Developing a custom portlet

We can use the default Impersonation portlet to impersonate specific users. Alternatively, we can create a resource environment provider to enable impersonation and develop a custom portlet for impersonating users.

Sample code

If we do not want to use the HCL WebSphere Portal Impersonation portlet, use the following sample to develop a portlet to impersonate users:

import com.ibm.portal.portlet.service.impersonation.ImpersonationService;
import com.ibm.portal.portlet.service.PortletServiceHome;

public class MyImpersonationPortlet extends GenericPortlet
{
    private PortletServiceHome psh;

    @Override
    public void init() throws PortletException
    {
        try
        {
            javax.naming.Context ctx = new javax.naming.InitialContext();
            psh = (PortletServiceHome) ctx.lookup(ImpersonationService.
JNDI_NAME);
        } catch (Exception ex)
        {
            // error handling
        }
    }

    @Override
    public void processAction(ActionRequest request, ActionResponse
response) throws PortletException, IOException
    {
        // obtain the service object and use the service
        ImpersonationService impersonationService = (ImpersonationService)
psh.getPortletService(ImpersonationService.class);
        try
        {
            impersonationService.doImpersonate(request, response,
stringuserDN);
        } catch (Exception e)
        {
            // error handling
        }
    }
}

We can enter the information for the user we want to impersonate in the stringuserDN. Alternatively, we can use the PUMA SPI User object.

Note: The impersonation feature becomes active with the next request.

Parent topic: Administering user impersonation