[jboss-dev-forums] [Design of JBoss Portal] - Re: WANTED: Input from administrators & developers

[thomas.heute@jboss.com]

"bogdan.sulima" wrote : Hallo JBoss Team :)
  | 
  | I just started to evaluate JBoss Portal Server. You did a good job and i am looking forward to help you in improving Portal.
  | 
  | XML import
  | 
  | "thomas.heute at jboss.com" wrote : 
  |   | - Change datasource (copy data over)
  |   | - Pages definition export from database to XML (-objects.xml, -instances.xml).
  | 
  | WPS (WebSphere Portal Server) has very nice XML import/export interface (XMLAccess) that allows developers and administrators to import/export entire portal configuration or desired parts of the configuration (portlet instances, pages, users and so on). Such robust xml import/export alows you to migrate to new version of the portal, switch from one DB/LDAP to another (without creating some DB-specific scripts or dumps), reproduce portal environment to local development and so on.

This is what we want to do, i don't have access to WebSphere portal though so i don't know how it works for them, but i rely on your feedback to do better ;)

anonymous wrote : So the idea is quite simple:
  | - all the data that is stored in DB should be also configurable via xml.
  | - unique names (not DB ids) must be provided/generated for all portal objects.
  | 

We have that

- unique names offer common and simple lookup in xml scripts, render-url generation (can be used in Themes or CMS portlets for linking to portal pages/portlets).


I don't get it

anonymous wrote : It is possible to merge contents of the -object.xml and -instances.xml and extend it with additional data for exporting user/group information. Such "config.xml" can evolve with the new versions of the portal, but will still contain data in quite abstract format in order to provide backward compatibility between portal versions.
  | 

We had those 2 files merged (in 2.2), Julien decided to split for WSRP. We kept backward compability though.

anonymous wrote : 
  | Portal Model
  | 
  | In object.xml developer may specify custom properties for dirrerent portal nodes. Is it possible to provide read access to these properties via PortalNode interface? In this case developer can access these helpfull properties in jsp (via taglib?) or portlet without using PortalObjectContainer.
  | 
  | Layout
  | 
  | Is it possible to use JSP in order to create custom RenderSet? This will keep layout element consistent as jsp's. Some jsp tags can be provided to access custom properties and other objects that are important for rendering.
  | 
  | Bogdan.

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