JBoss Portal 2.6.2

The binary download is available from our download page .

Once downloaded and extracted, the folder hierarchy should look like this:

We will be using files contained in this download in the further sections, so please download and extract it first.

Of course you will need to install JBoss Application Server prior to installing JBoss portal, if you didn't do so yet, please install JBoss EAP 4.2 or JBoss AS 4.2.1. If you have a subscription contract with Red Hat, can have access to the EAP version from the support portal. For the other versions you can get them here .

You will need a database for JBoss Portal to run, you can use any database supported by Hibernate.

The JBoss Portal download you extracted in Section 2.2.1.1, “Getting the Binary” contains pre-configured datasource descriptors, you can use for most popular RDBMS under the setup directory. For more details about the datasource descriptor or if your database server is not part of the pre-built descriptors, please refer to: the dedicated wiki page.

At this point, you should configure the one that suits you best with your Database and JDBC driver.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<datasources>
  <local-tx-datasource>
    <jndi-name>PortalDS</jndi-name>
    <connection-url>jdbc:postgresql:jbossportal</connection-url>
    <driver-class>org.postgresql.Driver</driver-class>
    <user-name>portal</user-name>
    <password>portalpassword</password>
  </local-tx-datasource>
</datasources>
                  

Please verify that the username, password, url, and driver-class are correct for your flavor of DB. You can deploy the datasource file by itself to test, in advance.

Of course you will need to install JBoss Application Server prior to installing JBoss portal, if you didn't do so yet, please install JBoss EAP 4.2 or JBoss AS 4.2.1. If you have a subscription contract with Red Hat, can have access to the EAP version from the support portal. For the other versions you can get them here .

For the build targets to work, you must first set the JBOSS_HOME environment variable in your operating system, to the root directory of the JBoss Application Server installation.

In Windows, this is accomplished by going to Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Environment Variables . Now under the System Variables section, click New . You will be setting the JBOSS_HOME environment variable to the location of your JBoss Application Server installation:

On a Unix-like Operating System, you would accomplish this by typing: export JBOSS_HOME=/path/to/your/jboss/directory

You will need a database for JBoss Portal to function, you can use any database supported by Hibernate.

You will need a valid datasource descriptor, for JBoss Portal to communicate with your database. Having obtained the sources and having set your JBOSS_HOME environment variable ( Section 2.3.2.2, “Operating System Environment Setting” ), you can now have the JBoss Portal build system generate preconfigured datasources for you.

Navigate to JBOSS_PORTAL_HOME_DIRECTORY/core and type:

build datasource

Once complete, the datasource build should produce the following directory and file structure:

At this point, you should configure the one that suits you best with your Database and JDBC driver.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<datasources>
  <local-tx-datasource>
    <jndi-name>PortalDS</jndi-name>
    <connection-url>jdbc:postgresql:jbossportal</connection-url>
    <driver-class>org.postgresql.Driver</driver-class>
    <user-name>portal</user-name>
    <password>portalpassword</password>
  </local-tx-datasource>
</datasources>
                  

Please verify that the username, password, url, and driver-class are correct for your flavor of DB.

Now copy your datasource descriptor to JBOSS_HOME/server/default/deploy

Names of few core bundled portlets changed. To update them you need to:

In JBP_INSTANCES table:

NavigationPortlet from JBP 2.4 is not present anymore. Its functionality is now realized by PageCustomizerInterceptor so all references to NavigationPortlet should be removed from all portal pages. You can do it either by cleaning up database content or by using AdminPortlet in Portal interface. In database you should remove:

This is probably the less trival part to do directly in database. In JBP 2.6 version the way that CMS content is being displayed changed significantly. Please refer to Content Integration and CMS Portlet chapters for more information. Basically currently there is no need to have more than one instance of CMSPortlet and the portlet window displays CMS content not by referring to that portlet instance but by having proper content-type defined. In "default-object.xml you will find following configuration:

                  
<window>
   <window-name>CMSWindow</window-name>
   <content>
      <content-type>cms</content-type>
      <content-uri>/default/index.html</content-uri>
   </content>
   <region>center</region>
   <height>0</height>
</window>
                  
               

Open JBP_OBJECT_NODE table in your database schema. By looking at PATH column you will easily find any occurances of CMS in your portal deployment

For any row you will identify as referring to CMSPortletWindow in your system remember the number in PK column. It will be needed in next steps

Go to JBP_WINDOW table and find row with the same PK value like the one from JBP_OBJECT_NODE table. In such row replace "CMSPortletInstance" with a path to your CMS resource. For example by default portal is displaying "/default/index.html".

Go to JBP_PORTAL_OBJECT_PROPS table and add a row containing:

This section will introduce the reader to deploying his first portlet in JBoss Portal. It requires you download the HelloWorldPortlet from PortletSwap.com, using this link.

Portlets are packaged in WAR files, just like other JEE applications. A typical portlet WAR file can also include servlets, resource bundles, images, HTML, JSPs, and other static or dynamic files you would commonly include.

Included in the download bundle you should have one java source file: HelloWorldPortlet\src\main\org\jboss\portlet\hello\HelloWorldPortlet.java, and it should contain the following:

package org.jboss.portlet.hello;

import javax.portlet.GenericPortlet;
import javax.portlet.PortletException;
import javax.portlet.RenderRequest;
import javax.portlet.RenderResponse;
import javax.portlet.UnavailableException;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;

public class HelloWorldPortlet extends GenericPortlet
{
   protected void doView(RenderRequest rRequest, RenderResponse rResponse)
                     throws PortletException, IOException, UnavailableException
   {
      rResponse.setContentType("text/html");
      PrintWriter writer = rResponse.getWriter();
      writer.write("Hello World!");
      writer.close();
   }
}
               

Now let's dissect our simplest of portlets:

JBoss Portal requires certain descriptors be included in your portlet WAR, for different reasons. Some of these descriptors are defined by the Portlet Specification, some are specific to JBoss Portal.

Now let's explain what each of these does: