How the Tags portlet interacts with the other IBM Connections portlets
This topic describes how the tags portlet interacts with the other IBM Connections portlets.The IBM Connections Tags portlet allows users to locate content in the other IBM Connections portlets (Activities, Blogs, Bookmarks, Wikis and Profiles). Selecting a tag from the tags portlet causes the Connections portlets to reload to display the content from the Connections applications tagged with the selected tag. This interaction between the Tag Cloud portlet and other Connections portlets is enabled through portlet wiring to send the information that the Connections portlets need to request the proper feeds filtered by the selected tag.
There are two modes of operation with regards to the interaction between the tag cloud and the other Connections portlets: one-way and two-way communication mode. In one-way communication mode, the tag cloud portlet sends a wire to the other Connections portlets to update their view according to a selected tag. In two-way communication mode, the other Connections portlets can also send a wire to the tag cloud portlet to update its view as well according to the view being displayed.
One-way Communication Mode
One-way communication mode is enabled when the tag cloud portlet is set to communicate with multiple instances of the Connections application portlets. This is enabled when more than one application is selected in the Shared Settings panel of the Tag Cloud portlet. In this mode, the tag cloud portlet uses the IBM Connections Homepage Search API to obtain an aggregated tag feed of the selected applications using the search URL set in the tag cloud portlet configure panel. To properly configure one-way communication mode for tag filtering, the following items are required:
- The search URL is properly configured in the tag cloud portlet configuration panel.
- At least two applications that you want represented in the tag cloud must be selected in the tag cloud portlet shared settings panel.
- The wiring must be configured to send a wire from the tag cloud portlet to the applications selected in step 2. See Wiring the IBM Connections portlets for instructions on how to set up portlet wiring.
Two-way Communication Mode
Two-way communication mode is enabled when the tag cloud portlet is set to communicate with a single Connections application portlet. This is enabled when only one application is selected in the Shared Settings panel of the Tag Cloud portlet. In this mode, the tag cloud portlet uses the corresponding application api to obtain an the tag feed of the selected application using the application URL set in the tag cloud portlet configure panel. Like the one-way communication mode, the tag cloud portlet sends a wire to the Connections application portlet when a tag is selected. In addition, the Connections application portlet sends a wire to the tag cloud portlet to refresh the tag cloud to show the tags relevant for the view selected. An example of this is when you drill down into an activity from the “My Activities” view in the Activities portlet, a wire is sent to the tag cloud with information to show the tags specific to the activity selected. To properly configure two-way communication mode for tag filtering, the following items are required:
- The application URL of the Connections application you want to represent in the tag cloud must be set in the tag cloud portlet configuration panel.
- The single application that you want represented in the tag cloud must be selected in the tag cloud portlet shared settings panel.
- The wiring must be configured to send a wire from the tag cloud portlet to the Connections application selected in step 2 and the wiring from the Connections application portlet must be configured to send a wire to the tag cloud portlet to render tags for the view selected in the application portlet. See Wiring the IBM Connections portlets for instructions on how to set up portlet wiring.
Parent topic
IBM Connections Portlets for WebSphere Portal