Portlets - AI, ML, VR & more

Portlets, like model-I JSPs, need some framework to keep code manageable. While saying framework, initially we are more concerned with the basic structure of the portlets. Though it can be argued that portlets are based on MVC pattern and less prone to code management problems. But due to single controller architecture, soon the controller codes start zooming and becomes highly unmanageable. At this stage we need some framework with some best practices to avoid code management problems. There are various methodologies available like State Pattern by IBM. Here in this article authors has suggested that portlets have three major functions - 1. Validate 2. Store Data 3. Prepare Request Based on above assumption, he has tried to standardize above three major processes of portlet development. Idea is new one and, in my opinion, can be useful for small to medium size portlet development. For detailed portlets (say more than 100 lines of code), in my opinion, we should go for some pro...

It is the one of the most frequently asked questions in portal world and I believe that no one has the right answer. There are various surveys and research reports but all telling different stories. One report is saying that IBM is leading the market and other-one is saying that Plumtree is the market leader. Most of the reports don't consider open source portal servers at all, I don't know why? In my opinion no research can be said complete without including the open source portal servers. Few of my fellow blog authors are of opinion that most of the research reports are fabricated & biased and vendors use them to promote their products only. In my opinion there is no easy method to find the right answer. I have created one survey for finding the answer of the same question. Right now, IBM Portal Server is leading and eXo is at the second spot. Please go and cast your vote. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/portlets/surveys?id=11907382 Note: The poll is on portlets yah...

IBM is going to release version 5.1 of WebSphere Portal. The release is long awaited and I have still to see it. But from the available resources, following are the major additions in features - 1. Integrated workflow engine 2. Multiple Site Support 3. Improved Content Management (Lotus Workplace Web Content Management, JCR, Search) 4. Improved Document Manager (Tree View, JCR) The next major release i.e. Portal 6.0 is targeted around 2Q05.

JBoss, owners of the popular JBoss open source development community, added another piece to its middleware product portfolio with the addition of the Java Business Process Management (jBPM) Project, officials announced Monday. Complete Story

Content Management is one of the major motivations behind portals. But it is really unfortunate that there is no portal solution (at least in java world) that can fulfill even the basic content publishing requirements. A basic content management solution contains at least a content repository, content creation methods, content publishing methods, workflow and an API for content manipulation. In the past I have given a look on few major portals and reached to this conclusion. First, as usual, I have given a look on various open source portals. But other than the basic content repository and few APIs, I wasn't able to find anything. Means no open source portal can be used as an instant content publishing solution. The affair on commercial portals is also muted. The best portal server, in my opinion is IBM WebSphere Portal Server (again in java world). It comes with it's own content publishing tool called WebSphere Portal Content Publisher (WPCP). It can be used for small and m...

FatWire Software, a provider of enterprise content management solutions for deploying content-centric applications, has announced the release of Content Server 6, the latest edition of its enterprise level software. Content Server 6 adds new features that are designed to help organizations speed multi-site deployments, increase reuse of existing assets, provide higher levels of security, and use Content Server in portal environments. This latest version of Content Server is available and shipping to customers immediately. Specific new and enhanced features include: Site Launcher, SAFE (Secure Authorization for Enterprise), Portal Integration, and InSite Editor 2. Compete Story at EContentMag.com

For quite long, I had not checked OASIS's website. Today somehow I got the link of WSRP FAQ and found it contains answers of many common questions (yes, I know it is FAQ). For people who don't know what is OASIS, it is the committee taking care of WSRP standard; in fact many web services related standards. WSRP is still an evolving technology and on my WSRP discussion forum , people ask very basic questions. Most of the people are not very sure what WSRP can do, what it can not, how to do that etc. OASIS website has few very useful documents. These two documents are must read, if you are related to WSRP, in any ways - Web Services for Remote Portlets Specification FAQ (DOC) WSRP Primer (PDF) You can have a quick glance on contents here - What is the difference between JSR 168 and WSRP? What is a WSRP Producer? What is a WSRP Consumer? How does a Consumer discover a Producer and the Portlets it offers? What are the standar...

Oh, strange title. No no, I have not created any portlet that can bring back your youth. Rather I am talking about new look of this (portlets) blog. The last theme was quite old and in fact fairly dull too. This time, I have chosen the theme that I like most on blogger and it looks professional too. Other than all old features, 'mail the post' and 'blogger comment system' is now activated. So you can mail any post to your friends. Only problem that I am getting, I am not able to copy my old comments to the new templates. I will skip this, if I am not able to find any automated method. If anyone here knows any automated method of copying comments from Holoscan to blogger, please let me know. Anyways, please let me know your views on changed look.