project Portal Post – The Sun Java System Portal Server Product and Technologies Group Weblog

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