Work with the Portal Scripting Interface

Work with the Portal Scripting Interface

Learn more about the different modes that you can use with the Portal Scripting Interface.

Prerequisite information

The Portal Scripting Interface provided by WebSphere Portal is based on the wsadmin scripting tool that is bundled with IBM WAS. Therefore, before you use the Portal Scripting Interface, familiarize yourself with how to use the WAS wsadmin tool.

Interactive mode

Use the interactive mode if you want to interact directly and dynamically with the portal to perform simple administrative tasks that should only be executed once. For example, the administrator wants to modify the permissions of a page for a certain principal, or the administrator wants to add a portlet to a page. Use the interactive mode if you do not intend to repeat the operation. Before initiating a session in interactive mode, make sure that WebSphere Portal is running. The portal script client is located in the WebSphere Portal installation directory:

UNIX: PortalServer_root/bin
i5/OS: PortalServer_root/bin
Windows: PortalServer_root\bin

You can invoke the portal script client using the following commands:

UNIX: ./wpscript.sh
i5/OS: wpscript.sh
Windows: wpscript.bat

The following procedures provide examples:

If WAS security is enabled, specify a user ID and password during login as shown in the following example:

UNIX: ./wpscript.sh -port port_number -user admin_userid -password admin_password
i5/OS: wpscript.sh -port port_number -user admin_userid -password admin_password
Windows: wpscript.bat -port port_number -user admin_userid -password admin_password

The most basic parameters are explained briefly in the following table.
Parameter Description
-conntype The type of connection that should be established between scripting.
Valid connection types include:

SOAP
RMI
NONE

Default is SOAP. Optional. Use the -conntype NONE option to run in local mode. The result is that the scripting client is not connected to a running server. If the connection type NONE is selected, the scripting beans are inactive and cannot be used for administration, with the exception of the help command.

-port
-port_number
The name of the connection port. This parameter is optional. The port_number depends on values chosen during installation. You can verify the value that is set for the WasSoapPort property in the properties/wkplc.properties file found in the appropriate directory below:

UNIX: profile_root/ConfigEngine
i5/OS: profile_root/ConfigEngine
Windows: profile_root/ConfigEngine

If you are running wpscript on a machine that is part of a cell managed by a deployment manager, the port_number can vary depending on what ports are in use on the system when the deployment manager is created. To verify the value, check the setting for SOAP_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS in serverindex.xml located in the appropriate directory below:

UNIX: dmgr_profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name
i5/OS: dmgr_profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name
Windows: dmgr_profile_root\config\cells\cell_name\nodes\node_name

-user The user ID under which you establish the connection.
This parameter can be mandatory, depending on your security configuration.
-password The password for the user ID under which you establish the connection.

Log on to the portal using the following script command: $Portal login wpsadmin wpsadmin
Issue portal script commands as required.
After you have completed all tasks by the portal scripting interface, close and exit the script processor. All changes that you committed are applied to the portal configuration.

Script mode

Use the script mode to apply predefined changes to the configuration of a portal.
The wpscript tool executes a JACL script that contains the administrative operations. The scripting client inherits the JACL processor from wsadmin, so an administrator can exploit the JACL scripting language, in order to write re-usable, extendable administration scripts. This mode is typically preferred if reproducible administration tasks are created: For example, the administrator can write a JACL script that produces a complete page subtree, and adds individual page layouts and portlets on each page.
Users who have access permission to perform XML configuration interface requests can change configurations of all resources. The Portal Scripting Interface is mostly consistent with the administration model that is exposed by the Portal user interface.
Before using script mode, make sure that WebSphere Portal is running and a portal script file is available. Use the following procedure.

Update the script file with the appropriate credentials, if required.
Use the following command to launch the script processor tool: wpscript.sh -port port_number -f script_file_name.jacl.
This initializes the interactive script environment of the portal script processor.
Check the output from the script processor to ensure that no errors occurred during the execution of the script.

All changes committed by the script are immediately applied to the portal configuration.
Here is an example of a portal script file called "testme.jacl":
# Scripting bean example: create a simple page (multi-column Layout)           
#                                                                              

# Procedure: create a multi-column page below the page that is currently       
# selected, and place the given portlets into the layout.                      
#                                                                              
# parameters:                                                                  
#   name              The name of the page                                     
#   portlet_names     A list of portlet names.                                 
# returns:
#   oid               The id of the page that has been created
proc create_multi_col_page { name portlet_names } 
{                            
  global Content Layout Portlet                                                
    set thePage [$Content create page $name html]                              
    $Content select $thePage                                                   
    set lyt0 [$Layout create container horizontal select]                      
    foreach pn $portlet_names {                                                
      set pid [$Portlet find portlet cn $pn]                                   
      $Layout create control $pid                                              
    }                                                                          
  return $thePage                                                              
}                                                                              
                                                                               
# main code starts here                                                        
                                                                               
# set User ID/ pwd for portal Login command                                    
# Hint: User ID and passwords should normally not be placed inside a           
# configuration script; better use property files or command line arguments
set user portaladmin
set pwd  adminpwd                                                              
$Portal login $user $pwd                                                       
                                                                               
# determine and select the parent of the page to be created.                   
# In this example, This is the "Home" label.                              
$Content select [$Content find all uniquename "ibm.portal.Home"]                 
                                                                               
# Invoke the page creation procedure. The label of the page is "My test page", 
# portlets to be added are the workd clock portlet, and the welcome portlet.
set newbie [create_multi_col_page "A Page" { "World_Clock" "Welcome_to_WebSphere_Portal" } ]

puts "ok, we are done."       
This script creates a new page with the title "A page".
This page resides below the "Home " label. The page contains two portlets, which are arranged horizontally.
The scripts can receive parametric information externally, by using one of the JACL feature listed below:

Profiles.
Command line arguments.

A JACL script can access command line arguments with the JACL scripting variables argc (that holds the number of command line arguments) and argv (that holds the command line arguments themselves). Example: In the testme.jacl portal script file shown above, delete the following statements:
set user portaladmin 
set pwd  adminpwd 
and replace it with the following code:
if { $argc != 2 }  {
    puts "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.jacl <user> <pwd>"
      exit
  }
  set user [lindex $argv 0]
  set pwd [lindex $argv 1]
The security-sensitive user name and password are removed from the JACL script. The modified code expects the user ID and password to be specified as command line arguments, for example:wpscript.sh -port port_number -f testme.jacl portaladmin adminpwd.

Run scripting commands in a profile
A profile is a script that runs before the main script, or before entering interactive mode. Profiles can be used to set up environment specific behavior or user specific data. Profiles are specified when invoking wpscript, using the -profile parameter.
For example, the login command can be placed in a profile. The following example of a profile, which can be named mylogin.jacl, would look like this:
# scripting profile 
  # contains log-in procedure on portal with disabled security
  if { $argc != 2 }  {
    puts "invocation syntax: wpscript -f testme.jacl -profile mylogin.jacl <user> <pwd>"
      exit
  }
  set user [lindex $argv 0]
  set pwd [lindex $argv 1]
  $Portal login $user $pwd
Remove or comment out the following statements in the testme.jacl script file:
# scripting profile 
  # contains log-in procedure on portal with disabled security
  if { $argc != 2 }  {
    puts "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.jacl <user> <pwd>"
    exitoy
  }
  set user [lindex $argv 0]
  set pwd [lindex $argv 1]
  $Portal login $user $pwd 
Then, invoke the mylogin.jacl script, for example, as follows: wpscript.sh -port port_number -profile mylogin.jacl -f testme.jacl portaladmin adminpwd. The benefit of this change is that the environment-specific login procedure is removed from the administration script. For systems with enabled WAS security, it is as follows:
  # scripting profile 
  # contains log-in procedure on portal with enabled security
  $Portal login
Parent topic:
Portal Scripting Interface

Related concepts

About the Portal Scripting Interface
Configure portal behavior
The XML configuration interface

Related reference

Command reference for Portal Scripting Interface
Portal Scripting Interface
Scripting for static pages

Related information

Administer WebSphere Portal
http://www.ibm.com/software/webservers/appserv/was/library/

Parameter	Description
-conntype	The type of connection that should be established between scripting. Valid connection types include: SOAP RMI NONE Default is SOAP. Optional. Use the -conntype NONE option to run in local mode. The result is that the scripting client is not connected to a running server. If the connection type NONE is selected, the scripting beans are inactive and cannot be used for administration, with the exception of the help command.
-port -port_number	The name of the connection port. This parameter is optional. The port_number depends on values chosen during installation. You can verify the value that is set for the WasSoapPort property in the properties/wkplc.properties file found in the appropriate directory below: UNIX: profile_root/ConfigEngine i5/OS: profile_root/ConfigEngine Windows: profile_root/ConfigEngine If you are running wpscript on a machine that is part of a cell managed by a deployment manager, the port_number can vary depending on what ports are in use on the system when the deployment manager is created. To verify the value, check the setting for SOAP_CONNECTOR_ADDRESS in serverindex.xml located in the appropriate directory below: UNIX: dmgr_profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name i5/OS: dmgr_profile_root/config/cells/cell_name/nodes/node_name Windows: dmgr_profile_root\config\cells\cell_name\nodes\node_name
-user	The user ID under which you establish the connection. This parameter can be mandatory, depending on your security configuration.
-password	The password for the user ID under which you establish the connection.