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 IBM WebSphere Portal is based on the wsadmin scripting tool that is provided by 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, verify WebSphere Portal is running. The portal script client is located in the WebSphere Portal installation directory:
- UNIX™: WP_PROFILE/PortalServer/bin
- i: WP_PROFILE/PortalServer/bin
- Windows™: WP_PROFILE/PortalServer/bin
You can invoke the portal script client using the following commands:
- UNIX: ./wpscript.sh
- i: 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 user_id -password password
- i: wpscript.sh -port port_number -user user_id -password password
- Windows: wpscript.bat -port port_number -user user_id -password password
- Log on to the portal using one of the following script commands:
- 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 Jython or JACL script that contains the administrative operations. The scripting client inherits the script processor from wsadmin, so an administrator can exploit the Jython or 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 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, verify 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 one of the following commands to launch the script processor tool:
Jython:wpscript.sh -portport_number -fscript_file_name.py
JACL: wpscript.sh -port port_number -f script_file_name.jacl
This initializes the interactive script environment of the portal JACL or Jython 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.
The following script example creates a new page with the title A page. This page resides beneath the Home label. The page contains two portlets that are arranged horizontally.
Portal Jython script example
The following example is a Jython script file named testme.py:
# 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
def create_multi_col_page(name, portlet_names):
thePage = Content.create("page", name, "html")
Content.select(thePage)
lyt0 = Layout.create("container", "horizontal", "select")
for pn in portlet_names:
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
user = "user_ID"
pwd = "password"
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 reminder portlet and the welcome portlet.
newbie = create_multi_col_page("A Page", ["Reminder", "Welcome_to_WebSphere_Portal"])
print "ok, we are done."
Portal JACL script example
The following example is a JACL script file named 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 user_ID
set pwd password
$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 reminder portlet, and the welcome portlet.
set newbie [create_multi_col_page "A Page" { "Reminder" "Welcome_to_WebSphere_Portal" } ]
puts "ok, we are done."
The scripts can receive parametric information externally, by using one of the following features:
- Profiles.
- Command line arguments.
Scripts can access command line arguments with the following variables:
argc
Use this variable in JACL scripts to specify the number of command line arguments.
argv
Use this variable in Jython and JACL scripts to specify the command line arguments.
Jython: In the preceding example script, testme.py, delete the following statements:
user = "portaladmin"
pwd = "adminpwd"
and replace them with the following:
if len(sys.argv) != 2:
print "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.py <user> <pwd>"
sys.exit(1)
user = argv [0]
pwd = argv [1]
JACL: In the preceding example script, testme.jacl, delete the following statements:
set user portaladmin
set pwd adminpwd
and replace them with the following:
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 username and password are removed from the script. The modified code expects the user ID and password to be specified as command line arguments, for example:
Jython: wpscript.sh -port port_number -f testme.py user_IDpassword
JACL: wpscript.sh -port port_number -f testme.jacl user_ID password
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.
Jython profile script example
The following example is a Jython profile script named mylogin.py:
# scripting profile
# contains log-in procedure on portal with disabled security
if len(sys.argv) != 2:
print "invocation syntax: wpscript -f testme.jacl -profile
mylogin.py user_ID password"
sys.exit(1)
user = argv [0]
pwd = argv [1]
Portal.login(user, pwd)
Remove or comment out the following statements in the testme.py script file:
if len(sys.argv) != 2:
print "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.py user_ID password"
sys.exit(1)
user = argv [0]
pwd = argv [1]
Portal.login(user, pwd)
To invoke mylogin.py, enter the following command: wpscript.sh -port port_number -profile mylogin.py -f testme.py user_ID password
JACL profile script example
The following example is a JACL profile script named mylogin.jacl:
# 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_ID password"
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:
if { $argc != 2 } {
puts "invocation syntax: wpscript testme.jacl user_ID password"
exit
}
set user [lindex $argv 0]
set pwd [lindex $argv 1]
$Portal login $user $pwd
To invoke mylogin.jacl, enter the following command: wpscript.sh -port port_number -profile mylogin.jacl -f testme.jacl user_ID password
The benefit of this change is that the environment-specific login procedure is removed from the administration script. For systems with enabled WAS security, the login procedure is as follows:
Jython scripts
# scripting profile
# contains log-in procedure on portal with enabled security
Portal.login()
JACL scripts
# scripting profile
# contains log-in procedure on portal with enabled security
$Portal login
Related reference
Scripting for static pages
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